News
China Joins Lower Mekong River Countries to Study Impacts of Climate Change, Dams
China and the countries of the lower Mekong River are teaming up for their largest joint study yet of the impacts climate change and hydropower dams are having on one of Asia’s great waterways, and how to cope with the growing threats from floods and ...
Zsombor Peter
Improving Food Security Through Capacity Building
Millions of people suffer from food insecurity around the globe. With the help of Earth-observing satellites, the NASA-USAID SERVIR project is hoping to reduce that number. Food security – the consistent availability and affordability of food – is a basic human need, yet it remains elusive ...
Esprit Smith, NASA’s Earth Science News Team
Wet-season dam operations hit Mekong ecology and communities
In early July 2021, Chinese dams began restricting the flow of the Upper Mekong. Researchers and activists say the consequences downstream are unknown and potentially severe. As China celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party on 1 July, the Jinghong dam in Yunnan Province began restricting ...
Tyler Roney, The Third Pole
Chinese dams cloud Mekong River relations
The new Chinese Ambassador to Thailand, Han Zhiqiang compares relations between the two countries and their collective effort to combat Covid-19 pandemic as being “one family”. The ambassador insists he is not exaggerating and said his sentiments resonate with what is happening on the ground. He ...
MONTREE CHANTAWONG
Droughts shrink hydropower, pose risk to global push to clean energy
Severe droughts are drying up rivers and reservoirs vital for the production of zero-emissions hydropower in several countries around the globe, in some cases leading governments to rely more heavily on fossil fuels. The emerging problems with hydropower production in places like the United States, China ...
Sharon Bernstein and Jake Spring, David Stanway
Japan, Mekong states back Cambodia's economic recovery initiative
Japan and other Mekong countries have expressed support for Cambodia’s initiative to establish a joint working group on the Mekong-Japan Economic Recovery Scenarios, according to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation following their latest meeting on August 6. The ...
Voun Dara
Addressing Climate Change in the Mekong-Ganges Region
ollowing the 11th Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) meeting on July 21, the foreign ministers of the MGC’s six member countries (Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam) agreed on the need to increase cooperation on sustainable water resource management. The ministers pledged to enhance technical cooperation ...
Lohita Solanki
Japan resumes meeting with 5 Mekong countries after suspending it due to Myanmar coup
Japan is expected to use its meeting on Friday with the five Mekong River states to reiterate its commitment to the region, although analysts said it will also aim to reinforce its foreign policy objective of countering China’s influence. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will hold ...
Julian Ryall
Rethinking southeast Asia's energy plans
Big hydropower plants are an important source of clean and cheap electricity for many countries in Southeast Asia. However, dams harm the environment and have dire consequences on local communities. Building more dams would therefore pose major trade-offs between electricity supply and environmental protection. A team ...
SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN
What COVID-19? Synthetic drug trade thrives in Mekong Region
It has been quick to spot opportunities and reduce risks, thriving despite COVID-19. In its own brand of regional integration, it has been connecting the dots across the lower Mekong region as it carves out new ways to cross borders and reach its customers in ...
Johanna Son, Reporting ASEAN