Mekong River Commission Warned on Development Impacts to the River
The four member countries of the Mekong River Commission today confronted predictions of social and environmental disaster if damming and other development projects in the region are allowed to proceed as planned. The warnings, contained in a 3,600-page report prepared by the MRC Council, point to negative trade-offs between water, energy, and food resulting from the construction of eleven large hydropower dams on the Mekong’s main stream, and 120 tributary dams planned over the next 20 years.
Richard Finney
