Rivers and lakes
The Mekong
The soul of the Mekong is in trouble
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha last week asked reporters why non-governmental organisations, environmental activists and academics continue to protest against the planned blasting of rapids in the Mekong River. He said many of these protesters are outsiders, meaning people who do not live by the riverside, do ...
Mekong Delta shifts strategy, takes advantage of benefits of flooding
In the past, Mekong Delta residents, striving to produce as much rice as possible, built closed embankments to prevent floods and cultivate third crops. But now they need floods to preserve water to fight drought and saline intrusion. Le Anh Tuan, deputy head of the Climate ...
Will Myanmar lose its Irrawaddy dolphins?
Tears fill U Maung Lay’s eyes as he describes losing the dolphin he knew since his childhood, the latest casualty of a battle against pollution and electrofishing that may see the species disappear from Myanmar. Loved for generations for corralling the catch into fishermen’s nets, ...
China hydropower having major impact along Mekong River: study
Hydropower facilities along the upper reaches of the Lancang, which becomes the Mekong River as it flows out of China, have led to major river-flow changes affecting Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, according to a study from Finland’s Aalto University. The study found river-flow ...
Mekong Delta 2016: historic drought, saline intrusion destroys crops
Dried fields, cattle dying of thirst, expensive drinking water, sea water overflowing houses. In 2016, the lives of millions of people in Mekong Delta, Central Highlands and central region were upset because of drought and salinity intrusion. In the first months of 2016, when the north ...
New dam on Mekong looms
Representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam gathered in Vientiane on Thursday to launch a six-month consultation process on what would be the third mainstream hydropower dam in Laos’s Lower Mekong River. Laos first signalled its intention to move ahead with the proposed 912-megawatt Pak ...
Experts call for water storage for Mekong Delta
Environmentalists have underscored the importance of finding ways to store and share water resources in the Mekong Delta as climate change is inflicting huge damage on the arable delta. At a seminar in Can Tho City on January 10, they agreed this was a measure to ...
The Dammed Don: Lao hydropower project pushes ahead despite alarm from scientists
Snaking down the length of the Mekong River the beautifully detailed map looks strikingly like those marking the distribution of unexploded ordnance in Laos. The red dots that pockmark the course of the river, from its origins in the highlands of China to its outlet ...
LMC can be used as example for China to handle trans-boundary river disputes
With persistent concerns expressed by India about China’s exploitation of the Yarlung Zangbo River, upstream from the Brahmaputra River in India, officials and scholars should study the possibility of borrowing on the experience of the Lancang-Mekong cooperation mechanism to resolve disputes along trans-boundary rivers. The ...
Laos urges infrastructure development in Mekong Basin countries
Laos has suggested that cooperation between the Mekong Basin countries and China focus on the development of infrastructure for improved connectivity and to bolster commercial production. The proposal was made by the Lao delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Saleumxay Kommasith at the ...