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Latest Mekong Dam Will Produce Little Power, But Much Environmental Harm
July 24th, 2023
Courtesy of Circle of Blue, perspective on a dam project impacting an important Mekong tributary: Southeast Asia’s Mekong River, known as the most productive river system on the planet, sustains the livelihoods of tens of millions of people through fishing and farming. For years, the world’s largest inland fishery has also been under assault from […]
Read more »No Mainstream: The Mekong’s Competing Definitions
April 15th, 2023
Courtesy of The Diplomat, an article on how – both within and between nations – Southeast Asia’s largest river gives rise to competing, and in some cases conflicting, notions: Last September, during a Thailand-Australia Policy Dialogue organized by the Asia Foundation and the Australian National University in Canberra, I was reminded of the ice-breaking exercise […]
Read more »Laos Takes Another Step Forward on Controversial Mekong Dam
April 7th, 2023
Courtesy of The Diplomat, an article on continued progress towards the new China-backed Pak Lay hydropower project, one of nine dams that the Lao government has planned for the Mekong River: Yesterday, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that Thai and Chinese investors have signed a power purchase agreement that opens the way to the construction of a […]
Read more »Time To Change Myopic View Of The Mekong
April 7th, 2023
Via The Asia Times, commentary on saving the Mekong, which may require looking below the surface of the river: All eyes this week are on the Mekong, the mighty river that is the lifeblood of Southeast Asia. As prime ministers, diplomats, and business and finance leaders gather in Vientiane for the fourth Mekong River Commission […]
Read more »Cambodia Seeks UNESCO World Heritage Status to Protect Mekong’s Biodiversity From Chinese Dam
December 30th, 2022
Via The Diplomat, an article on Cambodia’s efforts to protect Mekong biodiversity from the threat of a Chinese dam: A bold Cambodian plan to secure World Heritage status along their stretch of the Mekong, where the free-flowing river has sustained some of the world’s greatest biodiversity, could provide much-needed respite to a river in danger of dying from dams and […]
Read more »Cambodia’s Elites Swallow Up Phnom Penh’s Lakes
October 7th, 2022
Courtesy of Mongabay, a report on how Cambodia’s lakes are being quickly filled in and sold as real estate projects: Lakes in Phnom Penh are fast being filled in and parceled off as prime real estate to wealthy and politically connected individuals. Families who have for generations fished and practiced aquaculture on the lakes and […]
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