Asean climate crises loom after decades of abuse
Farmers along the Mekong have been told to expect a worse drought than the brutal water shortages that gripped the region before this year’s rains arrived. Severe or extreme drought is forecast to affect Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam before the next wet season, threatening agricultural production. The Mekong ...
Taylor McDonald
Donors slash funding for MRC
As disputes multiply over the use of the Mekong, including over planned upriver dams in Laos contested by Cambodia and Vietnam, and a newly unveiled Thai plan to divert water to its drought-ravaged farms, the body tasked with mediating among the four nations is losing ...
China Belatedly Notifies Mekong Nations of River Disruption
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 ...
Sebastian Strangio
[CALL FOR APPLICATIONS] Summer School on Land Relations and Land Governance in the Mekong Region
The Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development and the Mekong Land Research Forum has run annual summer schools on land relations and land governance, involving participants from all six Mekong countries.The purpose of the summer school is to equip participants with a research ...
Mekong's falling water level riles China's downstream neighbors
China’s water relations with Southeast Asian neighbors are under strain after Beijing held up the Mekong River’s flow at one of its large dams upstream, precipitating a sudden drop in volume for downstream countries that share the region’s longest body of water. “The water levels dropped ...
MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR
LMC to continue to inject new impetus into China-ASEAN ties, ASEAN community building: Cambodian experts
The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) will continue to inject impetus into the China-ASEAN cooperation and the ASEAN community building towards a more open, inclusive and prosperous region, Cambodian experts said in recent interviews with Xinhua. Launched on March 23, 2016 during the first LMC Leaders’ Meeting in ...
huaxia
8th meeting on indigenous medicine in Greater Mekong will be held in Yangon
Myanmar will be hosting the eighth meeting on indigenous medicine in the Greater Mekong Basin in the coming week, according to a senior health ministry official.The meeting will be held in Yangon and an exhibit on indigenous medicine and related products in the Greater Mekong ...
Regional Youth Camp "Racing up the Mekong"
Oxfam and Save Cambodia’s Wildlife is organizing the regional youth camp in March 2018 and below are the relevant info: WHAT: Regional Youth Camp “RACING UP THE MEKONG” WHEN: 25-30 March 2018 (excluding travelling time for non-Cambodian participants) WHERE: Mondul Yorn Ecotourism Site of Ratanakiri province, Cambodia. You ...
OXFAM
Mekong river groups urge China to show transparency after dam report
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 ...
Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok, and Prak Chan Thul in Phnom Penh, and James Pearson in Hanoi; Editing by Matthew Tostevin/Mark Heinrich
China could have choked off the Mekong and aggravated a drought, threatening the lifeline of millions in Asia
China’s upstream activities along the Mekong River have long been contentious — but a recent study has sparked fresh scrutiny over its dam-building exercises, reigniting warnings that millions of livelihoods could be destroyed. A U.S.-government funded study by research and consulting firm, Eyes on Earth, found that Chinese dams ...
Huileng Tan
Thaworn proposes new labour mobility panel for GMS
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 ...
POST REPORTERS
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
Thai Foundation Partners with Global Fund to Eliminate Drug-Resistant Malaria in Greater Mekong
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 ...
Vietnam’s Mekong Delta Declares Emergency on Devastating Drought
Vietnam’s prolonged drought, coupled with an extensive buildup of salinity, have driven five provinces in the country’s rice bowl to declare a state of emergency. “This year’s drought and salinity have been way more devastating than what we saw four years ago,” said Nguyen Thien Phap, ...
Mai Ngoc Chau
Survey Finds Decade-High Numbers of Irrawaddy Dolphins
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 ...
Zarni Mann
Experts doubt effectiveness of new plan to address Mekong drought
After a year of severe drought that hit the region, the inter-state agency Mekong River Commission (MRC) has laid out new measures to mitigate the effects of the crisis but experts have questioned the effectiveness of the plan. In its 2020-2025 strategy, adopted late last month ...
Leonie Kijewski
Section 1: COVID-19 - Actions in the Mekong Region
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash Overview When the novel coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the WHO on March 11, 2020, Mekong region governments acted swiftly to stop the spread of the virus. In order to prevent transmission of the illness, one of these actions was ...
Water governance
Because of the transborder nature of water ecosystems, a regional approach to water governance and the management of water resources is fundamental to both sustainable development and the assurance of water rights. Hydrobasins in the Lower Mekong. View the full map in Map Explorer.This need ...
Government
The governments of the Lower Mekong region face challenges rising from their individual histories and from shared challenges facing developing Southeast Asian economies. To varying degrees, they have been shaped by colonialism and war. Their current constitutions differ, as do the structures of their governments ...