Southeast Asia and the right to safe water
On 6 November, the Mekong River Commission acknowledged that climate change had exacerbated this year’s wildly varying water levels on the Mekong – which saw the mighty river reduced to a trickle in parts, even during the rainy season. But the main contributor, it said, was dam construction. The intergovernmental body added that the river needed better data-sharing between countries, as it reported on a consultation for Laos’ Luang Prabang hydropower project, one of a cascade of highly controversial hydropower projects in planning, construction or operation in the country.
Managing water in Southeast Asia has always been contentious, but never more than today. The geopolitical impediments to regional cooperation are difficult enough, particularly with China – the powerful upstream neighbour for all of mainland Southeast Asia’s rivers – having already built at least 10 dams on the Mekong mainstream.
Sam Geall
