The Mekong River

IRIN PHNOM PENH, 26 August 2010 (IRIN) - Late rains and record low water levels in Cambodia’s two main fresh water systems will affect food security and the livelihoods of millions, government officials and NGOs warn. “We expect the impact to be very strong,” said Nao Thuok, director of the Fisheries Administration, adding that low [...]

RFA Chinese dams on the upper reaches of the Mekong River are sometimes thought to be responsible for lowered water levels in countries downstream. Here, Australian historian, author, and Southeast Asian affairs consultant Milton Osborne addresses this question in an interview. April 2010 marked a new low for water levels in the Mekong River. Communities [...]

Book launch and exhibition opening: 6-9pm Wednesday, August 18, 2010 Artist talk: “50 Years of Cambodian Comics,” 6:30pm Tuesday, August 24, 2010 Java Café & Gallery – 56 Sihanouk Blvd, Phnom Penh, Cambodia FREE entrance Java Arts’ new exhibition ‘QuickDraw’ is exactly that: a collection of short comic art vignettes by ‘Jinja’ (AKA John Weeks) [...]

Piyaporn Wongruang for The Bangkok Post Medium- and long-term plan with major focus on dams acknowledges potential impact on environment and food security, but critics question its basic assumptions about ‘development’. Having been left untamed for decades, the Mekong basin in recent years has been witnessing a rapid transformation. First comes a cascade of eight [...]

DPA by way of Monsters & Critics Vientiane, Laos - A Malaysian firm has been granted permission to build a 130-megawatt dam in north-western Laos on a tributary of the Mekong River, state media reports said Monday. Malaysia’s Asia Pacific Business Lin Snd Bhd Co Ltd (AP Bizlink) last week signed an agreement with Laos’ [...]

Vietnam Business News Exports of the tra catfish have risen since early this year, but many breeders in the Mekong Delta are on the verge of bankruptcy as they’ve had to sell the fish at below breeding costs. Exporters and/or seafood processors have been buying tra catfish for VND15,500-16,000 per kilogram, while breeding costs have [...]

France 24 via AFP Nations around one of the world’s great rivers, the Mekong, are tightening transport and other links but have neglected the region’s very heart — the river itself, a Cambodian minister said Friday. At a meeting of the six countries surrounding the Mekong, Cham Prasidh said the potential of the 4,800-kilometre (2,976-mile) [...]

AFP HANOI - A railway system connecting more than 300 million people who live around one of the world’s great rivers, the Mekong, will come a step closer on Friday. A plan for connecting regional rail lines is expected to be endorsed in Vietnam by ministers from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, said [...]

Following the 3rd MRC Regional Stakeholder Forum on Basin Development Plan at MRC headquarters in Vientiane where the overall consensus appeared to be a slowdown in decision making processes allowing better representation and participation of community stakeholders this tit-bit caught my eye… from Vietnam Plus. General Director of the Electricity of Laos (EDL) Khammani Inthirath [...]

Now all presentations presented at the 3rd MRC Regional Stakeholder Forum on Basin Development Plan in the Lower Mekong Basin held in Vientiane on July 29-30, 2010 are now available. Please visit http://www.mrcmekong.org/free_download/BDP-3rd-reg-stakeholder-forum-ppt.htm for download.