Hydropower dams

From sea to source, the Mekong River stretches nearly 5,000 km through six countries. More than 60 million people depend on its waters for survival, and it is second only to the Amazon in its biodiversity. Photographers Gareth Bright and Luke Forsyth spent eighteen months ...

The locals of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand describe their lives as “three days of fishing, two days of drying the nets”. They fish the river in the rainy season, then as the dry season approaches hang up their nets and plant crops. This is ...

Hundreds of dams are being proposed for Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia. The negative social and environmental consequences—affecting everything from food security to the environment—greatly outweigh the positive changes of this grand-scale flood control, according to new research by Michigan State University.Keep reading ...

A study by an international team of conservation scientists found that a dam built in Thailand 31 years ago has caused the local bird population to collapse.Keep reading ...

Residents living along the Mekong River in Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong district have expressed strong opposition to a public hearing on China’s plans to blast away a stretch of rapids, saying there was no need for more talk about the proposal, which they would not ...

those located in the lower part of the river – Asia’s seventh longest – are in need of a collective strategy to secure their future, given China’s control of the upstream part and ongoing changes in global geopolitics.Keep reading ...

The countries of the Mekong should build a “community of shared future” said China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in December last year. The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework (LMC) is “practical and highly effective”, he said. “We do not go after a high-profile ‘talk shop’ but a ...

According to the recent Hydropower Status Report, East Asia and the Pacific has the highest annual increase in hydropower capacity with China contributing the largest share of installed capacity. Over 90 per cent of the capacity added in 2017 in the region came from China, which ...

China is building a series of hydropower dams on the Mekong, which analysts say will produce needed electricity while posing major threats to the environment.The Thai village of Sob Ruak, at the heart of the Golden Triangle region where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet, is ...

Thailand’s finest tomato production areas along Mekong River in the northeastern region have suffered serious impacts from dams in the lower Mekong River Basin, causing financial distress for the local farmers and threatening their livelihoods.Keep reading ...