New planting technique in Laos adapts to climate change

The Nation (Laos) via the Vientiane Times: Thousands of tonnes of rice each year are damaged in Laos by drought and flooding as a result of climate change. To overcome this problem the Lao government, in cooperation with relevant sectors and different international organisations, is looking at ways to adapt to these challenging conditions.

Dry-direct seeding using drum seeders is one of the new options to reduce loss from natural disasters, particularly floods and drought. Lao researchers studied the technique for over three years in Savannakhet province.

The study came under a project carried out by the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture Promotion and Cooperatives, the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology and the Faculty of Agriculture at the National University of Laos for developing improved farming and marketing systems in Laos.

Farmers who use this method should be able to achieve two harvests during the rainy season as they can plant the first crop at the end of April or beginning of May when the early, light rains have fallen. They don't have to wait for the heavy rains in the middle of the year and, after harvesting this crop, should be able to plant again soon after, the Agriculture and Forestry Research Centre director, Dr Thavone Inthavong said....

Planting rice the traditional way in Laos, shot by Stuart Ling, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Ho Chi Minh Declaration dodges Mekong dams dispute: rivers group

Medilyn Manibo in Eco-Business: Non-profit group International Rivers expressed disappointment over the unresolved dispute concerning the proposed dams on the Mekong River at the second Mekong River Commission (MRC) Summit held recently in Vietnam.

International Rivers, which works with an international network of organisa
tions that aim to protect rivers and local communities against unsustainable management, said that the actions and statements of government leaders in the region did not clearly denounce the current rush of dams being built along the mainstream portion of the lower Mekong river.

Ame Trandem, the environmental group’s Southeast Asia programme director, explained how the on-going construction of dams pursued by the Lao government poses a threat to local communities and their livelihood.

Government leaders from Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Thailand and Vietnam presented the Ho Chi Minh Declaration as the outcome of the summit, which concluded on April 5. The declaration set new priorities for the MRC, an intergovernmental body that facilitates regional cooperation agreements between the four member countries.

The actions proposed in this document include expediting the implementation of MRC’s basin-wide studies to reduce negative impacts of development projects in the river, including hydropower, as well as prioritising initiatives on battling the effects of natural disasters and the impact of climate change and rising sea level on the river basin...

Khon Phapheng Falls on the Mekong River in Laos, shot by Rup11, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license

Coping with volatile weather in Laos

IRIN: The frequent but low-impact disasters in Laos, home to just 6.1 million inhabitants, are seldom in the limelight compared with neighbouring flood-prone Thailand to the west, cyclone-hit Myanmar in the northwest, and earthquake-susceptible China to the north.

In the past five years, floods swept through 65 of Thailand’s provinces in 2011, affecting 14 million people; Cyclone Nargis left 138,300 either dead or missing in Myanmar in 2008; and China’s 2008 Sichuan earthquake killed 34,000. 

The disasters in Laos appear puny in comparison, but increasingly volatile weather conditions are taking a toll on the 80 percent of the population who do not live in the capital, Vientiane, and depend on natural resources for survival. They are dispersed across three widely diverse geographical environments in the North, Central, and Southern regions, which range from forested mountains to low-lying alluvial plains.

“The climate diversity between the north, central and southern regions of Laos means that communities in each area face different risks associated with climate instability, with a uniform consequence on food production,” Edward Allen, a technical adviser and climatological dynamics expert for Southeast Asia at the Laos Institute for Renewable Energy (LIRE), a Vientiane-based non-profit research organization, told IRIN.... 

A child and ox plowing in Laos, shot by Paulrudd, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Lao farmers need no ‘magic’ to adapt to climate change

Lorie Ann Cascaro in Minda News (Philippines):  ...Vientiane is one of the six major flood-affected provinces in Laos, including Savannakhet, Bolikhamxay, Khammouane, Attapeu and Champasak.

