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Selected environmental stories from media outlets in the Mekong region and beyond.

Saving the Salween: Southeast Asia’s last major undammed river

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

In a world of galloping hydro-power rapidly engulfing the developing world and new dams popping up in the Amazon, the Congo and along the Mekong, it is hard to find any important river left in the world, that has escaped unscathed and undammed.

The free-flowing Salween is the last important undammed river in East Asia, where endangered species including tigers and clouded leopards can still be found in remote parts of Myanmar’s ethnic Karen State.

From the snow-capped mountains of Tibet, the Salween rushes through steep gorges in Yunnan Province and flows through four of Myanmar’s ethnic states before emptying into the Andaman Sea.

MPE’s Cambodian Civil Society Partners Make Major Contribution to New Mining EIA Framework

By Paritta Wangkiat

Cambodia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Ministry of Environment have co-signed an agreement to improve Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) requirements in artisanal and small scale mining projects. Mekong Partnership for the Environment (MPE) partner Development and Partnership in Action (DPA) and a network of CSOs they facilitate played a key role in advising the government prior to the final agreement. The agreement aims to bring better transparency leading to stronger public participation in EIA processes.

No authority to prevent new Mekong River projects: MRC

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

THE MEKONG RIVER Commission (MRC) does not have the authority to stop projects even if they have transboundary effects, delegates to the fourth Green Mekong Forum said on Monday, while the Thai Irrigation Department presented a water diversion project to fight poverty.

Around 100 delegates from Mekong River countries and international observers attended the forum in Bangkok to follow the latest developments in infrastructure and water resource management in the Mekong River Region.

Target Thailand and radiate southeast, China PV enterprises arrange global market

By Paritta Wangkiat

Lam Sun Due to high cost and American and European anti-dumping tariff, the business of China solar panel manufacturers was gloomy in past 2 years. During this depression, the renewable energy markets in newly emerging Asian countries became the substitute of China manufacturers. Thai Rayong Industrial Park, 140 kilometers from Bangkok, Thailand, has become the […]

900km Sino-Thai railway decade dream achieved

By Paritta Wangkiat

A nearly 900 kilometers railway project, China and Thailand has negotiated for ten years. On the occasion of Trans-Asian Railway makes its first appearance of the early harvest, Ta Kung Pao reporters explore and look for opportunities and risks along the railway line. This railway connecting the border of Laos and Bangkok, towards Mada Pu Industrial Park, will be linked with China-Lao railway and reaches KungMing, YunNan province in the end, which draws a giant circulation map which connects China with Laos and Thailand.

Don Sahong vs Dolphins: How the Dam Is Affecting Local Residents

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

Dam Chan handed over the food in exchange for riel as she described hearing the loud bangs of dynamite in the distance.

The 55-year-old has farmed and sold food in Preah Rumkel commune her entire life and is concerned about the future of her home now that construction on the nearby Don Sahong Hydropower Dam has started to affect the local wildlife, and subsequently the lives of those residing near the Lao border.

“Slow Death” of the Mekong Delta

By Paritta Wangkiat

Kaeng Khut Khu is a village in Loei province, Thailand. This village is located along the Mekong river and fishing is the main income of local people. But in recent years, it’s very difficult for local people go to fishing as the water levels go up and down constantly. Besides, the fish are very small now. There aren’t as many big fish as in the past.

In addition it is known that this village is also attractive for camping along the Mekong River. But now no tourists want to go there for camping as the water levels of the river could increase suddenly and cause flooding and impacts to tourism development. So now the local people of this village cannot get income from fishing and tourism. They have to find another job such as worker or seller.

US experts propose measures to address drought in Mekong Delta

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

Attending the event were Richard Cronin, Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Stimson Center; Aaron Salzberg, Special Coordinator for Water Resources at the Bureau of Oceans, Environment, and Science Affairs at the Department of State; Todd Johnson, Forestry and Climate Change Advisor for USAID Asia’s Office of Technical Services; and Brian Eyler, Deputy Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Stimson Center.

Panelists pointed out the main reasons for the most serious drought and saline intrusion in the past 100 years in the Mekong Delta.

Mekong dam projects ‘could destroy livelihoods, ecology’

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

THE ECOLOGY of the Mekong River could be destroyed within 10 years if dam projects along the river are allowed to continue, Thai and Cambodian non-government organisations have warned.

They have also warned that it will be very difficult for people to claim compensation for projects’ negative impacts on the environment and their livelihoods because it will be not difficult if not impossible to clearly link the effects to a particular dam.