Wildlife traders have stockpiled large quantities of ivory in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia because of difficulties in transporting it to China due to Covid-19 travel restrictions and border closings.
Category: Mekong
New UN initiative to reduce plastic pollution from ASEAN cities
Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand and Da Nang, Viet Nam are among the cities to participate in the ‘Closing the Loop’ project that supports governments to address plastic waste pollution and leakages into the marine environment.
Roving bandits and looted coastlines: How the global appetite for sand is fuelling a crisis
Scientists have also confirmed river bank instability from sand mining in the Mekong, Yangtze and other large rivers. Sand dredging impacts river flow, erosion levels and aquatic habitats.
Mekong levels rise to normal, while more rainfall is in forecast
Water levels across the vast majority of lower Mekong basin have now returned to their normal long-term averages, says the Mekong River Commission (MRC). But they are still lower than those of the 2018 and 2019 dry seasons.
China held water back from drought-stricken Mekong countries, report says
While these dams have disrupted the river’s natural systems for years, 2019 saw a particularly damaging situation, as downstream countries faced a severe drought while the Upper Mekong received above-average rainfall.
Are China’s dams on the Mekong causing downstream drought? The importance of scientific debate
There are weaknesses in the methodology used that undermine the claims that China completely held back the 2019 wet season flow.
Study on China dams brings the Brahmaputra into focus
“India will continue to raise the issue of river waters in the Brahmaputra with China, as that appears to be the only methodology to ensure what happened on Mekong does not happen on Brahmaputra.”
In the Mekong, a Confluence of Calamities
Once the acute crisis sparked by the coronavirus threat has passed, Cambodia and its neighbors will still be faced with the long-term challenge of ensuring a sustainable and vibrant Mekong River system.
China’s weaponisation of water
Since the conquest of Tibet, which has the largest headwaters of major rivers flowing through South and South East Asia, China has unabashedly used water as a weapon, a geo-political tool for coercive diplomacy.