“Climate change” is not a common term for most farmers in Laos. But, the Lao government recognizes the impacts of climate change by signing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1995 and the Kyoto Protocol in 2003. The government developed its National Adaptation Programme of Action to Climate Change (NAPA) with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In the NAPA 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Chair of National Environment Committee Mr Asang Laoly says Laos has seen in recent years “more frequent and severe floods and droughts which are alternately occurring each year.” “Temperature is continuously increasing and the rainfall is erratic, resulting in a number of adverse impacts to the economic system, environment and the livelihoods of people of all ethnic groups.”

Over three decades, from 1966 to 2009, Laos has felt the impacts of climate change through the increase in temperature with an average of 0.1 degrees Celsius (C), between the northern and central part, and between the central and southern part. As observed in the rapid assessment, the average temperature in eight northern provinces increased from 23.0 to 23.2 C; 26.3 C to 26.6 C in five central provinces; and, 26.9 C to 27.3 C in four southern provinces.

Data from the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH) show that drought occurred in Laos from 1995 to 2005 “characterized by higher and irregular increases in temperature.” The country also experienced large floods, including flash floods in the northern and eastern regions as recorded in 1995, 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2005. More recently, experiences with typhoons have been made in the south of the country....

The Mekong River in Vientiane, Laos, shot by yeowatzup, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Torrential rains pour across Laos

Steff Gaulter in Al-Jazeera.com: Flash floods and heavy monsoon rains have battered Laos, killing at least 20 people. The torrential downpours have also swept away roads and destroyed crops.

116,000 people have now been affected; many have been left without access to clean water. The flooding has been caused by the annual rains, which this year have been intensified by a number of tropical cyclones.

Although the storms themselves have not made landfall in Laos, Typhoon Utor and Tropical Storm Mangkhut have been close enough to intensify the rains and cause widespread flooding. There are fears that there could be more heavy rain across the region in the next few weeks, as the rainy season runs from May till the end of September....

International Finance Corporation and Deutsche Bank bankrolling Vietnamese land grabs in Cambodia and Laos

Global Witness: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Deutsche Bank are financing Vietnamese rubber companies driving a wave of land and forest "grabs" in Cambodia and Laos, according to a new report and film by Global Witness.

The report, “Rubber Barons”, reveals how a pervasive culture of secrecy around plantation investments in the region has allowed two of Vietnam’s largest companies, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) and the state-owned Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG), to acquire more than 200,000 hectares of land through a series of deals with the Lao and Cambodian governments that lack transparency.

It details how these rubber giants, with close links to the region’s notoriously corrupt political elites, operate with complete impunity, devastating local livelihoods and the environment in the process. Deutsche Bank has significant holdings in both companies, while the IFC invests in HAGL.

“We’ve known for some time that corrupt politicians in Cambodia and Laos are orchestrating the land grabbing crisis that is doing so much damage in the region. This report completes the picture by exposing the pivotal role of Vietnam’s rubber barons and their financiers, Deutsche Bank and the IFC,” said Megan MacInnes, Head of the Land Team at Global Witness. “Both companies are having severe impacts on the human rights of ordinary Lao and Cambodian citizens.  Often, the first time people learn of a plantation is when the company bulldozers arrive to clear their farms.”...

Greater Mekong countries 'lost one-third of forest cover in 40 years'

John Vidal in the Guardian (UK): Five Asian countries have lost nearly one-third of their forests in the last 35 years and could be left with little more than 10-20% of their original cover by 2030 – with devastating effects on wildlife and humans, a new report suggests.

Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam have lost nearly 40m hectares (ha) of forest cover since 1980 but have retained about 98m ha of natural forest, just over half of the region's land area.

Using satellite data, the WWF researchers calculated that since 1980, Cambodia has lost 22% of its 1973 forest cover, Laos and Burma 24%, and Thailand and Vietnam 43%.

The report on ecosystems in the greater Mekong area warns that these countries risk losing more than one-third of their remaining forest cover within the next two decades if they fail to increase protection.

