Grain drain, Laos’ sand mining damaging the Mekong
Grain by grain, truckload by truckload, Laos’ section of the Mekong river is being dredged of sand to make cement—a commodity being devoured by a Chinese-led building boom in the capital. But the hollowing out of the riverbed is also damaging a vital waterway that feeds hundreds of thousands of fishermen and farmers in the poverty-stricken nation. “Today, it’s more complicated for us to go fetch water for crops,” Deam Saengarn told AFP from the muddy river’s shores, describing how its gentle slopes have given way to steep embankments. “We now have many Chinese clients. They are constructing huge buildings in Vientiane, so they need a lot of sand and pebbles,” said Air Phangnalay, who helps run an extraction company in Laos.
