Asia | Mongolia | Adventure

Badass Women Battle Untamed Mongolian River

Ocean-sized waves, unreliable navigation, and corrupt officials were just some of the challenges National Geographic grantee, Amber Valenti, faced during her 2,700-mile trip along the Amur River. Valenti, along with three other women, chose to travel the entirety of the Amur through Mongolia and Russia because of the river’s unique nature. “It’s the third longest free-flowing river left on our planet, and with 60 percent of the world’s rivers being dammed now, it was an opportunity to see something that’s truly last of its kind,” Valenti says. But the beauty of the Amur was o

Asia | Thailand | Corruption

Thai environmentalists pay for activism with their lives

Source: Aljazeera

Jintana Kaewkao, a 53-year-old activist, shop-owner and mother of three, arrived at the district government office on March 12 ready for a fight. With local tensions rising over the planned construction of a steel manufacturing plant amid the wetlands and coconut trees of this seaside community of Bangsaphan, Thailand, more than 30 villagers had assembled in the morning heat. Most were women; some had toddlers in tow. They were ready to register their concerns over potential pollution, and a local conglomerate’s questionable land acquisitions, with the district leader. As usual, they w