Dam Battles Converge on Cambodia’s 3S Rivers

Circle of Blue — For decades, Nov Lun and his fellow fishermen harvested the rich bounty of the Sesan River in northeastern Cambodia. Then, three years ago, a giant hydroelectric power plant opened upstream from his village of Kumpun. Irregular water releases from the dam began regularly entangling his nets and dislocating his fishing boat. Fish started disappearing, and soon most of his Read More…

Three countries cooperate to audit water resources of Mekong River…

Vietnam Net — The state audit agencies of three out of six countries in the Mekong River basin, including Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar, with professional and technical support from the State Audits of Malaysia, Indonesia, the World Bank (WB) and the Canadian Auditing and Accountability Fund (CAAF), have jointly audited the management of water resources in the Mekong River Basin. The audit Read More…

Laos Pushes Ahead With Large Dam Projects, Despite Uncertainty of…

Radio Free Asia — The Lao government is pushing ahead with more hydroelectric dams despite uncertainty about Thailand’s willingness to purchase the electricity they generate, Lao officials and others with knowledge of the situation said. Laos has 78 dams in operation and has signed memorandums of understanding for 246 other hydroelectric projects in its quest to become the “battery of Read More…

Climate change likely to be high on the agenda of the Mekong River…

Khmer Times — Prime Minister Hun Sen is chairing the seventh Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit today. The theme of the meeting is “Renewed Strength to Face the Challenges of the New Decade”. One of the biggest challenges to the region is climate change, which has huge economic costs on top of the social upheaval and environmental damage caused by the floods and droughts that have been Read More…

Strategic basin and delta planning increases the resilience of the…

PNAS — Abstract The climate resilience of river deltas is threatened by rising sea levels, accelerated land subsidence, and reduced sediment supply from contributing river basins. Yet, these uncertain and rapidly changing threats are rarely considered in conjunction. Here we provide an integrated assessment, on basin and delta scales, to identify key planning levers for increasing the climate Read More…

Floating fish farms still adrift in limbo

The Phnom Penh Post — Vietnamese settlers living on floating houses and working fish farming cages on the Mekong River in Phnom Penh have relocated to the lower area of the Mekong River near the border with Vietnam. The fish farmers have dismantled their farming cages and temporarily settled in the Ka’am Samnor area in Kandal province’s Loeuk Dek district and Prey Veng province’s Read More…

Asean formalises Mekong involvement with water security dialogue, as…

South China Morning Post — The inaugural meeting on water security between Asean and the intergovernmental Mekong River Commission (MRC) last week has been hailed as a means of boosting protection of the vital waterway, amid claims that China’s activities have affected downstream communities that rely on the river. Both sides agreed to cooperate on water-security challenges along Read More…

Selection and in-depth research on high economic value fish varieties

Nong Nghiệp — According to survey studies, the Mekong River has about 1,200 fish species representing many families, diverse in morphology and lifestyle. Particularly, the Mekong Delta has over 250 species of freshwater fish, of which about 50 species possess high economic value. However, now only 50-100 species are caught on a regular basis and mainly in lowland areas where there are Read More…

ASEAN, Mekong River Commission to convene water security dialogue

VN Express — ASEAN and the Mekong River Commission will hold a Water Security Dialogue to address the region's emerging challenges on water security. A first of its kind, the dialogue is slated for Aug. 19 and 20, hosted online by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat, in cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat, the MRC said in a statement. The dialogue is expected to gather Read More…

Cambodian dam a ‘disaster’ for local communities, rights group…

Mongabay — The Lower Sesan 2 hydroelectric scheme was completed in northeast Cambodia in 2018. The reservoir flooded 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) upstream of the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok rivers, two tributaries of the Mekong. Villages, places of worship, ancestral burial grounds and forests were submerged, and nearly 5,000 people were displaced. A recent report from Read More…