The global Covid-19 crisis has shed a light on the deep-seated inequities in the way our rivers and the people who depend on them are treated. With the exposure created by this crisis comes an opportunity.
Date: Thursday, May 21, 2020 - 15:26
![](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Margaret%20Zhou/mekong2.png?itok=8t1moyPu)
Date: Thursday, February 6, 2020 - 15:52
Photo by Pai Deetes, International Rivers
![International Rivers Sarah Kisita Mayala of DRC's AFECOJU speaks at the 2019 Women & Rivers Congress.](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Sarah%20Bardeen/33442688868_65601d545f_b.jpg?itok=xXP_gX78)
Date: Monday, June 17, 2019 - 08:54
Nearly 100 women from more than 30 countries took center stage at our inaugural Women & Rivers Congress in Nagarkot, Nepal this past March. It was a transformative, ground-breaking event. Read our eyewitness report!
![](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/dayofactionforrivers_karen.jpg?itok=qaXyeyW8)
Date: Thursday, April 20, 2017 - 22:10
The Salween River holds a unique place among the world’s great rivers. It supports a vibrant ecosystem and rich biodiversity -- and it remains largely untouched by human interventions, including dams.
![Shan State Rivers](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/salweenphoto.jpg?itok=M1uWQFj5)
Date: Thursday, September 29, 2016 - 17:44
The Salween River, also known as Thanlwin, one of Asia’s last remaining largely free-flowing rivers, is the site of a planned cascade of six massive hydropower dam projects, including the Mong Ton and Hat Gyi Dams in Shan and Karen States, now being promoted by Thai investors.
![Pai Deetes March 2016 International Day of Action for Rivers on the Salween River](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/salweenarticleimage.jpg?itok=ANhTDutK)
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2016 - 20:43
This week's visit by Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's state counsellor, to Thailand appears to hold out hope for Thai state and private investors to revitalise their plans for key investments in Myanmar. Among these projects, a cascade of hydroelectric dams on the Salween River.
![International Rivers Thai Mekong villagers gather outside the Administrative Court in Bangkok ahead of the hearing.](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Pianporn%20Deetes/mekongcourtcase.jpg?itok=QxBFA0ab)
Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2015 - 19:15
During the one and a half hour hearing, at the Administrative Court in Bangkok, the Court heard testimony from two of the plaintiffs in the case, filed by 37 Thai Villagers against the signing of the Power Purchase Agreement for the Xayaburi Dam. The judges for the case listened carefully to the plaintiffs and took notes during their testimony. It was the first time that the Court heard directly from the community members, in their own words, since the case was accepted in June 2014.
![Karen ethnic Thai villagers at the Salween River will be affected by the planned Hat Gyi Dam in Burma’s Karen state.](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/salweendams.jpg?itok=PcFMHcr7)
Date: Monday, November 9, 2015 - 02:43
The strong turn-out for Myanmar’s elections on Sunday demonstrates that people in Myanmar are not only eager to participate, but are also demanding their right to participate in decisions which will impact their lives and the future of their country. While communities along the Salween River have long voiced their opposition to the hydropower dams planned on their river, the implications of the changes happening in Myanmar only further calls into question Thailand’s future power development plans.
![Pianporn Deetes Lawyers representing the Thai community members who filed the case against the Xayaburi Dam, return to Court Friday to submit their final testimony](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/xayaburicourt_july2015.jpg?itok=97Z_RkMB)
Date: Thursday, July 23, 2015 - 21:17
The lawsuit filed by Thai Mekong communities against the Xayaburi Dam’s power purchase agreement reaches a critical juncture as the Court accepts final evidence into the case. The lawsuit has become a regional case study, as it pioneers the use of legal mechanisms in holding government agencies and companies accountable for their involvement in cross-border projects and upholding the rights of local communities.
![Decision makers responsible for energy tend to ignore the lives of the locals, such as in the case of this fisher who make his living with natural resources from the Mekong River.](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/xayaburi_paipdpblog.jpg?itok=6Kkw9G4s)
Date: Thursday, May 14, 2015 - 20:03
On May 15, the National Energy Policy Council approved Thailand's new Power Development Plan. Thailand plans to double its installed energy capacity over the next 20 years through imported electricity from environmentally and socially costly projects in Laos and Myanmar.
![Pianporn Deetes A Karen displaced family fleeing armed conflict in a temporary shelter on the bank of the Salween River, near a proposed dam site on the Salween](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/karenfamily.jpg?itok=uZqFRBhg)
Date: Sunday, February 8, 2015 - 21:37
Burma has recently become a lucrative destination for foreign investors, ever since the election a couple of years ago. For the hydropower industry, the natural resource-rich country of Burma is among the last targets with high potential.
![](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/xayaburiphoto.jpg?itok=e4B66p_L)
Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 - 02:21
“When we were relocated here, they did not build us a temple,” said an elderly man while staring blankly at the rugged dirt road ahead, which was flanked by new homes built by the company building a huge new dam on the Mekong.
![Photo by Kumpin Aksorn](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/10.11.1402.jpg?itok=e4Fm7ZgB)
Date: Monday, November 10, 2014 - 02:35
The Thai National Mekong Committee held their first consultation on the Don Sahong Dam today in Ubon Ratchathani. Notably Mekong communities were not invited to take part, nor were they informed that the meeting would be taking place.
![Pianporn Deetes](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/thaiadmincourt.jpg?itok=nLWnHlHd)
Date: Friday, October 17, 2014 - 00:31
We have tried to ask the Thai Government, EGAT and Thai Banks to recognize the transboundary impacts of the Xayaburi Dam, but no one takes responsibility. We now come to the Administrative Court today expecting there will be transboundary justice.
![International Rivers A ceremony for the Mekong held outside Thailand's Administrative Court in August 2012](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/thaillawsuit.jpg?itok=YT4bpCZC)
Date: Friday, June 20, 2014 - 10:09
On Tuesday June 24, the Supreme Administrative Court accepted the lawsuit filed by 37 Thai villagers against the signing of the Power Purchase Agreement for the Xayaburi Dam.
![Photo courtesy of Chao Moolsiri A grandma looks at her dry-season riverbank garden as it is flooded by the Mekong, Chiang Khan, Loei (Thai-Lao border)](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Kate%20Ross/chaomoolsiri20.12.13.jpg?itok=qFMBYwy2)
Date: Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - 22:49
It is the middle of winter in the Mekong region; however throughout December, floods have brought havoc to communities along the Mekong River. From Chiang Rai province in Northern Thailand downward, the water level in the Mekong has risen rapidly, leaving destruction in its wake.
![](https://archive.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/styles/135x160/public/images/blog_entry/Pianporn%20Deetes/xaya-court03-sm.jpg?itok=si1jolIQ)
Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2012 - 19:46
On August 7, a coalition of 37 Thai villagers filed a lawsuit in Thailand’s Administrative Court in Bangkok aimed at stopping the Xayaburi Dam, which is currently under construction illegally in Laos. Even though the Xayaburi dam is not located in Thailand, Thai actors have played a critical role as developers, financiers, and most importantly, buyer of the electricity. If the dam is built, it will cause harm to Thai people living along the Mekong River in the northeast provinces.