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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: […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Mekong Enemies In Times Of Low Flow
April 2nd, 2010
Courtesy of The New York Times, a report on the increasing tensions between China and the other nations — Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam —that share the Mekong River downstream. As the article notes: “…In southern China, the worst drought in at least 50 years has dried up farmers’ fields and left tens of […]
Read more »The Big Melt
March 31st, 2010
Courtesy of National Geographic, a detailed look at the “Big Melt” in the Himalayas and the real challenge of preventing water conflicts from spilling across borders, whether that be related to the growing sense of alarm in Central Asia over the prospect that poor but glacier-heavy nations (Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan) may one day restrict the flow […]
Read more »Reduced Mekong Flow = Increased Regional Concerns
March 31st, 2010
Via The Asia Foundation, a report examining the impact that the Mekong River – the longest in Southeast Asia and at its lowest reported water level in 20 years – is having upon Laos. As the article notes: “…The river runs through six countries – China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam – but the […]
Read more »The Mighty Mekong No Longer?
March 13th, 2010
A pair of articles examining the increased tensions between Thailand and China over Mekong River water. As the first report notes, the Thai government has been quick to blame Chinese dams on the upper stretches of the river, but that may not be fair. “…The Bangkok Post ran this story on 22 February: Ever since […]
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