In a nod to green diplomacy, Vietnam is raising the geopolitical stakes over the Mekong River, Southeast Asia’s largest body of water, which has dropped to record lows due to a severe drought and construction of large dams. Hanoi has signaled its intent to raise the issue this ...

On any list of places menaced by climate change, Vietnam’s broad and fertile Mekong Delta ranks near the top. And yet, as I wrote for Mongabay four years ago, rising seas and changing weather patterns are not the only threats to the delta’s fabled fecundity. A spasm of ...

On 6 November, the Mekong River Commission acknowledged that climate change had exacerbated this year’s wildly varying water levels on the Mekong – which saw the mighty river reduced to a trickle in parts, even during the rainy season. But the main contributor, it said, ...

Groups working to protect the Mekong River have called for greater transparency and cooperation from China after a report that Chinese dams held back water during a damaging drought in downstream countries last year. China has disputed the findings of the U.S. government-funded study and said ...

With persistent concerns expressed by India about China’s exploitation of the Yarlung Zangbo River, upstream from the Brahmaputra River in India, officials and scholars should study the possibility of borrowing on the experience of the Lancang-Mekong cooperation mechanism to resolve disputes along trans-boundary rivers. The ...

Banpu Power Plc has reported its 2016 business performance, with its net profit of Bt4.13 billion, a significant increase on the Bt2.07 billion it posted in the previous year. With its strong financial status, Banpu Power has affirmed its strategic plan in operating conventional and renewable ...

Deputy Transport Minister Thaworn Senneam called for the appointment of a committee on safe labour mobility during the 24th Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Ministerial Conference held online on Wednesday. The meeting was also attended by GMS ministers from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. The ...

Cambodia and Vietnam inked an agreement on October 26 to drop import tariffs on dozens of products in an effort to boost bilateral trade. Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnamese Minister of Trade and Industry Tran Tuan Anh ahead of the ...

The number of the endangered Irrawaddy dolphins found in Myanmar this year has increased to 79, the highest in a decade, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society of Myanmar (WCS). The numbers include seven calves aged three months or younger. The Irrawaddy dolphins can also be found ...

The U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia on September 28 hit the country with a growing list of criticisms over alleged human rights abuses, which Cambodia parried with the apparent support of neighboring states, including Burma, Laos, Thailand and China. Rhona Smith, in a presentation ...

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 ...

Local communities along the Mekong River are asking the government to establish a fund, made up of collected tax revenues from development projects on the waterway, to compensate villagers affected by them. “This fund [should] not be a corporate social responsibility scheme,” said Ormbun Thipsuna, president ...

The Thai government has also implemented a measure to reduce the demand for drugs in the country. This comes as new producers keep on emerging regardless of seizures.  They will keep doing so as long as there is demand. Signatories of the Safe Mekong Coordination Project have met ...

Earlier this week, I wrote about the sudden drop in water levels along the Mekong River in northern Thailand, and their likely link to the filling of a dam reservoir upstream in China. The fall first became apparent on January 4, when locals in the Thai port town ...

The Dhanin Tawee Chearavanont Foundation today became the first private sector partner to support the Global Fund’s largest regional initiative to eliminate drug-resistant malaria in the Greater Mekong. With a contribution of US$2 million over two years, the Thai-based private family foundation will support the Global ...

1. The Third Lancang-Mekong Cooperation(LMC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, China on 15 December 2017. H.E. Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, H.E. Prak Sokhonn, Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International ...

From the snowy plateaus of Tibet to the mountain gorges of China’s Yunnan province and beyond to the jungled borders of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and down to the plains of Cambodia and paddy fields of Vietnam – the Mekong River is of crucial importance to ...

Japan’s official development assistance to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has been an effective “investment in the future” for the 10-nation region and Japan, bolstering development and prosperity for both parties, according to a government paper released Friday. The ODA White Paper for 2013 calls ...

The opening of a new bridge between Thailand and Myanmar has pushed Southeast Asia one step closer to the realization of an East-West Economic Corridor, connecting the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean.  The corridor, which passes through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, is set to ...

Mother of Rivers, Giver of Life The Mekong is the world’s 12th longest river and a crucial lifeline for many in Southeast Asia. Known as the Mother of Rivers (แม่น้ำโขง) in Thailand and Laos, the Mekong brings abundant food and resources to the six countries it ...