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Laos: New Hydropower Dams, Old Mekong Worries
April 21st, 2018
Via The Diplomat, a report on growing concerns around the future of the Mekong River as Laos continues its hydropower ambitions: Laos has not been reluctant to let the world know about its ambition to become the largest energy exporter in the region, or the “Battery of Asia.” As of part of efforts to realize its […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Flexes Its Control On The Mekong
January 11th, 2018
Via The Asia Times, an article on how the recent Mekong-Lancang Cooperation summit did more to facilitate Beijing’s economic penetration than address the waterway’s many problems: Was it truly worth Chinese Premier Li Keqiang traveling all the way to Phnom Penh for the second Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) summit? As the MLC leaders’ meeting closed on Wednesday, […]
Read more »Is Sustainable Cooperation On The Mekong Possible?
October 30th, 2017
Via The Diplomat, a look at the political realities — starting with China — that make Mekong management difficult: The latest Greater Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy took place from October 25-27 in Yangon, Myanmar. This forum is the biggest annual affair aiming to raise awareness and share research-based knowledge about sustainable development […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Mekong Plans Threaten Disaster for Countries Downstream
September 27th, 2017
Via Foreign Policy, a report on how Beijing is building hydroelectric dams and dredging to allow bigger boats as worries of environmental devastation grow: Thirty million people depend for a living on the Mekong, the great Asian river that runs through Southeast Asia from its origins in the snowfields of Tibet to its end in […]
Read more »Mekong River: Damned If You Do, Damned if You Don’t
August 18th, 2017
Via Asia and The Pacific Policy Society, a critical look at the impact of dams on the Mekong River: Much has been written in recent years about the construction of hydropower dams in the upper reaches of the Mekong, especially in China, and their impacts on droughts in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. A standard refrain of […]
Read more »Is Myanmar’s Myitsone Dam Damned?
July 15th, 2017
Via East Asia Forum, an update on the planned Myitsone dam project: On a visit to a camp for internally displaced persons in Kachin State, the words of an interviewee were crystal clear: ‘China is coming to Myanmar for its own profits. When they invest, the Chinese bring their own labour and they discriminate. They […]
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