News
The Precarious State of the Mekong
The author Tucker Elliot wrote in “The Rainy Season” about the volatile nature of the Mekong: “No matter the border, the Mekong has been an indiscriminate giver and taker of life in Southeast Asia for thousands of years. It’s a paradox like civilization’s other great rivers – ...
Nicholas Muller
Chinese dams on Mekong River endanger fish stocks, livelihoods, activists say
For Pianporn Deetes, the Mekong is more than a river. “This is not just liquid, but this is the entire life-supporting system,” Deetes, a local activist, said recently on a wooden long-tail boat heading upstream in northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai province. The Mekong, one of the world’s longest waterways, runs about ...
Keir Simmons, Rhoda Kwan, Nat Sumon and Jennifer Jett
Military Chief seeks balance between health safety and livelihood security
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the country military chief, urged the civilian authorities to keep a balance between the need for health safety and livelihood security in implementing policies aimed at controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. The Senior General conceded that the rate of infection of COVID-19 ...
Sai Wanna
$1M grant from Luce Foundation launches interdisciplinary program on. Mekong Sustainability
A Michigan State University interdisciplinary team of faculty and staff is working to foster environmental justice in Southeast Asia. The Henry Luce Foundation’s Initiative on Southeast Asia, or LuceSEA, is providing $1 million in funding to help create the Mekong Culture WELL project. The Lower Mekong ...
Lois Furry, Amanda Flaim
Man spends 15 years on hydropower islet
Mai Van Hao, 61, has lived on the 1.5-hectare islet at the heart of Khe Dien hydropower reservoir since 2003, three years before the investor blocked Nong Son River for construction in Que Ninh Commune, Nong Son District. “When the hydropower dam was built, my home ...
Dac Thanh
Hydropower in Cambodia could threaten food security of region
Farmers and anglers in Cambodia depend on the Mekong River’s predictable seasonal patterns, but new dams for hydroelectricity are altering the hydrology of the river. These changes have the potential to threaten fish migration, livelihoods, and regional food security. Keep reading ...
Are Chinese-funded dams on the Mekong River washing away Cambodian livelihoods?
Beijing’s spending on hydropower projects is welcomed by many poorer Southeast Asian countries, but it comes with a huge environmental and social cost, experts say. Keep reading ...
Laura Zhou
Flood-based livelihoods to help Mekong Delta’s water storage
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) launched a project on January 26 on flood-based livelihoods in support of the water storage strategy in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.Keep reading ...
VNA Reporter
World View: China’s Mekong River Dams Criticized for Affecting Other Countries’ Livelihoods
Multiple dams and hydropower projects being built in China on the Lancang Jiang River, which becomes the Mekong River when it leaves China, are having a significant effect on the livelihoods and living conditions of millions of people along the Mekong River in downstream countries. ...
China ‘ready to amend’ Mekong plan
China has acknowledged concerns about the impacts on people’s livelihoods of the Mekong River navigation channel improvement project, while indicating the possibility of amending or even cancelling the project.[] Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai yesterday said he had discussed the project with Chinese authorities ...
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