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Damming The Mekong River: Economic Boon Or Environmental Mistake?
July 23rd, 2014
Via NPR, a report on Laos’ plans to dam the Mekong river: The Mekong is Southeast Asia’s most storied river. Its rich biodiversity though has been under threat for decades from things like overfishing and overpopulation. Environmentalists are now adding dams to that list. Towards the headwaters of the Mekong is Laos, one of the […]
Read more »Unplugging The ‘Battery’ Of SE Asia: Don Sahong Dam Threatens Food Security In Laos, Vietnam And Cambodia
March 26th, 2014
Via Future Directions International, a look at how construction of the Don Sahong Dam along the Lower Mekong River may exacerbate existing malnutrition in the region and jeopardise the livelihoods of villagers and commercial fishermen: The government of Laos aims to become the “battery” of South East Asia, by exporting electricity to its neighbours and […]
Read more »Messing Up the Mekong: Laos Plans a Second Huge Dam
October 7th, 2013
Via Time, an article on Laos’ plan for a second Mekong dam which is likely to have significant impacts on the region’s fishing, farming, and wildlife: The World Widlife Fund (WWF) has called for an emergency meeting with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) after Laos announced that it will go ahead with its second hydroelectric […]
Read more »Damming The Mekong: Fish-Friendly?
September 17th, 2013
Via The Economist, a look at the controversy over the Xayaburi dam: ALONG the banks of the Mekong in Laos, the forest has been stripped and the mountainside gouged out. Construction of the Xayaburi dam, the first on the lower Mekong, is in full swing. The dam, which will cost $3.5 billion, is being built […]
Read more »A Dam Too Far In Laos
April 15th, 2013
Via Climate Connections, a look at the impact of Laos’ Nam Theun 2 hydropower dam: It was once referred to by US magazine Newsweek as a “kinder, gentler†type of dam. Since the Nam Theun 2 hydropower dam commenced commercial operations in 2010, the World Bank and other proponents of the multi-billion dollar power project […]
Read more »Mekong Hydropower Projects Will Accumulate 16 Percent Of River’s Water
February 26th, 2013
Courtesy of OOSKA News, an article on the potential impact that hydropower projects planned within the Mekong River basin could have upon flows: If the hydropower projects planned within the Mekong River basin are completed, they will accumulate as much as 16 percent of the river’s water volume, or 475 billion cubic meters a year, […]
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