China offers to help Manage Water in Mekong River to alleviate Drought

NNT – The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, has confirmed that China has offered to help Thailand manage water in the Mekong River. China has already released more water into the upper Mekong River to alleviate drought in Thailand. During a bilateral meeting between Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and his Chinese counterpart, the management of Mekong River water was initially Read More…

US warns dams give China ‘control’ of Mekong river

ABS-CBN – China is taking control of the flow of Southeast Asia's most important river through a dam-building "spree", US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Wednesday, as water levels along the Mekong reach record lows. The famous waterway starts in China and twists south through parts of Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam, feeding 60 million people through its basin and Read More…

Mekong River at its lowest in 100 years, threatening food supply

National Geographic – A severe drought that has caused water levels in Southeast Asia’s Mekong River to drop to their lowest in more than 100 years could have devastating consequences for fish, as well as the tens of millions of people living and working along the river, experts warn. The crisis began when critical monsoon rains, which usually start in late May in the Mekong Read More…

Xayaburi Dam owners say they’re not responsible for dry Mekong River

The Thaiger – CK Power, operators of the new Xayaburi Dam in Laos, are denying their dam tests (running from July 15 until tomorrow) are responsible for the low water flows in the Mekong River. The tests were a lead up to full scale production of electricity from October this year, most of which will head to Thailand. Fingers are being pointed at both the Jinghong Dam in China and Read More…

Rare Mekong river dolphin dies in gillnets in Cambodia:…

Xinhua Net – A rare Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphin has been found dead after being entangled in fishermen's illegal gillnets in northeast Cambodia's Kratie province, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Cambodia said in a statement. The 198-cm-long male dolphin, weighed 104 kg, aged between 15-18 years old, the statement said. "The carcass has been collected and stored in a fridge at WWF Read More…

Droughts in Cambodia Spell Doom for Farmers and Fishermen

Radio Free Asia – An extended drought in Cambodia has caused the tributaries of Tonle Sap lake to dry up, spelling ruin for farmers and fishermen in Battambang province. The large, seasonally flooded freshwater lake discharges into a river of the same name, which flows southward into the Mekong river, but this year, because of El Niño, temperatures in the region are higher than normal, Read More…

Civic Groups Call For Reviews Into Mekong River Dam Projects

Bangkok Post – Civic groups on Sunday lodged a petition calling for governments of countries along the Mekong River to review upcoming dam projects. The petition was on Sunday submitted to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) by the Mekong Conservation Network in the North during a forum held in Chiang Rai province on the effect of dams on the Mekong River. Mekong Conservation Read More…

How this rare, good-luck fish is thriving in Bhutan

National Geographic – Royal Manas National Park, Bhutan among anglers, the golden mahseer is one of the world’s most prized catches. Up to nine feet long and golden-hued with big scales, it has a reputation as one of the world’s hardest fighting fish. Author Rudyard Kipling once wrote that the tarpin, another valued game fish, is “as a herring” in comparison to the golden Read More…

Aquatic Life Faces Extinction As Upstream Dams Leave Mekong River Dry

Eleven – They said that the ongoing loss of biodiversity in the Mekong Basin is posing a major threat to food security and wellbeing of hundreds of millions of people in the region. Narit Art-harn, a representative of locals in Bueng Kan’s Bung Khla district, revealed that the level of the Mekong this week was lower than the lowest during the dry season, even though mid-July is normally the Read More…

Hull researchers head to the Mekong to tackle plastic pollution

Environment Journal – The Mekong River in Southeast Asia is one of the world’s great waterways, fertile and ecologically diverse with millions relying on it for their food, but it’s increasingly clogged with plastic pollution. To help address the mounting problem, a team of researchers from the University of Hull are documenting how plastic travels down the river, from Laos to Vietnam Read More…