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.

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.