Water governance

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is working to promote the maximization of the potential benefits of hydropower and other water-related development projects while minimising the harmful impact on the environment and millions of people living along this Southeast Asia’s largest river. The MRC launched two sets ...

The author Tucker Elliot wrote in “The Rainy Season” about the volatile nature of the Mekong:  “No matter the border, the Mekong has been an indiscriminate giver and taker of life in Southeast Asia for thousands of years. It’s a paradox like civilization’s other great rivers – ...

In recent years, the fate of Southeast Asia’s great river – the Mekong – has attracted growing international scrutiny. The Mekong faces many challenges, from the impacts of climate change and saline encroachment in its delta, to dam developments on the headwaters of the river ...

Water levels along the Hau River, a Mekong branch, rose to 2.27 meters, breaking the 2019 record and plunging Can Tho City in chaos. Commuters drive through floodwaters on Nguyen Trai Street in Can Tho’s downtown district of Ninh Kieu at 9 p.m. on Wednesday. Tides on ...

A competition has been launched to challenge university students to design technology to monitor the Mekong’s water level, rainfall, soil moisture, and water quality. The River Monitoring Technology Competition, launched by the Mekong River Commission (MRC), is for students in the four regional countries of Cambodia, ...

Can a giant stingray in the Lower Mekong be used to craft a good narrative about Chinese upstream dams? It can, according to an unsigned Khmer Times article in June 2022 about a 300-kilogramme stingray found in Cambodia’s Stung Treng province. The article quoted Zeb Hogan, ...

The Mekong River Commission has updated its monitoring and flood forecasting front page to provide better information on the Mekong conditions. The commission’s Flood and Drought Forecast and Monitoring page has recently been revitalized since the last improvement in 2018 with a new interface, the MRC, ...

Two major tributaries of the Mekong River have burst their banks, flooding about 4,000 rai of paddy fields in Sri Songkhram district of this northeastern province. The water level of the Mekong in Nakhon Phanom on Saturday was about 8 metres, or 4m below the spill-over ...

Thailand’s National Water Command Centre is advising people living near the banks of the Mekong River in seven north-eastern provinces to brace for sudden overflows from today (Sunday) until Thursday. The centre said that heavy rain, triggered by Tropical Depression Mulan on August 11th and 12th in the ...

Upstream dams and sand mining have caused significant erosion along the Mekong River in western Laos, according to experts, devastating riparian communities in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation with high waters and powerful currents. But residents of those communities say they believe that other issues are to ...