Imaging Our Mekong - Upstream-Downstream

CAMBODIA: Wave of Dam Projects Calls for New Approaches

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:16:49 -0500

By Andrew Nette

PHNOM PENH, Jun 9 (IPS) - An explosion of dam building projects along the Sekong River in Laos, the Mekong river’s largest tributary, is prompting Cambodian and foreign experts to warn of significant downstream impacts and call for new approaches to governing the cross-border issues that arise from the use of the Mekong’s water resources.

At Mekong Summit, All Roads Lead Beyond the Border

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:42:35 -0500

VIENTIANE, Mar 31 (Newsmekong) - Cross-border highways were the talk of many at the Mekong Summit that ended here, even as a key link in the North-South corridor linking Kunming to Singapore was opened Monday and Mekong governments pledged to step up regional integration and cooperation over the next five years.

Cambodia's Dam Experiment Picks Up

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:12:01 -0500

Andrew Nette

PHNOM PENH, Mar 21 (IPS Asia Pacific) - For the government, it represents great economic opportunities. But for non-government organisations and the communities they work, it will come with major social and environmental impacts. Whatever the case, Cambodia is on the threshold of a major experiment with hydropower development.

China: Benign Bully of the Mekong?

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:54:59 -0600

Johanna Son

SYDNEY, Oct 3 (IPS Asia-Pacific) – Over the last decade or so, China’s deft use of soft power has seen South-east Asian neighbours’ view of it change from a looming threat to a largely friendly, if still imposing, giant to the north.

But while that much is clear, what is not is whether China’s ‘kinder’ profile will allow countries downstream of the Mekong River it shares with Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia real opportunities to discuss the fate of this shared resource – and sensitive issues like hydropower construction on it.

Mekong River Commission Remiss - Activists

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 04:57:51 -0600

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Nov 14 (IPS Asia-Pacific) - The campaign to save South-east Asia's largest waterway from being blocked by a series of massive dams picked up pace this week, with activists accusing a regional river authority of abandoning its mission to protect the Mekong River.

The Dry, Dry Mekong

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 09:03:55 -0500

The arrival of the dry season and the emergence of two mega-dam
projects in China have contributed to the drying up of the Mekong
river, with water levels dropping to less than one metre in many
sections, the 'Bangkok Post' reported on Apr. 1.

ADB Project in Cambodia Fails Fishermen - Critics

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 05:03:35 -0600

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Mar 22 (IPS Asia-Pacific) - A planned survey to check the economic pulse of fishing communities living on the banks of South-east Asia's largest freshwater lake -- the Tonle Sap in Cambodia -- threatens to expose serious shortcomings in an Asian Development Bank (AsDB) anti-poverty initiative.

Dams' Impact 'Often Exaggerated' - Cogels

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 21:33:11 -0600

Oliver Cogels, chief executive officer of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), wrote to the 'Bangkok Post' to explain his views on China's dams along the Mekong/Lancang, saying that their negative impact is often exaggerated and that China's dams are not the culprit behind the drought felt in downstream countries in recent years.

MEKONG REGION: Uneven Dev't Comes with Open Borders

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:00:40 -0500

Analysis - By Johanna Son

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Feb 10 (IPS/Newsmekong) – In the town of Bo Ten in Laos, near the border with China, local people are now busy being trained to be card dealers, as they prepare for their new jobs at a soon-to-rise casino owned by a Chinese company.

CAMBODIA: Villagers, Viet Power Firm Still Far Apart

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 22:59:53 -0500

Sam Rith

PHNOM PENH, Jan 14 (Newsmekong) - Forty-six year-old Chao Chantha, one of 10 community representatives from the north-eastern Cambodian province of Stung Treng, took many deep breaths, sighing as officials of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) fielded questions at the meeting to discuss Vietnam’s plans to build more dams across the border.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Mekong Commission Defends Itself against Critics

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:46:45 -0500

By Andrew Nette

PHNOM PENH, May 2 (IPS) – The head of the Mekong River Commission has defended his organisation against charges it faces a crisis of legitimacy arising from hydropower development on the Mekong mainstream, and pledged to increase efforts to engage with more diverse groups in the region.

It’s Cleaning up Time

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:06:56 -0500

By Moeun Nhean

TONLE SAP, Cambodia - “A few generations ago, the water in the Tonle Sap was clean enough to drink, but now people get skin diseases from just bathing in it,” says Keo Yada, coordinator for the Osmose Environmental Education project, which aims to educate residents on how to look after their river environment.

World Heritage Committee Expresses Concern on Chinese Dams

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 11:30:39 -0500

The World Heritage Committee, at its last session in Durban in July 2005, issued the following on the Three Parallel Rivers World Heritage Area and the threats from the Nu River Dams:

Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas (China)

Villagers Count Costs of Dam in Vietnam

Wed, 31 Aug 2005 21:34:22 -0500

by POUV SAVUTH

More than six years after flash floods first hit this and other villages in north-eastern Cambodia, drowning people and sweeping away homes and livelihoods, families living along the Sesan river live in fear of the ill effects flowing from a dam across the border in Vietnam.

Borders Open for Business, but Concerns Rise

Tue, 23 Aug 2005 00:47:49 -0500

by VONG SOKHENG*

As the boat motors up the Mekong River, water birds and rare Irrawaddy dolphins play in the current. The powerful river cuts in between rocky outcrops and pristine sandy islands. On either bank, towering trees shelter a hidden network of wetlands.