Water resources

Surface water

Low water levels in Mekong, tributaries affect fish farming

Water levels in the Mekong river and its tributaries in this northeastern border province are very low compared to past years, jeopardising the livelihoods of farmers who raise fish in baskets, according to local media reports. In Muang district, water in the Mekong river is now ...

PATTANAPONG SRIPIACHAI

China’s Dam-Building Is Harming the Mekong River

The Mekong is one of Asia’s most important rivers, supporting 60 million people in Southeast Asia. But for the second consecutive year, the lower Mekong basin has hit a record low water flow, affecting irrigation, rice production and fisheries, all vital to the region’s food security. The drought ...

Bloomberg News

The Last Farewell to the Mighty Mekong

The miracle of the Mekong, where the pulsating force of the monsoon-driven river every year pushes its tributary to back up and reverse its flow into the great Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia, has again been disrupted and obstructed by dams, drought, and climate change. “This ...

Tom Fawthrop

US claims China’s ‘manipulation’ of Mekong is ‘urgent challenge’ for Southeast Asia

A senior US diplomat on Thursday said China’s “manipulation” of water flows in the Mekong River – currently at record lows – was an immediate challenge to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, signalling the issue could be on the agenda in a regional forum ...

Bhavan Jaipragas

Floods wash up the North, Northeast prepares as Mekong rises

Heavy rains and flooding in Northern Thailand damaged homes and killed 1 resident. 2 people are reported missing. The Nation Thailand did not report the details of the death, but says the “flood crisis” affected 10 provinces and more than 7,000 homes in the area. Flood victims are ...

Caitlin Ashworth

Mekong river steadily rising

The water level in the Mekong river is rising steadily and people living along its banks at this northeastern border province have been advised to take precautions against possible overflowing. On Monday morning, water in the Mekong river was about 9 metres high, 4m below the ...

PATTANAPONG SRIPIACHAI

MFA Welcomes China's Initiative in Tackling Mekong Issues

PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is set to attend a summit on Mekong River with China and five other riparian countries next week, the foreign ministry said Friday. The 3rd Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Summit will be held entirely online on Monday due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, ministry diplomat ...

Khaosod English

Cambodia’s biggest lake is running dry, taking forests and fish with it

Hun Sotharith recalls when he moved to Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake to become a fisherman. It was the early 1990s, and the freshwater swamp forest where he fished was so dense that it could take Sotharith, a former soldier, a day and a half to ...

STEFAN LOVGREN

China 'ready to share Mekong data'

China is ready to share data on water flows into the Mekong River, a longstanding request of downstream Southeast Asian countries, a Thai foreign ministry official said on Friday. Control of the waters is politically sensitive, and the livelihoods of millions of farmers and fishermen depend ...

Mekong Countries Must Confront China Over Dam Impact, Experts Say Ahead of China-Led Meeting

China’s extensive damming of the upper Mekong River has reduced water flows, threatening downstream countries Cambodia and Vietnam with environmental harm and food shortages, said experts in advance of a summit meeting of the multilateral  Mekong-Lancang Cooperation group. The summit, to be held on Aug. 24 ...

RFA’s Khmer and Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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