Mekong Records Highest Water Level In Several Years
The Mekong River has recorded higher water levels this year after four straight years of low flow and drought
Read more
Mekong River Commission (MRC)
MRC Blames Mekong River’s Blue Hue on Upstream Outflow Restrictions, Decreased Rainfall
Water levels in the Mekong River are down to “worrying” levels with some parts of the major Southeast Asian waterway in Laos and Thailand turning blue due to increased algae growth
Read more
Drought, Dams Cause Mekong River In Laos To Turn Unhealthy Blue
A section of the Mekong river in Laos has changed color from muddy brown to blue—a warning sign indicating poor health in Southeast Asia’s most important waterway.
Read more
World Could See Many Water Conflicts In Coming Years
If climate change trends continue and if population continues to increase, water conflicts will probably be an aspect of our future.
Read more
Laos Announces Fourth Mekong Dam Amid Fears Of Ecological Disaster
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) announced yesterday that Laos has formally notified the Commission of its intention to construct the Pak Lay dam on the mainstream of the Mekong River.
Read more
Is Mekong River Set To Become The New South China Sea For Regional Disputes?
Foreign ministers from the six countries through which the Mekong flows met in southwestern China last month to approve a draft of a five-year development plan for the river. But as state leaders prepare to finalise the proposal at a meeting in Cambodia later this month, environmental groups have expressed concern over what it could mean for Southeast Asia’s longest waterway.
Read more
Mekong Damns Leave Vietnam and Cambodia High and Dry
As Vietnam suffers its worst drought in nearly a century and Cambodia faces a water shortage that could jeopardise the livelihoods of 1.5 million people, debates have been reignited over the mega dams built along the Mekong.
Once referred to as ‘one of the world’s last great stretches of undammed river‘, the Mekong could well become one of the most dammed rivers in Asia. By 2030, 70 dams will …..
Mekong Body Risks Losing Funds: Donors
The Mekong River Commission must “urgently” clarify how it will restructure and fund itself in the future or risk donors pulling out, development partners said yesterday, as it emerged funding for the intergovernmental body would likely be “much lower” than the MRC had anticipated.
Following three days of meetings in the Laotian capital, Vientiane, the MRC’s development partners released a joint statement calling for more information on “critical” reforms to its governing bodies.
The statement – endorsed by Australia, the European Union, …..
Mekong ‘Hydro Diplomacy’ Falling Short
Experts at a conference in Chiang Rai held out hope that future transborder water conflicts such as the one over Laos’ Xayaburi dam will be dealt with in a more inclusive and sustainable manner, but the concept is still in its infancy in the region.
At the conference, Dr Robert Mather, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said the Xayaburi dam project has shown that a shared vision on water resources does not exist in the Mekong region. Each country still looks out only for its own interests and not at sharing benefits in development opportunities.
“If we apply the concept of hydro diplomacy to the Mekong situation, we may have more choices other than ….