National water resource security scheme discussed
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Water Resource Management Department convened an online meeting with relevant units in Hanoi on May 17 to discuss building a scheme to ensure national water resource security. Speaking at the event, deputy head of the department Nguyen Minh Khuyen said Vietnam ...
VNA
MRC to monitor Mekong flow with French support
The French Government granted EUR 1.5 million to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to monitor rainfall and river flow in order to better understand flow changes and the corresponding impacts on development projects. New funding will continue to improve and expand its network for better river ...
'Untie knots' in Mekong Delta infrastructure growth: PM
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh Saturday called on Mekong Delta officials to “untie knots’ in infrastructure development, stressing that this was key for the region to fulfill its full potential. He also said the region should give priority to developing port and aviation infrastructure. The PM was ...
Cuu Long
Cambodian farmers can no longer rely on the Tonle Sap lake
“I’ve seen lower yields on my farm each year since maybe 2017 or 2018 – there just isn’t enough water,” says Yoeum Yoeut. Yoeut, 52, is a lifelong resident of the Baran district in Cambodia’s northwest Battambang province. Her livelihood has always depended on the natural flooding ...
Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha
Urgent responses to climate change in the Mekong river are required
With rapid economic development, exponential population growth, urbanisation, industrialisation, and increased agricultural production in the region, the demand for water and river-based resources has dramatically increased, which gives rise to environmental degradation, resource scarcity, and struggles among diverse groups of resource users including local people, ...
Keo Piseth
Plastic gets to the oceans through over 1,000 rivers
The problem with plastic waste just got more complicated—and so did the effort to stanch its flow into the world’s oceans. Rivers are the primary conduits for plastic waste to the seas. In 2017, two separate groups of scientists concluded that 90 percent of river-borne plastic ...
LAURA PARKER
Mekong countries’ diplomats call for more experience sharing in water governance upon in-person visits to China’s dams
Mekong River countries’ diplomats expressed that they value the scientific, regulatory effect of Chinese dams on water resources, following their latest in-person visits to the main hydropower stations along the Lancang River, recognizing China’s role in bringing practical benefits to downstream sustainable development and calling ...
Hu Yuwei in Yunnan
Google helps tackle plastic pollution in the Mekong River, aided by machine learning
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has partnered with Google to fight plastic pollution in the Mekong River, leveraging citizen science and machine learning to understand the magnitude of the problem impacting the longest river in Southeast Asia. Aided by technical advisory support from Google, the CounterMEASURE ...
James Henderson (Channel Asia)
People live in fear as Mekong riverbanks collapse
One recent mid-morning, Lev Pheng Ang, a 52-year-old mother who runs a grocery store on the bank of the Mekong River in Rakar Korng Muoy commune, Kandal province’s Muk Kampoul district, was running her business as usual when she heard a loud splash in the ...
Moeun Chhean Nariddh
Scientists to catalogue mollusc diversity in Tonle Sap
Scientists working with the Wonders of the Mekong project have undertaken an ambitious initiative to catalogue the overlooked mollusc diversity in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake, which was previously based on records from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Their new report provides a much-needed update on ...
