In recent years, water releases from upstream dams have tripled the amount of water in the Mekong during certain dry season months. Is this helpful or harmful? How will dam releases impact dry season flow along the course of the Mekong from Thailand to Cambodia this year? Join the Mekong Dam Monitor team for its forecast for the 2024 dry season and review of major findings of the 2023 wet season including El Nino impacts and the quality of the Tonle Sap Expansion.
Simultaneous translation will be available for 6 local Mekong languages (Burmese, Khmer, Lao, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese).
Featured Speakers
Brian Eyler, Senior Fellow and Director, Southeast Asia Program, Stimson Center
Brian is an expert on transboundary issues in the Mekong region and China’s economic cooperation with Southeast Asia. He is widely recognized as a leading voice on environmental and water security issues in the Mekong. Brian co-leads the Mekong Dam Monitor, winner of 2021 Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award, 2021 Prudence Foundation’s Disaster Tech Competition, and Renewable Natural Resources Foundation’s 2021 Outstanding Achievement Award.
Alan Basist, President, Eyes on Earth
Alan Basist has worked in climate sciences for almost 40 years with experience ranging from work as a research scientist in NOAA, an employee of a reinsurance company, an entrepreneur identifying climate variability and promoting mitigation and risk management strategies. In 2013 he started Eyes On Earth to service the agricultural and insurance industry on climate related investments, as well as monitoring food and water resources around the world. He is co-lead of the Mekong Dam Monitor.
Chea Seila, Project Coordinator, USAID Wonders of the Mekong
Seila has worked for over 15 years as a volunteer, researcher, community facilitator, coordinator and project manager on protection and management of natural resources and communities’ livelihoods depending on the Mekong River and its main tributaries in Cambodia. Currently, she helps manage the USAID Wonders of the Mekong Project through coordination on Interdisciplinary Research and Conservation; Training and Capacity Building; and Environmental Education and Outreach activities.
Nguyen Ngoc Huy, Consultant, ISET International
Huy holds a PhD in environmental studies from Kyoto University with a focus on disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. He has over 20 years of experience in disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, nature-based solutions, water resource management, and education in emergencies, and has worked in recent years as a Senior Advisor on climate change for Oxfam, as well as the Deputy Team Leader of the Secondary Green Cities Development project in Vietnam.
Moderator
Courtney Weatherby, Southeast Asia Program Deputy Director, Stimson Center
Courtney’s research focuses on sustainable infrastructure and the nexus of water, energy, and food issues in the Greater Mekong Subregion. She was a lead author on a range of technical and policy studies related to system-scale planning and electricity trade. She supports the team’s data-driven work through platforms like the Mekong Dam Monitor and the Mekong Infrastructure Tracker.