Rivers and lakes

The Mekong

Warship found in Mekong

The Cambodia Mine Action Centre (CMAC) has found a warship buried at the bottom of the Mekong River in Srei Santhor district, Kampong Cham province. The ship is a war remnant from the 1970s, said a CMAC official. CMAC director-general Heng Ratana told The Post that a ...

Khouth Sophak Chakrya

New Mekong dam ignores threats to UNESCO World Heritage city, livelihoods and ecosystems

As US-China tensions turn towards the Mekong River and its dams, the area near Laos’ latest hydropower project on the river is already seeing major controversy around existing dam projects. The Lao government is preparing to start construction on the Luang Prabang Dam, a 1,460-megawatt (MW) project that will be ...

Editorial

A river running out of time – the mighty Mekong reduced to a trickle

In his book, River of Time, Jon Swain evoked brilliantly the heady beauty of Indochina and the great Mekong Delta in the very south of Vietnam, where the river finally meets the South China Sea. He also captured the terrifying uncertainty as the Vietnam War came to ...

LUKE HUNT

Chinese dams and the Mekong drought

The latest reports from the Lower Mekong Basin are cause for growing concern that another period of drought will succeed that of 2019, affecting Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Expected rainfall from late May through June and July has not arrived, and the level of ...

MILTON OSBORNE

Mekong river rising after heavy rain

The water level in the Mekong river, bordering this northeastern border province with Laos, is rising following heavy rain in the region over the past few days. On Tuesday morning, the level was up by more than 1 metre from Monday, to 5m deep. However, it ...

PATTANAPONG SRIPIACHAI

Are China’s dams responsible for droughts along Mekong River?

Chinese dams aren’t the problem causing droughts for downstream nations along the Mekong River – they are part of the solution – says a Chinese study released in July. The study is an attempt to pour water on claims by a rival US-backed investigation that blamed dams ...

Maria Siow

The struggle for the soul of the Mekong River

In June of this year, the FAO’s annual State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report ranked the Mekong Basin as the world’s most productive freshwater fishery, accounting for over 15% of global annual freshwater fish catch. Meanwhile, WWF Researchers estimate that the contribution actually accounts ...

BRIAN EYLER, ALAN BASIST, COURTNEY WEATHERBY AND CLAUDE WILLIAMS

The covert industry that is destroying the world’s rivers

Good sand is surprisingly hard to find, and some of the best — the kind used to make glass, concrete and even iPhones — is usually found only in riverbeds and along coasts. Now researchers are discovering that a global boom in sand mining is ...

Mekong is at historical lows

The Mekong is once again at historical lows. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) gauge at Phnom Penh Port shows river level to be four metres below average for this time of year – and lower than last year’s record. This gauge is measuring river level on ...

Mark Hughes

Laos weather bureau official dispels Mekong flood concerns

There is no need for immediate public alarm about potential flooding of the Mekong River despite widespread reports of floods in neighbouring countries, especially China, a sector official has confirmed on Monday. The official from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Meteorology and Hydrology Department, ...

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