Electricity production
Hydropower dams
Cambodian environment minister bans logging at tycoon’s Cardamoms hydropower project
PHNOM PENH — In a rare move to combat forest crimes, Cambodian Environment Minister Eang Sophalleth on Sept. 2 banned all forest clearance at the site of a dam project in the country’s southwest. The ban came after multiple incidents of illegal logging inside a protected area ...
Gerald Flynn, Vutha Srey
Record-breaking floods in northern Thailand intensify scrutiny of Mekong dam project
In the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi, communities in northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai province are taking stock of the toll wreaked by heavy rains and rising rivers. At least 33 people lost their lives in the country since mid-August amid hazardous conditions that devastated riverside homes, businesses and ...
Carolyn Cowan
Mekong Delta expects higher floods this season
HCM CITY – The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta is entering its annual flooding season and many rice farmers in upstream provinces have opened their field sluices to let the floodwaters and aquatic creatures in. The floods are caused by the rising level of the Mekong River ...
Viet Nam News
China says Mekong dam did not discharge water downstream amid heavy flooding in Thailand
China said on Tuesday a major dam on the Mekong River did not discharge floodwaters last week amid heavy flooding in Thailand. Monsoon rains across large areas in Thailand have caused extensive flooding that has killed at least nine people and affected more than 51,700 households, ...
Meredith Chen
Mekong residents call on Lao PDR and dam developers to scrap Phou Ngoy dam
Some twenty representatives of the Ubon Monitoring Group on Flood and Mekong Dams (UMFD) have travelled to Bangkok to file their petition to concerned entities including Lao PDR and the lead dam developer via their representatives in Bangkok in the hope that they will review ...
B.Tribune
One-fifth of Mekong river fish species face extinction, report says
BANGKOK, March 4 (Reuters) – Unsustainable development threatens the health and diverse fish populations of the Mekong river, with one-fifth of fish species in Southeast Asia’s main artery facing extinction, a report by conservation groups said on Monday. The Mekong, stretching nearly 5,000 km (3,000 miles) ...
REUTERS
Fears grow that dam across Mekong River in Laos could harm World Heritage site of Luang Prabang
LUANG PRABANG, Laos (AP) — Landlocked Laos doesn’t have the famous beaches of its neighbors to attract tourists, but instead relies on the pristine beauty of its mountains and rivers and historical sites to bring in visitors. The crown jewel is Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where legend ...
DAVID RISING
Cambodian PM Affirms Ban on Mekong Hydropower Projects
Cambodia’s prime minister has stated that the country will not develop any hydropower dams on the Mekong River, reaffirming a moratorium on mainstream dam projects announced in 2020. Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a 150-megawatt hydropower dam in the southern province of ...
Sebastian Strangio
Thai investment in Laos hydropower reveals dire disconnect in the Mekong
Over the past year, the pace of hydropower development along the mainstream of the Mekong River in Laos has picked up, fuelled by long-term funding agreements. Chinese and Thai hydropower project investors have been signing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), which usually cover a 30-year period, ...
Ming Li Yong
What China dams mean for Mekong
The worries and woes about the impacts of China’s dams along the Mekong River have been simmering since their construction more than two decades ago. But there is one big difference today. Recorded data, such as that reported in the Mekong Dam Monitor online platform, describes ...
JOHANNA SON/FOUNDER/EDITOR OF THE REPORTING ASEAN SERIES