International donors must call Cambodia out on corruption
Cambodia’s economy has grown rapidly in the last two decades, with gross domestic product increasing almost sixfold from 1998 to 2015, according to the World Bank. But for most of that period, headline economic growth failed to generate commensurate development outcomes or increases in government ...
Villages and academic collaboration gathers crucial data on Mekong River dam projects’ impact
In a collective stance against two prospective dam projects along the Mekong River, villagers from five communities, researchers, as well as a Thai university, have teamed up. The collaboration aims to gather comprehensive data regarding their local economy, natural resources, and potential downstream impacts. The participation from within ...
Nattapong Westwood
B Grimm Power delays listing plan over change in accounting
B Grimm Power will postpone to next year its plan to list on the stock market because of a change in accounting standards, said company president Preeyanart Soontornwata. She said the new standards affected B Grimm Power’s plan for an initial public offering as it ...
Asia's plastic-polluted rivers pose a problem for Australia. So scientists are turning to drones
It’s one of 10 rivers in the world that collectively contribute up to 95 per cent of plastic in the ocean. Running for more than 4,000 kilometres, the Mekong River flows through six countries, starting in China and making its way through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia ...
Amy Bainbridge
Mekong dams store up trouble for China downstream
China has been accused of limiting the water to one of the world’s biggest rivers to feed its hydroelectric dams. David Stilwell, the US assistant secretary of state for east Asia and the Pacific, said that Beijing was manipulating the water flows of the Mekong with ...
Didi Tang
Melting glaciers could destabilize Asia
Hundreds of millions of people across South and Southeast Asia depend on waters that originate in the long-frozen reaches of the Tibetan plateau. Yet, a sobering study shows that the melting of Himalayan glaciers has doubled in the last decade. The glaciers have been losing the equivalent ...
Jackson Ewing
Drought in the Mekong Region Prompts Calls for Greater Regional Co-operation
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) was established in 1995 to strengthen joint efforts and partnerships for the sustainable management and development of water resources in mainland South-East Asia. The MRC includes Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, but not China. Beijing established the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, to give ...
Lara Bradbury, Research Assistant, Global Food and Water Crises Research Programme
Look to ASEAN for promising renewable energy markets
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is a political and economic organization of ten Southeast Asian countries. Formed in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, membership has since expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. Covering more than ...
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
China commits to share year-round water data with Mekong River Commission
China on Thursday signed an agreement with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to share year-round data on the flow of its portion of the vital waterway amid concern that Chinese dams may be causing drought downstream in Southeast Asia. A push for more data from China’s ...
Reporting by Kay Johnson; Editing by Ed Davies, Martin Petty
China’s Push to Control the Mekong River a “Troubling Trend”
The United States has expressed concern over Chinese dam building, dredging and other activities on the Mekong River in Southeast Asia, calling them “troubling trends.” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with ministers from lower Mekong River countries, including Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The foreign ministers of ...
Hull researchers head to the Mekong to tackle plastic pollution
The Mekong River in Southeast Asia is one of the world’s great waterways, fertile and ecologically diverse with millions relying on it for their food, but it’s increasingly clogged with plastic pollution. To help address the mounting problem, a team of researchers from the University of ...
Thomas Barrett
CLMV reporters join food safety media training: Mekong Institute
Thirty-two science reporters from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam are currently attending the Mekong Institute’s media training workshop on food safety reporting. Read the full text of the Mekong Institute’s release below, or at their website.—Thirty-two science communicators and media professionals from Cambodia, Lao PDR, ...
Thailand: Migrants Could Benefit from Moves to Ease COVID-19 Restrictions
Migrant workers in Thailand who could not return to their home countries because of the COVID-19 lockdown have lost jobs and suffered financial hardship during the pandemic, but could soon see their outlook improve as the country starts to reopen. Thailand has long been a regional ...
Nontarat Phaicharoen
Transparency and info-sharing valued by multilateral cooperative scheme benefiting states along Lancang-Mekong river
Representatives from six countries located in the Lancang-Mekong river basin joined an online meeting for the first time after the outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic on Thursday to facilitate dialogue on establishing an information sharing platform to boost transparency and cooperation in water resources management. The ...
Hu Yuwei
2nd Regional Stakeholder Forum on the Council Study & Update of PDG and Sustainable Hydropower Development Strategy
The forum titled “The study on sustainable development and management of the Mekong river, including the impacts of mainstream hydropower projects and the update of preliminary design guidance, and sustainable hydropower development strategy in the lower Mekong basin” will beThe 2nd MRC regional stakeholder forum, ...
Mekong River Commission
MRC says bold actions needed to address low Mekong flows
China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam have all been urged to take steps to address regional low flows, water fluctuations and drought as the Lower Mekong River experiences record low flows for the third consecutive year. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat has said that ...
South Korea-Mekong foreign ministers’ meeting to begin
Ministers from South Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam will meet virtually today at the 10th Mekong-Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Ministers meeting. Today’s ministerial meeting will evaluate the development of Mekong-ROK relations since the establishment of the 2019 Mekong-ROK Summit. The Summit elevated relations from ...
Trey Marks
Evolving role of civil society to improve forest governance in the Mekong region
The Voices for Mekong Forests (V4MF) will host the project’s closing event on 30 November 2021. The European Union (EU) funded the V4MF project with the goal to strengthen civil society’s contributions for improved forest governance in the Mekong region. The project started in 2017 and will end ...