"The greater Mekong is at a crossroads," said Peter Cutter, landscape conservation manager with WWF-Greater Mekong. "One path leads to further declines in biodiversity and livelihoods, but if natural resources are managed responsibly, this region can pursue a course that will secure a healthy and prosperous future for its people."...

A Thai rain forest, shot by Michael Cory, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Mekong region facing six degree-warming, climate extremes

Alexander Hotz in SciDev.net: Temperatures in South-East Asia's Lower Mekong Basin are set to rise by up to three times the global average temperature increase, according to a USAID-funded study. Previous reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted that the basin would see increases in line with the global average of around two degrees Celsius.

But according to a preliminary report by the Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change Project (Mekong ARCC) released last week (29 March), parts of the basin could see annual temperatures increase by as much as six degrees Celsius by 2050. It also predicts that areas such as Mondulkiri province in Cambodia could experience doubling of the number of days with heavy rainfall, up from just nine days annually.

"We've found that this region is going to experience climate extremes in temperature and rainfall beyond anything that we had expected," says Jeremy Carew-Reid, the study's lead author, and director of the International Centre for Environmental Management, one of the organisations tasked with implementing the five-year project.

The Lower Mekong Basin, which encompasses most of Cambodia and Laos, and parts of Thailand and Vietnam, is primarily rural, with 70 per cent of its 60 million inhabitants working as farmers or fishermen.

But as temperatures increase, the region's suitability for certain crops and aquaculture will change. Farmers could find that yields from crops that once thrived, including staples such as cassava, will plummet...

A banana vendor at the Cai Be floating market on the Mekong River, shot by McKay Savage, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

EU helps Mekong River Commission tackle climate change

The Vientiane Times: The European Union (EU) yesterday committed 4.95 million euros (over US$6 million) to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to boost its efforts to respond to the region's climate change challenges. Representatives of the EU and the MRC signed the funding agreement in Luang Prabang yesterday on the sidelines of the 19th Mekong River Commission Council meeting.

...According to a media release from the MRC, the funding supports the Climate Change Adaption Initiative until 2015. It supports the MRC programme to assess the effects of change climate and integrate adaption planning at the regional, national and community levels.

The funding is a part of the Global Climate Change Alliance – an EU initiative to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with the nations most affected by climate change. “The support of the EU underscores the importance of climate change in the development of the lower Mekong Basin. Adaption planning can better prepare the region for the challenges ahead, ensuring food security and alleviating poverty reduction,” MRC Chief Executive Officer Mr Hans Guttman said at the signing ceremony.

Rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and extreme weather events such as typhoons are increasing in frequency, leading to droughts and floods that destroy homes, infrastructure, livestock and crops. A predicted rise in sea level will increase salinity and floods in the Mekong Delta, causing damage to crops in the most productive area of the basin....

The Mekong River at Luang Prabang, Laos, shot by Allie Caulfield, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Laos approves Xayaburi 'mega' dam on Mekong

BBC News: Laos has given the go-ahead to build a massive dam on the lower Mekong river, despite opposition from neighbouring countries and environmentalists. A formal ceremony marking the start of full construction at Xayaburi would be held on Wednesday, the government said.

Countries downstream from the $3.5bn (£2.2bn) dam fear it will affect fish stocks and the livelihoods of millions. The announcement came as leaders from Asia and Europe began a two-day meeting in the Laos capital, Vientiane.

Landlocked Laos is one of South-east Asia's poorest countries and its strategy for development is based on generating electricity from its rivers and selling the power to its neighbours, says the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Bangkok. Xayaburi is being built by a Thai company with Thai money - and almost all of the electricity has been pre-sold to Thailand, our correspondent says.

Countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam point to a report last year that said the project should be delayed while more research was done on the dam's environmental impact. Up to now Laos had promised not to press ahead while those concerns remained....

