News
Does Lao’s Xayaburi dam benefit its people?
The newly-built Xayaburi dam has raised some key concerns about Lao PDR’s hydropower strategy. While hydropower is one of the country’s main exports, Lao PDR still has to import electricity. And although the government says the Xayaburi dam will improve access to electricity for its citizens, ...
Jason Thomas
Safeguarding labour migration in the Mekong region
In recent years, several UN agencies and NGOs have moved away from a narrow anti-trafficking focus to a broader focus on migration governance. It is within this context that ‘safe migration’ has become a popular approach for migration assistance provision. The Mekong region is a fertile ...
Sverre Molland
China to aid Mekong's development
China has pledged to work closely with Thailand under the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) framework to help promote the development of the Mekong Basin region. The pledge was conveyed by China’s Ambassador to Thailand, Lyu Jian, in a statement released on Sunday to mark the start of the ...
Lack of clarity on scrapping Mekong rapids blasting raises concerns
Environmentalists and local people along the Mekong River in Thailand remain uneasy over previously proposed plans to blast the Mekong River rapids, inspite of a Foreign Ministry assurance that the navigation channel improvement project had been scrapped. Keep reading ...
Laos builds more dams, scientists worry about Mekong’s ecosystem
Instead of requesting additional data used in the building of Pak Lay hydroelectric dam in Laos, Dr Le Anh Tuan, a Mekong River expert and deputy head of the Institute for Climate Change Research at Can Tho University, believes that it would be better to ...
A new method to help track the Mekong’s rare wildlife
Scientists are rapidly developing new DNA-methods to identify what kind of life is present in rivers, lakes and the ocean. Advocates of the method claim that it has the potential to revolutionise the way environmental monitoring is done. Keep reading ...
Concrete-stuffed bodies found in Mekong were Thai activists
The mutilated bodies of two men found stuffed with concrete in the Mekong River last month have been identified as Thai activists living in exile, police and family confirmed on Tuesday (Jan 22). The pair were among dozens of anti-monarchy activists who fled Thailand to ...
Mekong mini movie fest returns
Mekong Region’s tourism office has launched the second edition of is popular travel consumer contest Mekong Mini Movie Festival. Last year, the inaugural project logged what the organisers identified as 22,000 campaign followers and 900,000 video views. Keep reading ...
Joint Mekong patrols extended
The six-nation Safe Mekong Operation Project will continue anti-drug operations for at least the next four years, Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Prajin Juntong says. The campaign, which began in 2013, has pulled Thailand, Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam together to tackle drug trafficking ...
China Focus: Seven years on, joint patrols on Mekong stabilize region
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, ships horns echoed through the river valley as the 76th joint patrol of the Mekong River by law enforcement from China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand set sail, marking its 7th anniversary. Wearing uniforms, helmets and life jackets, rows of police officers ...