Water resources planning in Mekong Delta should be prioritised:…

Vietnam Plus – Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh has underlined the need to focus on the planning and investigation of water resources across the country, especially in the Mekong Delta region. Speaking at a recent meeting in Hanoi, the official proposed amending and supplementing the Law on Water Resources from 2020 in order to improve the management of Read More…

Investigator: Dam Project Killing Dolphins, Hurting Fishing and…

Radio Free Asia – A member of Cambodia’s Supreme Council for Recommendations on Wednesday told RFA’s Khmer Service that local authorities are utilizing legal loopholes to avoid adhering to regulations that would protect the biodiversity of the Mekong River. Kong Monika led the Council’s team in investigating the impact of the Don Sahong Dam, currently under construction near the Read More…

No, not Songkran – that other water festival, in Cambodia, and its…

South China Morning Post – Cheers erupt from the thronging crowds that pack Phnom Penh’s riverside as the colourful slim wooden boats race down the Tonle Sap River. A flash of reds, yellows, greens and blues glide along the water as the ornately-decorated longboats, powered by up to 80 men and women, pass by. Welcome to Cambodia’s Water Festival, or Bon Om Touk. The annual event, Read More…

Workshop to boost fish conservation

Khmer Times – Government officials and experts with USAID yesterday held a workshop to discuss the management and conservation of vulnerable fish species through the latter’s Wonders of the Mekong project. The project is designed to bring increased public awareness to fish conservation in a bid to build a sustainable future. Saray Samadee, the project’s coordinator, said in a Read More…

Myanmar Establishes New Protected Area For Critically Endangered…

WCS Newsroom – Working in collaboration with Myanmar’s Department of Fisheries (DoF), WCS has announced the creation of a new protected area for a population of critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) living in the Ayeyawady River of central Myanmar. The new 100-kilometer (62 mile) zone will serve as an extension to an existing protected area established in 2005 Read More…

How the mighty Mekong River dug deep

Nature – The steep valley that the Mekong River follows through the southeastern Tibetan Plateau may owe its existence to profound climate disruptions millions of years ago. The Mekong River is one of the world’s largest rivers in terms of water volume and sediment transport, but knowledge of its geological history is patchy. Junsheng Nie at Lanzhou University in Gansu, China, and his Read More…

Mekong delta promotes Agritourism with farmer participation

Saigon Giai Phong Online – Dong Thap province at the heart of the Mekong Delta is one of provinces with most farmer participating in agri-tourism. Nguyen Be Tu, owner of Tu ca Linh a 3-hectare agritourism farm in Tam Nong District said in these days, many holiday-makers phoned to experience flood season in Dong Thap Muoi when they can enjoy fishing linh fish and other species of Read More…

The Promise and Pitfalls of Hydropower Development Along the Mekong…

World Politics Review – The collapse of a dam this summer in southeastern Laos, which triggered massive flooding that killed dozens and displaced thousands of people, has brought a renewed focus on hydroelectric dams in mainland Southeast Asia. Proponents of hydroelectric dams argue they will bring benefits in the form of national revenue and power generation for local communities, but they Read More…

Dolphin-enabled livelihood on the Ayeyarwady

The Asean Post – On a stretch of the Ayeyarwady river, also known as the Irrawaddy river, near Myanmar’s Mandalay, fishermen from six villages work hand-in-fin with 26 Irrawaddy dolphins in a unique collaboration. Taught to do so since childhood, the fishermen cooperatively fish the river with the assistance of the dolphins. The tradition, origin unknown, is said to have been in practice Read More…

565 rare Asian giant softshell turtles return to Cambodia’s wild

Xinhuanet – About 565 endangered Asian giant softshell turtle hatchlings have been released into the natural habitat along the Mekong River in northeast Cambodia's Kratie province, a conservationist group said in a statement on Thursday. The hatchlings are part of a community protection project designed to increase the wild population of the species, and had been collected from nests that Read More…