News
Taking a closer look at the MRC’s prior consultation process
About 200 people representing civil society, academics, the private sector, governments and development partners have gathered in Laos for the Mekong River Commission’s regional forum. Today, participants discussed the Lao-proposed Luang Prabang hydropower project and An Pich Hatda, chief executive officer of the MRC Secretariat, ...
Pech Sotheary
MRC urged to prioritise steps to protect river basin
Development partners on Thursday asked the Mekong River Commission to prioritise policies to protect the basin in future development strategies, noting that the Mekong river basin is among the most vulnerable regions due to climate change. Representatives from European Union, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, ...
Pech Sotheary
Renewed partnership with Murray-Darling Basin Authority will prepare Mekong for current and future challenges
Mekong basin-wide planning, environmental monitoring, flood and drought management, climate change adaption, and stakeholder engagement are some of the key areas to benefit from a renewed partnership between the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) of Australia. The technical collaboration between the MRC ...
Forum raises urgent Mekong issues
The 7th Mekong River Commission (MRC) Regional Stakeholder Forum was held in Lao capital Vientiane over Monday and Tuesday, with participants discussing urgent issues facing the Mekong region, the Secretariat of the MRC has said. Attending the two-day event were 180 representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, ...
Ry Sochan
Interview: China’s Mekong Dam-building Mindset ‘Exported Downstream’ to Cambodia and Laos
The Mekong River extends for thousands of miles through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, supporting more than 65 million people who depend on it for food, transportation, and commerce. But development, mostly led by China, threatens to upset the delicate balance between local ...
Can community research help address the Mekong water crisis?
The transboundary water crisis in the Lower Mekong Basin has been lingering for almost two decades without any certainty that it will be resolved soon. There have been many attempts at tackling this issue, including forming a regional governance body to facilitate policymaking conversations. However, ...
Teerapong Pomun and Naimah Talib
Australia provides about $300,000 in grant aid to MRC
The Australian government last week provided a grant of about $300,000 to help the Mekong River Commission upgrade its data, modelling and information systems to provide enhanced and timely information to the public in MRC member countries. According to a letter from the Australian Embassy in ...
Op-ed: MRC reinforces knowledge hub and water diplomacy role for resilient Mekong futures
While the MRC is well established and recognised as the international treaty-based river basin organization and primary water diplomacy platform in the Mekong River basin, we still have opportunities to improve basin-wide cooperation. My priority is to further equip the MRC Secretariat with the facilitation ...
An Pich Hatda, CEO of the MRC Secretariat
Mekong River Commission To Advance its Data and Information Systems
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat is reinvigorating its data, modeling and information systems to provide enhanced and timely information to the public and MRC member countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam, according to the Secretariat top management. Keep reading ...
Civil society groups to boycott Prior Consultation on new Mekong dam
Save the Mekong, a coalition of non-governmental organizations, community-based groups and concerned citizens within the Mekong region, issued a statement on Friday announcing their intention to boycott the Mekong River Commission’s (MRC’s) Prior Consultation for the proposed Pak Lay dam. Pak Lay is the fourth dam planned ...
