The Mekong appears to be on the brink of yet another extreme low flow wet season as there are clear signs of drought throughout the basin. With El Niño soon to take hold, how will the rest of the 2023 wet season play out? And how will this impact the livelihoods of millions who depend on the river? Will more than 100 dams active in the basin exacerbate wet season drought or could they be put to use to improve the situation?
Join the Mekong Dam Monitor team and guest discussants to explore the impacts of El Niño, dams, and other factors shaping the Mekong’s 2023 wet season.
Simultaneous interpretation of this event will be provided in Burmese, Khmer, Lao, Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese.
Featured Speakers
Brian Eyler, Senior Fellow and Director of the Southeast Asia Program, The Stimson Center
He is an expert on transboundary issues in the Mekong region and specializes in China’s economic cooperation with Southeast Asia. He spent more than 15 years living and working in China and over the last two decades has conducted extensive research with stakeholders in the Mekong region. He is widely recognized as a leading voice on environmental, energy, and water security issues in the Mekong. Brian is co-lead on the Mekong Dam Monitor, the winner of 2021 Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award, 1st Prize in the 2021 Prudence Foundation’s Disaster Tech Competition, and the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation’s 2021 Outstanding Achievement Award.
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, which he received in 2010. Recently, he works as a Senior Advisor on climate change for Oxfam, where he focuses on building climate resilience, agricultural value chains, and water governance for the Mekong region (Vietnam and Cambodia), Indonesia, the Philippines, and Pakistan. Huy is also the Deputy Team Leader of the Secondary Green Cities Development project in Vietnam, funded by ADB, which focuses on integrating nature-based solutions for building climate resilience. With over 20 years of experience in disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, nature-based solutions, water resource management, and education in emergencies, Huy has worked in various countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, Japan, Laos, Bangladesh, the Marshall Islands, the Philippines, and Cambodia.
Chinaporn Meechaiya, Senior Project Coordinator and Hydrologist, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)
Chinaporn has experience in hydrology and urban design/urban planning and specializes in hydrology, flood risk management. Chinaporn holds a Bachelor of Architecture, Urban design and Urban Planning, Chulalongkorn University and Erasmus Mundus Master of Science in Water Science and Engineering with a specialization in Flood Risk Management, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft.
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.
Regan Kwan, Research Associate, Stimson Center Southeast Asia Program
His research focuses on the environmental and socioeconomic impact of development in the Greater Mekong Subregion. He leads the program’s data collection and management processes and manages the technical aspect of the Mekong Infrastructure Tracker platform and Mekong Dam Monitor.