One of the "4,000 islands" on the Mekong River in or near Laos, shot by Gnilenkov Aleksey, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Work progresses on Mekong dam?

Terra Daily via UPI: Construction is proceeding at the controversial proposed $3.8 billion Xayaburi Dam site on the Lower Mekong River in northern Laos, observers say, despite calls for the Laos government to put the project on hold until further studies are conducted into the dam's impact on lower Mekong communities.

About 95 percent of the dam's 1,260-megawatt capacity is intended for export to Thailand, which is financing the project. Thailand would operate the dam, turning it over to Laos after 30 years.

The Lower Mekong supports nearly 60 million people who depend on it for their livelihood, says the World Wildlife Fund.

While the Laos government says that only preparatory work on the dam has been conducted, the Bangkok Post reported that work is still under way at the site, including a dike straddling the Mekong River that locals say is obstructing the passage of boats....

The Mekong watershed, created by Karl Musser from USGS data, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license

Managing the Mekong

Shada Islam in Dawn (Pakistan): ...As it prepares to host the ninth Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) in early November, Laos is also gearing up for more international scrutiny of its policies. And with Vientiane situated on the bend of one of the world’s largest and most legendary rivers — the Mekong — world attention is focused on how Southeast Asia’s smallest and poorest nation is going to deal with increasingly shrill world demands that it stop plans to build a hydroelectric dam on the mythical river.

Laos is not alone in having to deal with controversy and potential confrontation over the sharing of the world’s water resources. Almost all majestic rivers — the kind that songs are written about and which have become part of our global heritage — are the source of tension among neighbouring nations. Think about the Indus, the Ganges, the Amazon and the Nile.

...Countries can either opt for competition and protectionism over water or decide to work together to ensure the equitable, efficient and sustainable management of water resources. Interestingly — and at least for the moment — Laos appears to have opted for the second track. After a spate of criticism from its neighbours over plans to build a huge, multi-billion-dollar dam on the Mekong, officials in Vientiane say work on the dam has been suspended in order to undertake further studies on the impact of the project.

Laos has made no secret of its plans to use the Mekong to expand its generating capacity and sell electricity to its neighbours. But according to reports, Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith admitted recently at a regional meeting in Cambodia that the Lao government had decided to postpone the construction of the dam because “We have to do further studies”....

A gondola on the Mekong in Laos, shot by Ricardo Hurtubia, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Meeting reviews Mekong projects

Vietnam News: Foreign ministers from Lower Mekong nations and the US convened for their fifth meeting yesterday in Phnom Penh to review the implementation of programmes on the environment, education, health and infrastructure.

This year's meeting saw the first presence of Myanmar as an official Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) partner nation, together with Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam. At the meeting, the ministers agreed to add a new pillar of agriculture and food security chaired by Myanmar, to establish the pillar "connectivity" on the basis of broadening the co-operation content in infrastructure, and strengthen co-operation with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) while broadening programmes on water.

The environment and water pillar, formerly known as the environment pillar, will be chaired by Viet Nam. The meeting agreed to strengthen co-ordination among LMI countries through a co-ordination network. They also decided to establish an LMI working group of experts and outstanding figures.

The ministers also ratified a LMI concept paper and a plan of action to implement the LMI during 2011-15, while releasing a statement on gender equality and female empowerment. A LMI working group for gender was also formed.

At the meeting, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced an LMI programme to 2020, pledging a US$50 million assistance package for LMI activities over the next three years, as well as committing $2 million for the fisheries programme and $1 million for a MRC research programme on the impacts of hydroelectric dams on the main flow of the Mekong River.

On the same day, the Friends of Lower Mekong (FLM) Ministerial Meeting also took place in Phnom Penh, bringing together foreign ministers and high-ranking officials from the LMI countries as well as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the European Union, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, among others....

The Mekong River in Laos, shot by Allie Caulfield, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

No stopping big hydro projects, despite Lao veto

Niluksi Koswanage in Reuters: A surge in mega-hydropower projects across the world in the coming decade will only be affected marginally by last week's decision to delay building a large dam across the Mekong, Southeast Asia's longest river.

