Rivers and lakes
The Mekong
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.
Polluted Mekong Delta river kills fish, contaminates water sources
A section of the Cai Lon River in Hau Giang Province has turned black and foul-smelling, killing fish and contaminating local water sources. For the past several days Ly Minh Lam, a resident of Long My Town in the Mekong Delta province, has been unable to ...
Cuu Long
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
