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Asia’s Great Rivers: Climate Crisis, Pollution Put Billions At Risk
January 11th, 2020
Via Terra Daily, a report on the potential risk facing Asia’s great rivers: The year is 2100. The glaciers of the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region — the world’s “Third Pole” — are vanishing as the planet warms, the ice that once fed the great rivers of Asia is all but lost, and with it much of […]
Read more »Did Vietnam Just Doom The Mekong: Dam Diplomacy and the Geopolitics of the Mekong
November 30th, 2019
Via The Diplomat, an article on a recent policy reversal on Mekong dams that has put Hanoi’s credibility – and the river’s fate – on the line: The recent decision by a Vietnamese oil company, Petrovietnam, to invest in a huge dam close to the much-loved World Heritage Site in Luang Prabang, Laos, has caused confusion […]
Read more »Laos Hydro Project Switched On Along Dried-Out Mekong
October 31st, 2019
Via Terra Daily, a report on a new hydropower project that was officially switched on in Laos: A multi-billion dollar hydro-electric power plant on the Mekong river in Laos was officially switched on Tuesday, as drone images of dried-up downstream areas stirred fresh outcry on one of the world’s great rivers. The Thai-owned Xayaburi dam […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: How Dams and China’s Might Imperil The Mekong
October 13th, 2019
Courtesy of The New York Times (subscription required), a sobering look at the future of the Mekong River: When the Chinese came to the village of Lat Thahae, perched on a muddy bend of a Mekong River tributary, they scrawled a Chinese character on the walls of homes, schools and Buddhist temples. No one in […]
Read more »Laos Stirs Controversy With Plan For Fourth Mekong Dam
June 21st, 2018
Via The Asia Times, a report that Vientiane has submitted notice about a hydropower project at Pak Lay in western Xayaburi province, upsetting villagers on both sides: The government of Laos has proposed that yet another dam should be built on the Mekong River’s midstream. Vientiane submitted an official notice to the Mekong River Commission with […]
Read more »Leaked Report: Cambodia’s Biggest Dam Could ‘Literally Kill’ Mekong
May 27th, 2018
Via The Guardian, an article on the heavy impact of a planned hydroelectric dam on the Mekong: A Chinese-backed plan to build Cambodia’s biggest dam could “literally kill” the Mekong river, according to a confidential assessment seen by the Guardian which says that the proposed site at Sambor is the “worst possible place” for hydropower. […]
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