China wants to blow up rapids in Thailand and Laos to make way for cargo ships (ABC News)
Environmental groups in Thailand are concerned about China’s plan to blast shallow parts of the Mekong River to allow heavy shipping.
Tag: china
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‘They Do Not Count Us’: Resisting the Myitsone Dam Beyond China, the US, and Big Geopolitics
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Source of Mekong, Yellow and Yangtze rivers drying up
National park could help save the headwaters of the Tibetan plateau that are evaporating because of climate change, says Chinese geologist Yang Yong
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Plans to dam the Lancang River, China’s stretch of the Mekong, will have impacts far beyond China’s borders.
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20 million Vietnamese watch the dramatic change in the flow of water and sediment levels threatening their fish stocks and aquaculture. Clearly, China’s upstream dams are contributing to the ecological threats in the delta.
Troubled Wings: 7 Birds We May Lose From The Mekong
Much attention has been given to damages that are being inflicted on Mekong fish by massive infrastructure development. But little has been said about another of the region’s most valuable ecological assets: the spectacular birds of the Mekong.
Locals slam Mekong blasting plan
The government’s aim to clear the Mekong River’s rocky outcrops to ensure the smooth passage of large cargo boats has set off alarm bells for environmental activists and locals who fear the ecology in the area will be put at risk.
The Mekong River, known in China as the Lancang River, runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam over a total distance of 4,880km.
Spare the Mekong
The Prayut Chan-o-cha government made an out-of-the-blue decision that paves the way for the demolition of the Mekong River’s rocky outcrops for the sake of “improved waterway navigation”.
The justification offered is both weak and unjustified. The public was neither consulted nor informed while the well-being of the ecology of the world’s tenth longest river is at risk. And the party gaining the most significant trade benefits will obviously be China.
Mekong projects ‘to kill biodiversity’
DEVELOPMENT projects in the lower reaches of the Mekong River will take a great toll on the area’s biodiversity, experts have warned, with much of its fauna and flora facing imminent extinction.
In the face of major projects, such as the plan for a navigation route on the Mekong from Chiang Rai province down to Luang Prabang in Laos, as well as a controversial dam, concerned academics and experts attended the Greater Mekong Forum in Bangkok on Friday.