Mekong

In the remote eastern region of Myanmar, ethnic communities in Karenni State are conserving and protecting their forests using customary rules and cultural beliefs.

This is the conversation between Reporting ASEAN’s editor and founder, Johanna Son, and Stimson Centre’s Brian Eyler, edited for length and clarity.

The  Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) was revived in 2018 in part to provide its members with an alternative source of funding to enhance connectivity in mainland Southeast Asia. Within an area congested with multilateral frameworks, overlapping agendas and an abundance of funding, ACMECS faces formidable challenges ahead to stay relevant. 

Amidst the promising economic prosperity and development in the Southeast Asian region, the growing energy demands to sustain it comes with a price. In this article, we reveal how securitizing environmental issues and promoting policy dialogues can lead to sustainable environmental governance in the Mekong region.

Like two sides to every coin, hydropower development offers benefits and disadvantages. Lao PDR has been constructing many dams, with assorted projects in various stages of completion. But what is the legal framework to ensure proper compensation for affected residents?  

Hydropower dams on the Mekong mainstream have resulted in many negative impacts on riverine communities who depend on the river’s transboundary ecological web for their livelihoods. Ongoing plans for development continue to impact people’s lives – can it be halted before it reaches a tipping point? 

Nược Đua’ is how Vietnamese living in the Mekong Delta used to call out to the dolphins ‘to help them out when they were fishing. That was decades ago, when the Irrawaddy dolphin could still be seen in Vietnam.

The way of life at Ban Ta Mui on the Thai-Lao border is rapidly changing with ongoing development of the Mekong River. Social and environmental impacts have been accumulating as large-scale hydropower and other projects take their toll. Can a policy shift towards biocultural rights and responsibilities reframe a renewed respect to nature, from dispossession to nourishing diversity and living in accordance with the true spirit of the Mekong River?    

The Mekong River in the Vietnamese delta region has consistently received its lowest flow levels in recent years, limiting rice-growing and other crops. Climate change, saline intrusion, and hydropower dams have all significantly impacted farmers’ livelihoods but Resolution 120, a response from the Vietnamese government, is expected to provide some hope for a shift in agricultural strategy and food security for the future.