Mekong Mainstream Dams

IRN technical review of Mekong Secretariat 1994 Mekong mainstream dam plan

Friday, March 31, 1995
This technical review of the Mekong Secretariat's "Mekong Mainstream Run of River Hydropower" report, dated 1994, identifies serious shortcomings of the report, including a flawed methodology, misrepresentation of project impacts, and inadequate economic and technical analysis, leading to unsupported conclusions and unjustified recommendations.

Don Sahong Dam

The Khone Phapheng Falls, a popular tourist attraction at Siphandone
The Don Sahong Dam spells disaster for Mekong fish. Local people have received misleading and incomplete information about the likely impacts of the dam from the project’s developers, Mega First Corporation Berhad of Malaysia. People downstream in Cambodia have received even less information about the project. International Rivers is working with groups throughout the Mekong Region and internationally to protect the Siphandone area from this destructive project.

A River of the Heart

Friday, June 1, 2007
From World Rivers Review, June 2007 In Thailand they say that once you swim in the Mekong, it remains in your heart forever. It must be true, because my first swim in the Mekong in my early twenties gave me a connection to the river that motivates me to this day. That vast, muddy, beautiful river – with its Thai cities and villages on one side and mysterious Laos across the water captivated my imagination from the start. I knew then that I would be back. For more than a decade, working to protect the Mekong has consumed my professional life. During my first trip to Thailand for

World Rivers Review – Focus on the Mekong – June 2007

Overview: The Mekong: Diverse, Magnificent, Threatened The Mekong River is a changing kaleidoscope of cultures,geography and plant and animal life. For most of its journey: a fast-flowing, meandering waterway that forms the heart and soul of mainland Southeast Asia. The river boasts one of the world’s most diverse and productive inland fisheries, supplying the people of the region with about 80% of their protein needs. Yet this beautiful, dynamic and thriving river system is under threat. While the people living along the banks of the river see the Mekong as a resource to be nourished and s

Dammed if they do

Thursday, June 28, 2007
Article from The Economist print edition Dolphins, catfish and people at risk THINK dams inundating idylls in developing countries were things of the past? Think again. To the dismay of many, the Siphandon ("4,000 Islands") district of southern Laos, home to pretty waterfalls, tranquil waterways and a colony of endangered Irrawaddy dolphins, is the site planned for a 240MW hydro-electric dam. Even parts of the Lao government think it is a step too far. Laos is one of the poorest countries in Asia. Its government is eager to harness what natural resources it has, notably an abundanc

NGOs against Mekong dams

Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Article from Bangkok Post More than 200 civil and environmental groups from 30 countries have called on the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to block the planned construction of six dams on the Mekong river. In a petition sent to the commission's chief executive officer and donors of the MRC, the NGOs said they were concerned about the revival of plans to build dams on the lower Mekong and the failure of the MRC to defend the ecological integrity of the river. According to NGOs, the governments of Laos, Cambodia and Thailand have granted permission to Thai, Malaysian and Chinese companies

Mainstream Dams Threaten the Mother of all Rivers

Friday, June 1, 2007
While China is midway through the construction of a controversial cascade of major dam projects on the Upper Mekong mainstream, the lower stretch of the river shared by Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam has so far escaped hydropower development. For the 60 million people who depend on the lower Mekong for food, income, transportation and other services, that has been good news. But now there are troubling signs that the tide is turning, as Laos and Cambodia offer up stretches of the mighty Mekong to dam builders. In 1994, the Mekong Secretariat (the pre-cursor to the Mekong River Commissio

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