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Vietnam, Laos Split Over Mekong Dam
March 3rd, 2011
Via Global Geopolitics, a report on the Xayaburi dam issue has become the first major test of environmental diplomacy for the four countries in the lower Mekong, members of the Mekong River Commission (MRC): The first in a new series of 11 dams planned across the Mekong, South-east Asia’s largest river, could break a special […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Triggering A Revival In Downstream Hydropower Ambitions On The Mekong
February 8th, 2011
Via ChinaDialogue, a look at how China – by building dams on the upper Mekong – has triggered a revival in hydropower ambitions downstream. As the article notes: “…Much has been written on the downstream impact of China’s dams on the Mekong River, which flows through or along the borders of Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam […]
Read more »Mekong Progress? Study Calls For 10-Year Freeze on Dam Construction
November 8th, 2010
Via Circle of Blue, news of a new study approved by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) calling for a 10-year freeze on the construction of hydropower dams along Southeast Asia’s Mekong River.  As the article notes: “…When in September Laos submitted its plans for the construction of the 1,260-megawatt Sayaboury hydropower dam on the Mekong […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Dammed If They Do; Damned If They Don’t
July 11th, 2010
Courtesy of The Economist, a look at the rising (water) tension between China and its neighbors over China’s planned hydroelectric projects. As the article notes: “IN YUNNAN in south-west China the biggest floods in a dozen years have ended a long, brutal drought. For months here in Xishuangbanna, a glassy Mekong had merely sauntered towards […]
Read more »Mekong Water Politics: Four + Two = Problems
April 4th, 2010
Courtesy of The San Francisco Chronicle, Dr. Peter Gleick weighs in on the coming crisis over the Mekong due to unconstrained development, natural droughts, and climate change. As he notes, much of the problem can be distilled down to the fact that while six nations share the watershed of the Mekong — China, Myanmar, Cambodia, […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Working To Defuse Mekong Water Tensions
April 3rd, 2010
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), some additional analysis on the recent Mekong River summit to discuss the health of the Mekong River and the possibility that China may have to do more to ease these water tensions in order to prevent other international players from undermining its influence in the region. As the article notes: […]
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