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The Thirsty Dragon: Across Asia, China Has ‘Most to Lose’ If Rivers Run Dry
June 4th, 2023
Via EcoBusiness, a look at how – across Asia – China has the ‘most to lose’ if mother rivers run dry and don’t recover from climate change: Late last year, when two months of scorching heatwaves and a drought pushed China’s electricity grid to the brink and caused severe power shortages in multiple provinces, it […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Mekong Water Use Tests China’s Claimed ‘Good-Neighborliness’
May 16th, 2023
Via The Pacific Forum, a look at China’s use of Mekong River water: China claims to be a uniquely benevolent international actor—a great power that, unlike other great powers past and present, does not practice “power politics” (self-interested bullying of smaller states) and is not “selfish” or warlike. The PRC government styles itself as the custodian of principles […]
Read more »Potential Solutions for Vietnam’s Water Scarce Delta
May 2nd, 2023
Via East Asia Forum, a look at potential solutions for the water-scarce Mekong Delta: The 21st century has seen a rapid increase in the number of countries in the Global South experiencing water scarcity. In the Mekong region, environment–development conflicts driven by climate change and upstream hydropower development jeopardise water supply in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). […]
Read more »The Vietnamese Climate Trap
April 23rd, 2023
Via The Globe & Mail, a report on how – as rising seas ruin crops – Mekong Delta farmers are moving to big cities, straining their finances and families – but for most, migration is not an option. Their stories challenge conventional wisdom on what ‘climate refugees’ look like and where they go: 1. Farmer […]
Read more »No Mainstream: The Mekong’s Competing Definitions
April 15th, 2023
Courtesy of The Diplomat, an article on how – both within and between nations – Southeast Asia’s largest river gives rise to competing, and in some cases conflicting, notions: Last September, during a Thailand-Australia Policy Dialogue organized by the Asia Foundation and the Australian National University in Canberra, I was reminded of the ice-breaking exercise […]
Read more »Laos Takes Another Step Forward on Controversial Mekong Dam
April 7th, 2023
Courtesy of The Diplomat, an article on continued progress towards the new China-backed Pak Lay hydropower project, one of nine dams that the Lao government has planned for the Mekong River: Yesterday, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that Thai and Chinese investors have signed a power purchase agreement that opens the way to the construction of a […]
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