Offices of Mekong River Commission decamp to Laos
The Mekong River Commission’s secretariat in Phnom Penh – one of two for the group, charged with managing the river’s sustainable development – is being shuttered in favour of a single office in Vientiane, a decision that has provoked widespread concern among current and former MRC employees alike. Ian Thomas, a former technical adviser for drought at the MRC, on August 9 expressed concern over the move. “The Mekong River is too important for Cambodia to give up the MRC [to] Laos,” he said. “Why? When we see thousands of irrigation dams popping up in Thailand, the Don Sahong in Laos and have the biggest inland fishery in the world under threat and a third of the Tonle Sap’s swamp forests [going] up in flames.
