News
Activists alarmed after PM promotes Don Sahong
As construction on the Don Sahong dam near the Cambodia-Laos border passes its halfway point, activists and locals are increasingly concerned over the disappearance of Irawaddy dolphins and incidences of illness they suspect are caused by the muddied water. “The waters downstream in Cambodia have ...
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 ...
Cambodia supports Lao dam: PM
Cambodia will support the Don Sahong hydroelectric dam planned to be built in south Laos less than two kilometers from the Cambodian border, while civil society groups continue to appeal to regional authorities to halt construction on environmental grounds. According to a post on Prime ...
Changing Mekong currents compound dam anxieties in Southeast Asia
Several factors are disrupting the terrain for investment in large hydropower dams, and governments should take note. The government of Laos officially submitted the Pak Beng Dam to the Mekong River Commission in mid-November and has begun preparatory work around the future dam site. While ...
New Laos dam draws criticism
News that Laos will move ahead with the proposed 912-megawatt Pak Beng dam, which would be the third mainstream dam in Laos’ Lower Mekong River, has sparked criticism from environmental groups who say downstream countries should decide the fate of potentially harmful development projects. Laos ...
Hydropower review taskforce stalls, waiting for instructions
A Commission member on the taskforce reviewing hydropower projects said the team has yet to hear back from the president about the first submitted report, which is believed to have advised cancelling the controversial, Chinese-backed Myitsone dam. The first report on hydropower projects along the ...
Minister slams UN rep over alleged ‘prejudice’
Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon slammed UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights country representative Wan-Hea Lee for alleged “prejudice” in a two-page missive released on November 4. The letter was sent to UN Development Project resident representative Claire Van der Vaeren, blasting Wan-Hea ...
President inspects Biluchaung Hydro-power Plant 2 in Kayah State
President U Htin Kyaw, together with Union Ministers U Than Myint, U Thein Swe and U Pe Zin Tun and Deputy Minister Maj-Gen Than Htut, visited Loikaw in Kayah State on November 3 and met with local officials, entrepreneurs, farmers and residents in Linphonlay Village. The ...
Indigenous lands are even more critical to preserving the Earth than we thought
Nearly one quarter of the carbon stored above ground in tropical forests is currently in the care of indigenous and traditional communities. A new report suggests that keeping those populations on the land and guaranteeing their right to it could be the key to keeping ...
No back-up plan for Karenni refugees in Thai border camp as funds dry up
As the first wave of Myanmar refugees is repatriated from Thai border camps this week, returning to a home some have not seen for decades, others in the camps fear they will soon have no choice but to follow suit. Since the National League for Democracy ...
