Project
Mekong Policy Project
Addressing the regional environmental and social impacts along the Mekong River to improve food security, stability and cross-country relations.
About the Project
As a biodiversity hotspot that is home to more than 60 million people, the Lower Mekong River Basin plays a vital role as the region’s “rice bowl,” the world’s largest freshwater fishery and provider of livelihoods. Stimson’s Mekong Policy Project interacts with a wide range of local and international NGOs, government departments, and academic institutions in addressing environmental, political, and economic challenges in the region.
We lead the discourse on transboundary effects of hydropower dams along the Mekong River, the basin’s significant impacts on regional relations, and the future of water and energy collaboration among a crowded field of regional development frameworks.
Project Team
Research & Writing
Report
Examining how dam driven river changes are harming a Mekong flooded forest and how smarter water management could help reverse losses.
April 21, 2026
Explainer
New data unveils the huge scale of unregulated mining along rivers in Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia with implications for the health and safety of communities and ecosystems.
March 20, 2026
Explainer
ຂໍ້ມູນໃໝ່ໄດ້ເປີດເຜີຍໃຫ້ຮູ້ໃນວົງກວ້າງກ່ຽວກັບການຂຸດຄົ້ນ-ປຸງແຕ່ງແຮ່ທີ່ບໍ່ຖຶກຕ້ອງຕາມແມ່ນໍ້າສາຍຕ່າງໆ ຢູ່ໃນປະເທດພະມ້າ, ປະເທດລາວ, ແລະ ປະເທດກໍາປູເຈຍ ເຊິ່ງມີຜົນກະທົບຕໍ່ສຸຂະພາບ ແລະ ຄວາມປອດໄພຂອງຊຸມຊົນ ແລະ ລະບົບນິເວດ.
March 6, 2026
Data Tool
This interactive dashboard visualizes and analyzes the impact of mining operations on rivers in mainland Southeast Asia.
November 24, 2025
Explainer
New data unveils the huge scale of unregulated mining along rivers in Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia with implications for the health and safety of communities and ecosystems.
November 24, 2025
Commentary
Recent U.S. expansion of critical minerals cooperation in ASEAN and the broader Indo-Pacific is a strategic opportunity, not without challenges.
October 29, 2025
Field Note
Community activists and experts in Chiang Rai, Thailand are calling for urgent attention to a looming health and environmental crisis plaguing their rivers and floodplains.
September 22, 2025
Issue Brief
How a new Belt and Road project in Cambodia could increase water and flood risks in Vietnam and weaken the 1995 Mekong Agreement.
May 9, 2024
Resource
An animated visualization of the Mekong Floodpulse and Tonle Sap Expansion
February 16, 2024
Report
The renewable energy transition and other market trends in Thailand open the door to more sustainable electricity trade with Laos
January 18, 2022
Report
Mekong countries must balance rising electricity demand with the clean energy technology transition, environmental impacts of hydropower, and shocks from COVID-19 and drought
September 30, 2021
Op-Ed
This article was originally published in the Bangkok Post
February 16, 2021
Op-Ed
This article was originally published in Bangkok Post.
July 31, 2020
Infographic
More than 100 reservoirs now hold water in China’s portion of the Upper Mekong.
July 7, 2020
Infographic
Mainstream Mekong dams have been proven time after time to devastate the river’s fisheries and agricultural processes along its floodplain.
June 23, 2020
Op-Ed
This article was originally published in Foreign Policy.
April 28, 2020
Report
This report explores the trade, investment, business, diplomacy, security, education, and people-to-people connections between the United States and the five countries of mainland Southeast Asia referred to as the Mekong region.
April 28, 2020
Op-Ed
Originally published in Foreign Policy.
April 22, 2020
Feature
China’s dams held back so much water that they entirely prevented the Mekong’s annual monsoon-driven rise in river level.
April 13, 2020
Commentary
Despite a quick response during their initial outbreak, Vietnam could not avoid a second outbreak and the need to take more aggressive measures.
March 26, 2020
Commentary
ASEAN countries start taking measures to mitigate an outbreak as cases begin to surge, despite an initial delay
March 24, 2020
Infographic
More than 200 large dams planned, completed, or under construction in the lower Mekong Basin will deliver severe fragmentation to the river’s ecosystem and devastate downstream fisheries and agricultural practices.
January 10, 2020
Infographic
This large fishing village along Southeast Asia’s largest lake in Cambodia should be underwater, instead its bone dry
December 1, 2019
Infographic
A crystal clear Mekong at this time of year is a sign that the mighty river system is reaching a point of no return
November 30, 2019
Infographic
The Mekong’s banks should be flooding over, instead it has never been so dry.
November 30, 2019
Infographic
27 Mekong dams lie within a 200km radius of Wednesday’s 6.1 earthquake in northern Laos
November 22, 2019
Infographic
The Mekong’s mighty monsoon pulse is weakened by dams and drought and brings devastation to Southeast Asia’s great lake
October 16, 2019
Infographic
A weak Tonle Sap expansion will lead to drastic reductions in fish catch and a possible food security crisis in the Mekong
September 25, 2019
Infographic
A fishing village typically surrounded by water at this time of year sits dry, waiting for the Tonle Sap to flood
September 11, 2019
Infographic
This 2nd Mekong mainstream dam in Laos has irrevocably altered the 4,000 Islands region, one of the Mekong’s and the world’s most pristine natural areas
August 25, 2019
Infographic
The Tonle Sap Lake must reverse to drive Mekong economies and the tens of millions living in the basin. This year drought severely delays the reversal for millions.
August 15, 2019
Infographic
China claims it’s helping downstream Mekong countries, satellite imagery suggest China’s hurting those countries
August 5, 2019
Infographic
Satellite images suggest testing operations on the Mekong’s newest mainstream dam is holding water and exposing downstream stretches on the Thai/Lao border
July 17, 2019
Infographic
Contrary to much media reporting, satellite imagery can confirm the completion of 11 mega-dams on China’s portion of the Mekong.
July 1, 2019
Stimson in the News
Courtney Weatherby quoted in NPR article on Chinese overseas coal plant development
April 29, 2019
Infographic
China’s most recent upstream Mekong dam fills its reservoir and floods numerous upstream ethnic communities
March 15, 2019
Infographic
A Tibetan community once known for its cottage wine and tourism industry is taken over by dam resettlement on the Upper Mekong
March 15, 2019
Report
the fifth issue brief in Stimson’s Letters from the Mekong series, which explores the vital role that Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake plays in the Mekong and identifies alternative pathways for development which can optimize trade-offs to the water-energy-food nexus. These alternative approaches include basinwide water-energy planning and a deeper incorporation of non-hydropower renewable energy sources into Cambodia’s future power mix.
February 27, 2019
Infographic
More than 8 million ethnic people have been relocated to make way for 130 mega-dams (planned, under construction, or completed) in the Mekong, Yangtze, Red, and Pearl River Basins in Southwest China
January 10, 2019
Commentary
April 24, 2018
Recent Publications
Sub-Projects
Events
Load More