Disasters

China’s dams are worsening drought conditions downstream the Mekong River, storing and controlling up to 50 percent of its waters, experts say. China on average contributes around 14 percent of the Mekong River’s flow, “but an annual average can be misleading,” says Brian Eyler, director of ...

Unseasonal drought, floods and the negative impact of hydropower projects on the Mekong River’s ecology were major concerns raised by residents of northeastern provinces at a public hearing on the Luang Prabang Dam on Tuesday. Pradap Klatkhemphet, deputy secretary-general of the Office of the National Water ...

In a nod to green diplomacy, Vietnam is raising the geopolitical stakes over the Mekong River, Southeast Asia’s largest body of water, which has dropped to record lows due to a severe drought and construction of large dams. Hanoi has signaled its intent to raise the issue this ...

Amid an ongoing drought and low water levels, the state of the Mekong River is a topic that is animating discussion along the watercourse, with sights often aimed squarely at the Xayaburi Hydroelectric Power Plant. To help clear the waters, the project owners invited regional ...

NOAA/NASA’s Suomi NPP satellite captured this image of the hundreds of fires burning across large swaths of land in both Myanmar and Cambodia on Feb. 18, 2020. There are many reasons that fires start including weather related ones such as lightning which will ignite dry ...

China has had a setback in its infrastructure building along the Mekong River after Thailand cancelled a project on the vital Southeast Asian waterway. But observers say that without more coordination between downstream countries, China’s influence in the region will continue to go unchallenged. In a ...

China on Thursday said it was helping its downstream neighbors cope with a prolonged drought by releasing more water from its dams on the Mekong River, adding it would consider sharing information on hydrology to provide further assistance in the future. The statement came as a ...

Dam operations upstream combined with a drought have caused a severe drop in water levels along the Mekong River, on which tens of millions of people rely for their livelihoods through fishing or farming, say Thais who live by the banks of the great waterway. BenarNews ...

A pipeline stretching from central to north-east Thailand promises to “promote Thailand as an energy hub in the region” and “increase energy security”, according to the Ministry of Energy. Construction began in mid-2019, despite local communities objecting that the largely Chinese-financed project could worsen flooding ...

Thailand has been hit with what may be its worst drought in 40 years, pummelling sugar production in one of the world’s biggest exporters of the sweetener. Sugar output may tumble about 30% to 9 million-10 million tonnes, while cane output is forecast to fall below ...