News
Don’t jump to conclusions over data on distressed Mekong River, says China official
A Chinese official in a Mekong River intergovernmental body has warned against jumping to conclusions about data on the distressed waterway, saying that politics may get in the way of closer cooperation between upstream and downstream countries along the waterway. “Some parties start with preconceptions, and ...
Tan Hui Yee/The Straits Times
Mekong River Commission promotes responsible water resources management, development
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is working to promote the maximization of the potential benefits of hydropower and other water-related development projects while minimising the harmful impact on the environment and millions of people living along this Southeast Asia’s largest river. The MRC launched two sets ...
NEWSROOM ODISHA NETWORK
Student contributions sought for better monitoring of Mekong River
A competition has been launched to challenge university students to design technology to monitor the Mekong’s water level, rainfall, soil moisture, and water quality. The River Monitoring Technology Competition, launched by the Mekong River Commission (MRC), is for students in the four regional countries of Cambodia, ...
Minh Nga
MRC Unveils Technology to Monitor Mekong Water Quality and Fish Migration
With hydrological projects now a daily reality along Southeast Asia’s most important waterway, the Mekong River Commission and its partners have introduced new technology to measure if one large project will have significant impact on the river’s water quality, flow or fish population. At the Don ...
Manyphone Vongphachanh
Diplomacy is indispensable to manage the Mekong
Milton Osborne mischaracterises the Mekong River Commission when writing last month in The Interpreter that the regional organisation “ignores reality”. To say we were “celebrating” the health of the river at our Mekong Day event on 5 April overlooks the fact that on that day I continued ...
ANOULAK KITTIKHOUN
Another Mekong River dam in Laos begins review process
Lao officials will soon submit plans for the Phou Ngoy Dam and hydropower plant to the Mekong River Commission for review, but villagers whose livelihoods would be hurt by the construction worry they will be left out of the process. Thailand’s Charoen Energy and Water Asia ...
How the Mekong River Commission ignores reality
Among the many “days” celebrated by the international community, one entrant seems especially incongruous. “Mekong Day” was proclaimed by the Mekong River Commission’s (MRC) headquarters in Vientiane to celebrate the signature of the “Agreement on the Cooperation and Sustainable Development of the Mekong River”, which took place ...
MILTON OSBORNE
Cooperation key on Mekong issues
In the coming months, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) will host a unique competition for university students from our four member countries: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The objective is to see which team can develop the most effective, cost-efficient and sustainable technology to monitor water ...
ANOULAK KITTIKHOUN
Opinion: A Convention Could Lock In China’s Mekong Cooperation
The success and survival of the Mekong River rests with China: the largest, wealthiest state in the region, positioned in the strategically important upstream. As the Mekong enters its fourth year of drought, certainty about China’s cooperation is no longer desirable — it is essential. No ...
Kenneth Stiller
Mekong Countries Urged to Take Action as River Experiences Three Years of Low Flows
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat has renewed its call for the six Mekong countries to urgently address regional low flows, water fluctuations and drought as the Lower Mekong River experiences record low flows for the third consecutive year. During the last three years, flows in ...
Latsamy Phonevilay