No authority to prevent new Mekong River projects: MRC
The Mekong River Commission does not have the authority to stop projects even if they have trans-boundary effects, delegates to the fourth Green Mekong Forum said on 13 June, while the Thai Irrigation Department presented a water diversion project to fight poverty. If the MRC member states – ...
Diverting the Mekong River into Thailand: The Khong-Loei-Chi-Mun project
Recently, the Royal Irrigation Department has reinvigorated its irrigation plans through the “Mekong-Loei-Chi-Mun River Management and Diversion by Gravity in the Northeast” project. It entails diverting water from the Mekong River’s mainstream into the Loei River in Northeastern Thailand, which would then be connected via tunnels ...
Mekong dam projects ‘could destroy livelihoods, ecology’
The ecology of the Mekong River could be destroyed within 10 years if dam projects along the river are allowed to continue, Thai and Cambodian non-government organisations have warned. They have also warned that it will be very difficult for people to claim compensation for ...
Amid drought, diarrhea poses severe threat
Teachers at Toul Mead Primary School in Siem Reap province tell students to bring drinking water from home to keep them hydrated in the scorching heat. But water is increasingly hard to come by as the worst drought in decades drags on. There is no free ...
Livelihoods in jeopardy as Vietnam’s Mekong Delta struggles with sediment loss
The World Wide Fund for Nature reported that suspended sediment load in the Mekong Delta declined from 160 million tons in 1992 to 75 million tons in 2014 due to the construction of hydropower dams and reservoirs on the mainstream and branches of Mekong River. It noted that sand ...
Farmers irked by irrigation pump charges
Many farmers are reluctant to use irrigation systems that involve electrical pumps to deliver water to rice fields, as they are charged for the electricity consumed. This was confirmed by the former Minister of Agriculture and Forestry when speaking to the media recently.Keep reading ...
Digging deeper wells costs more
Amid a devastating drought, the need to dig more, and deeper, wells is threatening to overwhelm the government’s relief budget. The cost of wells rises exponentially with depth. And as groundwater continues to drop, itself exacerbated by the digging of more and more wells, deeper is ...
Across Thailand, a cruel drought takes terrible toll
In Pathum Thani’s Lam Luk Ka district, the Lam Luk Ka-Thanya Buri Road in Moo 8 of Tambon Lat Sawai has been damaged by subsidence, causing a 1.5-metre-deep and 100-metre-long section to collapse yesterday, prompting authorities to close the road as a safety precaution. In Chon ...
Drought exacerbates hoof and mouth outbreak among cattle
A vaccine campaign has been launched in response to an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease exacerbated by drought conditions in Kampong Thom province, officials said yesterday, as drought-relief efforts continued in Banteay Meanchey.Chan Panhavoan, director of the veterinary office of the Kampong Thom provincial ...
Mekong Delta loses half of silt to upstream dams: scientists
Scientists said the Mekong Delta is suffering from the cumulative impacts of saltwater intrusion, erosion and declining groundwater levels as a result of El Nino and the upstream dams. Tran Cong Lap is among many farmers who are well aware of the impacts said “Saltwater has been ...
