Hydropower dams

Mekong River countries’ diplomats expressed that they value the scientific, regulatory effect of Chinese dams on water resources, following their latest in-person visits to the main hydropower stations along the Lancang River, recognizing China’s role in bringing practical benefits to downstream sustainable development and calling ...

Through disasters, a fellowship was struck. Ormboon Thipsuna remembers the date well, Aug 12, 2008, when a deluge of water from the Mekong swept through her hometown of Nong Khai and seven riparian northeastern provinces. Considering the rainfall was rather small and the Mekong’s gradual ...

The northeast region of Thailand bordering Laos and Cambodia, is facing the consequences of dams on the Mekong River. Changes in the natural rhythms of the Mekong River has been hampered by the construction of dams upstream in China and Laos in recent years. The Mekong ...

Thailand is close to completing one the world’s biggest floating hydro-solar hybrid projects on the surface of a dam, a step toward boosting renewable energy production after years of criticism for reliance on fossil fuels. About 144,417 solar panels are being installed on a reservoir in ...

Large numbers of people here in the dry northeast region of Thailand bordering Laos and Cambodia, a region known as Isaan, are facing the consequences of changes in the natural rhythms of the Mekong River wrought by the construction in recent years of dams upstream ...

The Mekong is one of the world’s great rivers — a 5,000-kilometer waterway threading from China through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.  However, dams have subverted the ecosystem, bringing drought during the monsoon season and high waters when it should be dry. That has forever changed ...

Chinese dams on the Mekong River have begun releasing water during the river’s normal dry season, causing trouble for wildlife, farmers and fishermen in Laos, sources in the Southeast Asian country told RFA. “The Mekong River water level is up 12 centimeters [4.7 inches] from yesterday,” ...

Just 50 metres from the Mekong, in the shadow of a discarded plastic cup, a lone chick sits camouflaged on the sand. It is a newly hatched small pratincole in Bueng Kan province, northeast Thailand.  “I recorded 15 nests on the beach, smaller numbers compared with previous ...

For many years the warning signs flashed the same message: the Mekong River, Southeast Asia’s main waterway, was headed toward environmental disaster. The 2,700-mile-long ribbon of water, scientists cautioned, could not withstand the onslaught of dam construction, overfishing, and pollution. Yet somehow the river that ...

Nearly 34 ha of planted forests in Quang Nam are to be cleared for the construction of the Song Tranh 4 hydropower plant. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh. Central Quang Nam Province has approved the conversion of nearly 35 hectares of forests into a hydropower plant and ...