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South-East Asia’s Biggest River Is Drying Up
May 18th, 2020
Via The Economist, a sobering report on the Mekong: Fish writhe frantically in the shallow pool, as their schoolmates stranded on the exposed sandbar breathe their last. It is November, the end of the monsoon season, yet the water in the Mekong river is perilously low. On this stretch, in north-eastern Thailand, the bank is […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Control of the Mekong
May 8th, 2020
Via The Diplomat, a report on how China – whether through its own dams or the financing and construction of dams in other countries – is largely in the driver’s seat when it comes to the Mekong: A recently published report by Eyes on Earth, Inc. has pointed the finger at Chinese dams holding back water […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Mekong Dams Threaten Tonle Sap Lake
April 27th, 2020
Via China Dialogue, a report on how the use and construction of dams on the Mekong will determine the future of Southeast Asia’s largest lake, Tonle Sap Lake: As the Tonle Sap floodplain empties into the Mekong this spring, the Cambodians who rely on these waters face bleak prospects, with fish catches reportedly 10 to 20% of previous years. […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Science Shows Chinese Dams Are Devastating the Mekong
April 22nd, 2020
Via Foreign Policy, a report on new data demonstrating a devastating effect on downstream Mekong water supplies that feed millions of people: Eleven massive dams straddle the mighty Mekong River before it leaves China and flows into Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and on into Vietnam. Yet I have long been skeptical that China could use […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Limited the Mekong’s Flow – Other Countries Suffered a Drought
April 13th, 2020
Courtesy of The New York Times, a report on new research showing that Beijing’s engineers appear to have directly caused the record low levels of water in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam: A narrow section of water flowed through the dried-out riverbed of the Mekong near Sangkhom, Thailand, in January. As China was stricken by […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s ‘Development Approach’ To Mekong Water Disputes
March 29th, 2020
Via The Diplomat, a look at China’s approach to Mekong River water disputes: Even as COVID-19 is wreaking havoc and uncertainty around the globe, Vietnam’s Mekong Delta declared an emergency over the devastating drought in early March. Studies suggest that the frequency and severity of droughts in the Mekong region has increased in the past decades, […]
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