The Third Pole
Can the countries of the Mekong pioneer a new model of cooperation?
Over the last two years, the China led Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism has used everything from a “bulldozer approach” to engaging with local communities to deal with tensions over development projects. Keep reading ...
Wang Yan
Hydropower in the Mekong: an alternative approach
Laos needs to rethink its aggressive hydropower plans as new markets and technologies create an opportunity to change course. A report published in September by the Stimson Center, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, challenges prevailing notions about the future of hydropower in the Mekong subregion, an ...
Southeast Asia’s last major undammed river in crisis
China has suspended dams upstream of the Salween but the Myanmar government is pushing ahead with Chinese backed dams downstream, despite environmental costs and cheaper alternatives. From the snow-capped mountains of Tibet, the Salween rushes through steep gorges in Yunnan Province and flows through four of ...
Melting glaciers may impact hydropower plans
The World Water Week has put the focus back into shrinking glaciers but the jury is still out on the impacts they will have on the flow in snow-fed rivers and hydropower generation. Glaciers are retreating due to climate change. What does that mean for water ...
Blind dolphins in Ganga waterway
National waterways, starting with the Ganga, are being pushed as eco-friendly transport; nobody seems to have thought about the effect on the endangered Gangetic River Dolphin or the other life in the river. In March 2016, India passed the National Waterways Act, which marks 106 rivers ...