Delta blues? Tensions rise along the Mekong as science meets strategy
China has been ramping up its investments with the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, which – according to American officials – is an attempt to compete with the Mekong River Commission (MRC). A competition over who dominates scientific and technical knowledge of the river indicates an escalation in the complexity of ...
Giulio Boccaletti
Cambodia's giant life-giving Tonle Sap lake in peril
As night falls over his floating village, fisherman Leng Vann puffs on a cigarette and heaves a sigh for Tonle Sap, the great inland lake that has sustained Cambodia for centuries. More than a million people live on or around the lake, the world’s largest inland ...
AFP
U.S. Steps Up Scrutiny of Chinese Built Dams on Mekong Basin
The U.S. is increasing scrutiny of Chinese dams along the Mekong River, its latest move aimed at helping Southeast Asian nations push back against Beijing. The ‘Mekong Dam Monitor,’ funded by the U.S. government and run by for-profit consultancy Eyes on Earth and the Washington-based Stimson Center gathers ...
Philip Heijmans
Open letter to Aung San Suu Kyi to address water contamination issue
Your Excellency; First of all, I am Saw Paul Sein Twa, the Chairperson of the Salween Peace Park in Mutraw District, Karen State, Kawthooeli, Eastern Myanmar, which recently was awarded the 2020 Equator Prize. I work closely with local Indigenous Karen people and walk with them as ...
Saw Paul Sein Twa
Chinese dams under U.S. scrutiny in Mekong rivalry
A U.S.-funded project using satellites to track and publish water levels at Chinese dams on the Mekong river was announced on Monday, adding to the superpowers’ rivalry in Southeast Asia. The 4,350-km (2,700-mile) waterway – known as the Lancang in China and flowing south through Myanmar, ...
Kay Johnson, Matthew Tostevin
Mekong People's Forum Pushed to Pave Way for Wider Participation in Mekong Decision Making
Over a hundred participants from various sectors, which have been working on development issues in the Mekong Basin, attended the two-day seminar held in Chiang Rai’ Chiang Khong district, where has been one of the locations which have long suffered from development projects in the ...
B.Tribune
Tide turning for Mekong protesters
After almost two decades of campaigning against hydro-dams and water projects built on the Mekong River, local civic groups and conservationists finally launched the “Mekong People’s Forum,” with the hope of moving their campaign to a policy level. The forum was held on Dec 1–2 in ...
WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM
Geopolitics plays out on the Mekong with doubts on dams and promises of cooperation
Recent weeks have seen new developments in the ongoing tension over the Mekong river and its waters, as the river basin faces ecological crises and its waters play an ever-larger role in geopolitics. Thailand has announced that it is reconsidering its decision to purchase power from the planned Sanakham ...
Editorial
China unveils early warning and data sharing website to cooperate with Mekong River countries
China made good on its promise to share year-round hydrological data on upper reaches of the Mekong River with the kickoff of an online information sharing platform on Monday. The platform aims to provide reliable forecasting and early warning services related to floods and droughts. China ...
Hu Yuwei Source
Fight for the Mekong gathers pace
More than 20 years ago, when two Chiang Rai-based environmentalists, Niwat Roikaew and Somkiat Kuenwongsa, learned that the Chinese government were blasting rapids in the upper Mekong River from Yunnan to Myanmar and Laos to clear the way for large commercial vessels, they started worrying. Back ...
PASSAKORN JUMLONGRACH
