The construction of the Pak Beng Hydropower Project is expected to begin at the end of this year after reaching agreement among Lower Mekong countries.
Tag: Environment
Mekong EIA “Dream Team” Reaches the Final Mile
After an eighteen month journey, a team of civil society and government experts from across the Mekong Region is poised to transform the way communities are engaged in development.
The team has developed the Guidelines on Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the Mekong Region, which lays out a practical approach for governments, companies and communities looking to improve the social and environmental impacts of development projects such as dams, mines, power plants and economic zones.
Mekong giant catfish being driven to extinction in natural habitat
The Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) is ranked as critically endangered on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The largest freshwater fish in the world, its natural habitat is the Mekong River from China to Cambodia and Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia.
Mekong diplomacy: a bridge that has failed
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) bears an enormous weight on its shoulders, overseeing both the development and the protection of a channel on whom millions of people depend. But the commission has proved powerless in the latter mission, failing to protect or involve communities in hydropower projects that threaten their livelihoods.
New Mekong River blasting project will only benefit China: experts
Plan to make river accessible to barges ‘will seriously hurt Thailand and Laos. Economic experts have warned that the Mekong-Lancang River navigation-channel improvement project will only benefit China – while having serious negative impacts on Thailand and Laos.
Thailand Backing Controversial Survey to Clear Mekong Islets
The Thai government is backing a plan by China to demolish islets and rocky outcrops on the Mekong River as part of a decade long project to boost shipping navigation from China’s Yunnan province to Luang Prabang in Laos.
The project, known as the Development Plan for International Navigation on the Lancang-Mekong River (2015-2025) is set in three phases, with an initial survey, design, and environmental and social assessments.
Experts ‘greatly disappointed’ by yet another Mekong hydropower dam
International environment experts are urging Vietnam and its Mekong River neighbors to cancel another hydropower project amid concerns that the project is flawed and needs to be fixed.
At a meeting held by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) last Friday, officials from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam agreed to set December 20 as the start date for a six-month consultation process for the Pak Beng Dam, the third on the lower Mekong mainstream following Xayaburi and Don Sahong.
Tibetan Springtime and the Tale of the Major Rivers in Asia – If Tibet dries, Asia dies
“Peace and the survival of life on earth as we know it are threatened by human activities which lack a commitment to humanitarian values. Destruction of nature and nature resources results from ignorance, greed and lack of respect for the earth’s living things…It is not difficult to forgive destruction in the past, which resulted from ignorance. Today, however, we have access to more information, and it is essential that we re-examine ethically what we have inherited, what we are responsible for, and what we will pass on to coming generations,” said the Dalai Lama.
Unchecked Development, Poor Planning Set Stage for Flood Crisis
More than blaming the flooding which has devastated the south just on record rainfall, those familiar with the issue say mismanaged water resources and unplanned development are to blame.
Ambitious Green Energy Plans in Vietnam and Cambodia proceed at snail’s pace
During the 2016 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Marrakech (COP 22) Vietnam and Cambodia professed their commitment to do their part to reduce CO2 emissions. Noting that they are both on the front lines globally in facing impacts from a warming atmosphere, the two neighbors agreed to transition their entire electricity generating portfolios to renewables.