China pledges to share more data on the Mekong River with downstream nations
China will share more data on the Mekong River with countries downstream, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, amid long-standing criticism that its projects have caused flooding and drought in the river’s lower reaches. This was to “share the dividends of cooperation and push development”, Wang said ...
Jack Lau
China proposes 6 programs with Lancang-Mekong countries despite ‘customary’ Western provocation of ties
China on Monday proposed six programs which will benefit the Lancang-Mekong countries aside from China, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, including cooperation plans in agriculture, water resources, digital economy, aerospace, education, and public health, as Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi ...
Fan Anqi and Cui Fandi
7th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Meeting to begin in Bagan
The 7th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting begins today in Bagan, Myanmar. Including China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, LMC is a multilateral cooperation group that oversees transboundary water management in the Mekong. During the meeting, the foreign ministers will evaluate the progress of the Five-Year ...
Htet Thadar
Vietnam orders media to promote its ocean strategy
The Vietnamese government has launched a national campaign to promote its maritime policies as the ruling party pledges to explore “all available legal tools” to defend its interests amid China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea. A government order stipulates that by 2025, all domestic media outlets ...
RFA Staff
Plastic river: Following the waste that’s choking the Chao Phraya
The Chao Phraya River is born from mountain streams in northern Thailand, flowing hundreds of kilometres south to the sea. By the time the river travels through Bangkok and empties into the Gulf of Thailand, it is carrying huge quantities of plastic waste – an ...
Wanpen Pajai
MRC Unveils Technology to Monitor Mekong Water Quality and Fish Migration
With hydrological projects now a daily reality along Southeast Asia’s most important waterway, the Mekong River Commission and its partners have introduced new technology to measure if one large project will have significant impact on the river’s water quality, flow or fish population. At the Don ...
Manyphone Vongphachanh
For Thai fishers facing dwindling catches, a Lao dam looms large
In the rustic old town of Chiang Khan on the Mekong River, a tourist haven in northeastern Thailand’s Isaan region, local fishing communities now live in fear of a proposed dam that threatens to devastate their livelihoods. The $2 billion, 684-megawatt dam would sit just 2 ...
Tom Fawthrop
Meet the 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners
Seven grassroots environmental activists will receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize today, on May 25. Known as the Green Nobel Prize, the Goldman Prize honors environmental activists from each of the six continental regions. The prize was founded in 1989 by U.S. philanthropists Rhoda and ...
Liz Kimbrough
Indigenous activists among Goldman environmental prize winners
Indigenous activists and lawyers who took on transnational corporations and their own governments to force climate action are among the 2022 winners of the world’s pre-eminent environmental award. Taking on powerful vested interests is a risky business, and the recipients of this year’s Goldman prize demonstrate ...
Nina Lakhani
A win for Kru Ti and the Mekong River
Over the past 20 years, Niwat Roykaew, a teacher, activist and founder of the Chiang Khong Conservation Group in Chiang Rai province has been campaigning to bolster the grassroots movement he initiated to protect the Mekong River, a crucial lifeline for countries in the Mekong ...
PASKORN JUMLONGRACH