VOA
Huge Land Loss Predicted for Vietnam's Mekong Delta
Nearly the entire Mekong Delta in Vietnam — an area that helps feed about 200 million people — will sink underwater by the year 2100 at current rates, a new study predicts. The delta, which is home to almost 18 million people and produces half ...
Laos Accused of Copy-Pasting Dam Impact Survey
An official impact assessment for a controversial new Lao dam on the Mekong river has been directly copied and pasted in parts from a previous project, a coalition of groups fighting to protect the river has alleged. The allegation came as Mekong River Commission (MRC) ...
Chinese Initiatives Threaten Mekong River
On the sandy banks of the Mekong River, local fisherman Mana Suttawong stitches together the ropes on a worn-out net, his hands chafed from years of pulling in hefty catches on the legendary waterway. But the days of big hauls are gone for the 54-year-old, ...
Southeast Asia Drug Use Persists Despite Death Penalty
Southeast Asian authorities are not shy about doling out the death penalty to punish drug traffickers, and yet narcotics abuse has not abated. If anything, it is on the rise, which begs the question of whether the region’s war on drugs is working. []“This unique characteristic ...
Myanmar's Anti-Corruption Fight Gathers Steam
Myanmar’s anti-corruption commission has in recent weeks sued a senior bureaucrat and begun investigating a disgraced minister, indicating a crackdown on corruption promised by the government is finally happening. Often criticized as weak and unambitious, the commission’s stepped-up efforts suggest the Southeast Asian country is ...
Solar Surge Threatens Hydro Future on Mekong
Thousands of megawatts of wind and solar energy contracts in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia have been signed, seriously challenging the financial viability of major hydropower projects on the river, an energy expert told a water conference last week. Keep reading ...
David Boyle
Mekong Leaders Mostly Mum on Risks Tied to Intense Damming
Presented with “frightening” possibilities due to intense damming, the leaders of the Mekong River Commission member countries gave little sign Thursday they had heeded calls to fundamentally rethink water policy for the shared waterway, with the exception of Vietnam. Keep reading ...
David Boyle/Sun Narin
Mekong Nation Leaders to Hold Summit Amid Concerns About Dams
Amid worry about the impact hydropower dams are having on the economically and environmentally critical Mekong River, leaders of four Southeast Asian nations dependent on its waters are scheduled to convene a summit early next month to reaffirm their “political commitment” to a 1995 cooperative ...
Sun Narin
China-led Group Wants More Development on Mekong River
China and five Southeast Asian countries have set goals for developing the Mekong River area, but experts wonder if the group can succeed. Leaders of the five countries met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in early January in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. This was ...
Mario Ritter
China's Interest in Riverine Development Evident at Mekong River Summit
In March 2016, while chairing the first summit on the Beijing-initiated Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC), Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, in a speech, cited an anonymous Southeast Asian proverb: “When gentle breezes stick together, they can have the power of a typhoon.” ...
Aun Chhengpor