Energy
Losing dolphins for more hydropower
The construction of the Don Sahong hydropower dam in Laos has affected the habitats of Mekong River dolphins, causing their numbers to dwindle in Stung Treng province. The dwindling numbers are causing a decline in tourists who wish to see them, resulting in loss of ...
Pech Sotheary
‘No fish’: How dams and climate change are choking Asia’s great lake
For more than half a century, January meant prime fishing season for Pang Bin. He took his wooden boat out into Cambodia’s largest lake, his catches and their sales sustaining his family for much of the year. This month, the 75-year-old decided to call it quits, ...
Shashank Bangali
The Luang Prabang Hydro-Dam on an Earthquake in Northern Laos and the Risk of a Series of Dam Breakdowns
Expert geologists have often pointed to the danger of earthquakes happening in the region where the main stream Xayaburi Dam was located. This region in Northern Laos is known to be geologically unstable. Professor Punya Charusiri PhD of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok has observed: “The Xayaburi dam ...
Laos to export 20,000 MW of electricity by 2030
Laos’ electricity exports to neighbouring countries and Asean states are expected to increase to about 20,000 MW between 2020 and 2030. Electricity is considered a huge revenue earner for Laos, especially through exports to neighbouring countries and Asean states such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar ...
Vientiane Times
China's Mekong River dams are generating renewable energy, but are costing locals their livelihoods
Early in January, locals in the northern Thai village of Chiang Khong woke to find the Mekong River had dropped a metre overnight. The water level fell so rapidly that damp mud was still visible days later when the ABC visited the area and some boats ...
Amy Bainbridge and Supattra Vimonsuk
$4M solar farm investment launched in Cambodia
Pestech International, a Malaysian company that specialises in solar power technology and infrastructure, has expanded its presence in the Kingdom. The Edge Markets reported yesterday that Pestech has acquired a 94 percent stake in Green Sustainable Ventures (Cambodia). The investment is worth $4 million, according to ...
Jose Rodriguez T. Senase
Thailand to Air Concerns with River Commission over Drought, Chinese Dams in Mekong
Thailand will raise concerns about its current drought during a Mekong River Commission meeting expected next month, the Thai water-resources chief said, as local farmers complained that dams in China were choking the waterway on which millions depend for their livelihoods. Somkiat Prajamwong, director of Thailand’s ...
Another dam on the Mekong
Since the announcement in July last year that the Lao government was notifying the Mekong River Commission (MRC) of its intention to proceed with the construction of a dam due to be completed by 2027, not far from the old royal capital of Luang Prabang, ...
Milton Osborne
Mekong communities struggle as China tests dam equipment
Water levels on the Mekong River, which flows through China and five other countries before emptying into the South China Sea, have dropped once again after Beijing revealed it was testing equipment at one of its 11 dams in the upper reaches of the vital ...
Leonie Kijewski
Lao Villagers Displaced by Dams Struggle to Survive in Resettlement Sites
Hundreds of Lao families displaced by Chinese-backed dam projects and now living in resettlement villages are facing hardships due to poor housing and a lack of work, with many still waiting for compensation promised for fields and orchards lost when they were forced to move, ...