Water
Water resources
Mekong Region Grows More Important to China-US Relations
Amid increasingly tense China-U.S. relations, a U.S. official alluded to China but did not specifically name China regarding “risks” and “challenges” imposed by approaches to dam building and cross-border riverine practices in the Mekong region. At a workshop in Phnom Penh by the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation ...
Aun Chhengpor
MRC urged to prioritise steps to protect river basin
Development partners on Thursday asked the Mekong River Commission to prioritise policies to protect the basin in future development strategies, noting that the Mekong river basin is among the most vulnerable regions due to climate change. Representatives from European Union, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, ...
Pech Sotheary
China winning new Cold War on the Mekong
When the state tabloid China Daily ran a paid advertisement in the New York Times extolling the virtues of Beijing’s proliferating dams in Laos, the piece sparked a new cold war controversy. Entitled “Employment on hydroelectric project in Laos delivers better lives”, the piece stated that ...
International team visits Tennessee for water development initiative
An international team from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam visited the Tennessee and Cumberland River Systems last week at the invitation of the United States in support of water development in the Lower Mekong River Basin. The U.S. State Department sponsored the sharing of information ...
Leon Roberts
Perspectives: Dancing rivers of Myanmar – mapping moves from space
Changes in river morphology including floods, erosion, and landslides are affecting ecosystem habitats and the lives and livelihoods of communities living along Myanmar’s rivers. SERVIR-Mekong is using satellite-based monitoring tools to support Myanmar agencies and communities to manage the risks better. Last year in Myanmar, floods ...
Karthikeyan Matheswaran, Thanapon Piman, Rajesh Daniel
First global look finds most rivers awash with antibiotics
EACH YEAR, HUMANS produce, prescribe, and ingest more antibiotics than they did the year before. Those drugs have done wonders for public health, saving millions from infections that might otherwise have killed them. But the drugs’ influence persists in the environment long after they’ve done their duty ...
Alejandra Borunda
World's rivers loaded with antibiotics waste: Study
Rivers worldwide are polluted with antibiotics that exceed environmental safety thresholds by up to 300 times, according to research unveiled at a conference Monday. Scientists found one or more common antibiotics in two-thirds of 711 samples taken from rivers in 72 countries, they told a meeting ...
Marlowe Hood
Forum raises urgent Mekong issues
The 7th Mekong River Commission (MRC) Regional Stakeholder Forum was held in Lao capital Vientiane over Monday and Tuesday, with participants discussing urgent issues facing the Mekong region, the Secretariat of the MRC has said. Attending the two-day event were 180 representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, ...
Ry Sochan
Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Confirms China Will Halt Mekong Rapids Blasting
Mr. Niwat Roykaew, founder of the Rak Chiang Khong Group in northern Thailand, has shared a letter he received on behalf of the Network of Thai People in Eight Mekong Provinces from Mr. Don Pramudwinai, the Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs, that confirms media reports in March ...
Pianporn Deetes
Feature: Mekong river binds regional countries, peoples together as lifeblood of Southeast Asia
Narongchai, a volunteer tour boat guide on the Mekong river in northeast Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom, has been doing this job for 16 years. “The Mekong is our mother river, binding everyone in the basin,” said Narongchai, describing the cross-border river part of his life. “The water ...
Guo Xinhui