By Brian Eyler, Courtney Weatherby, and Richard Cronin:
Preparatory work for the next big dam on the Mekong – Pak Beng – in northern Laos has begun. This news supports the widespread narrative that the current rapid pace of dam construction on the Mekong River will continue until the entire river is turned into a series of reservoirs. Certainly the construction of even a few large dams will severely impact food security in the world’s most productive freshwater fishery and sharply reduce the delivery of nutrient-rich sediment needed to sustain agriculture, especially in Cambodia and Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.
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Brian Eyler is Director of the Southeast Asia program at the Stimson Center. Courtney Weatherby is a Research Associate with the Southeast Asia program. Richard Cronin is a Distinguished Fellow at Stimson. To learn more, read their latest publication, Letters from the Mekong: A Call for Strategic Basin-Wide Energy Planning in Laos.
A Call for Basin-Wide Energy Plans
By Richard Cronin • Brian Eyler • Courtney Weatherby
In Southeast Asia
By Brian Eyler, Courtney Weatherby, and Richard Cronin:
Preparatory work for the next big dam on the Mekong – Pak Beng – in northern Laos has begun. This news supports the widespread narrative that the current rapid pace of dam construction on the Mekong River will continue until the entire river is turned into a series of reservoirs. Certainly the construction of even a few large dams will severely impact food security in the world’s most productive freshwater fishery and sharply reduce the delivery of nutrient-rich sediment needed to sustain agriculture, especially in Cambodia and Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.
Read the full article on the Bangkok Post here.
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Brian Eyler is Director of the Southeast Asia program at the Stimson Center. Courtney Weatherby is a Research Associate with the Southeast Asia program. Richard Cronin is a Distinguished Fellow at Stimson. To learn more, read their latest publication, Letters from the Mekong: A Call for Strategic Basin-Wide Energy Planning in Laos.
Photo credit: World Fish via Flickr