Water resources
Rivers and lakes
Villagers slam EIA report on Yuam water project
A group of ethnic villagers who oppose a plan to divert water from the Yuam River to Bhumibol dam is planning to submit a protest letter to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.They say the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report lacks transparency and the project will ...
Apinya Wipatayotin
‘Water Grabbing’ On The Mekong – Analysis
As dam-building projects continue to proliferate along Southeast Asia’s vital Mekong River, experts in a recent online discussion panel agreed that the area is fast becoming overloaded with them, dredging up far-reaching issues ranging from international friction and industry “water grabs” to widespread ecological disasters ...
Why Asean needs to care about Mekong issues like it did with haze
The Mekong river, which runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, is the beating heart of mainland Southeast Asia, sustaining the livelihoods of around 66 million people. Yet the river is running dry, with its water levels at their lowest in 100 years. ...
Feel the people’s power flow
Amid the jubilation, there was a brief moment of uneasiness. Last September, during a ceremony to award the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Equator Prize held at the Boon Rueang wetland forest in Chiang Rai province, participants noticed the ground was much drier than it ...
China Dams Continue to Hinder Water Flow on the Mekong River
China’s water relations with Thailand and the other lower Mekong countries are once again 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 ...
Thailand NGO seeks halt to Mekong dam project in Laos, as threat to Asean's most vital waterway grows
A civic group in Thailand is petitioning the country’s financial institutions to withhold construction loans for the Luang Prabang dam project along the Mekong River in Laos amid warnings about the negative environmental risks the dams pose and the potential for the displacement of families ...
Chinese dams under U.S. scrutiny in Mekong rivalry
A U.S.-funded project using satellites to track and publish water levels at Chinese dams on the Mekong river was announced on Monday, adding to the superpowers’ rivalry in Southeast Asia.The 4,350-kilometer waterway — known as the Lancang in China and flowing south through Myanmar, Laos, ...
Fight for the Mekong gathers pace
More than 20 years ago, when two Chiang Rai-based environmentalists, Niwat Roikaew and Somkiat Kuenwongsa, learned that the Chinese government were blasting rapids in the upper Mekong River from Yunnan to Myanmar and Laos to clear the way for large commercial vessels, they started worrying.Back ...
The struggle for the soul of the Mekong River
In June of this year, the FAO’s annual State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report ranked the Mekong Basin as the world’s most productive freshwater fishery, accounting for over 15% of global annual freshwater fish catch. Meanwhile, WWF Researchers estimate that the contribution actually accounts ...
South-East Asia’s biggest river is drying up
Fish writhe frantically in the shallow pool, as their schoolmates stranded on the exposed sandbar breathe their last. It is November, the end of the monsoon season, yet the water in the Mekong river is perilously low. On this stretch, in north-eastern Thailand, the bank ...