Hydropower remains a proven way to produce electricity on a large scale, and some governments are extremely reluctant to opt for alternatives such as nuclear. But last week's decision could mean there will be increased focus on minimizing environmental and social costs of new hydro projects, analysts say.

Laos suspended the $3.5 billion Xayaburi dam project on the lower Mekong, awaiting a study into the environmental impact of the river, the world's largest inland fishery.

The 1,260-megawatt project has been hugely controversial and underlined growing global concerns that mega-dams were a damaging and outdated way of generating power. Protests from India to Brazil and Malaysia to China have called for a halt to massive building programs....

A narrow spot in the Mekong River in Laos, shot by Feral Arts, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Floods highlight the disaster-preparedness needs of Laos

IRIN: Heavy flooding during the northern summer, affecting 10 of the country's 17 provinces, has underlined the need for stronger disaster-management efforts, say experts. Tropical storm Haima struck central and northern Laos on 24 June, with Nock-Ten hitting central and southern areas on 30 and 31 July.

More than 300,000 people were affected and 26 died in the two storms, which resulted in more than US$100 million in damages, the government's National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) reported. More than 37,000 hectares of rice fields were damaged at a time when farmers were planting for the new season. This will affect harvests this year, with aid workers warning of long-term food distribution needs.

"When the emergency struck, they [local communities] quickly mobilized, organized themselves and divided the roles and responsibilities to respond. However, this could have been much better had they been better prepared and planned beforehand," Ghulam Sherani, a programme specialist in disaster risk management for the UN Development Programme (UNDP), told IRIN.

Sherani believes that lives, livestock and food stocks could have been saved had an improved early warning system been in place, noting that unlike earthquakes, where and when cyclones and typhoons strike is predictable.

"If we can translate that information to an understandable language for local communities then this will make a big difference," he said.

"We must strengthen the institutions related to disaster management and make sure that early warning is a priority and reaches the communities," Thanongdeth Insisiengmay, senior project manager for the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), added….

Pressure mounts to delay "dangerous" $3.5 billion Mekong dam

Reuters: Plans for the first dam across the lower Mekong River are putting Laos on a collision course with its neighbors and environmentalists who fear livelihoods, fish species and farmland could be destroyed, potentially sparking a food crisis. The impoverished, Communist nation seems determined to defy international pressure and forge ahead with construction of the $3.5 billion Xayaburi Dam, a mostly Thai-led project that experts say could cause untold environmental damage.

The four countries that share the lower stretches of the 4,900 km (3,044 mile) Mekong -- Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia -- failed at a meeting on Tuesday to reach an agreement on construction of the 1.285-megawatt (MW) dam, the first of 11 planned in the lower Mekong that are expected to generate 8 percent of Southeast Asia's power by 2025.

In a joint statement, they said there was "still a difference in views" and the issue should be handled at ministerial level. Mekong basin countries are bound by a treaty to hold inter-governmental consultations before building dams, but none has veto powers and Laos will have the final say, although not without considerable diplomatic pressure.

Ecologists and rivers experts say an environmental impact assessment conducted last year by the Lao government was patchy at best. They warn that the livelihoods of 60 million people in the lower Mekong region are at risk if the Xayaburi dam goes ahead without proper risk assessment.

Activists say scores of fish species face extinction, fish stocks will dwindle as migratory routes will be blocked, and swathes of rice-rich land could be deprived of fertile silt carried downstream by Southeast Asia's longest waterway. Entire villages would be forced to relocate.

According to a study by the Mekong River Commission, an inter-government agency, the proposed 11 dams would turn 55 percent of the river into reservoirs, resulting in estimated agriculture losses of more than $500 million a year and cutting the average protein intake of Thai and Lao people by 30 percent…

A narrow stretch of the Mekong in Laos, shot by Feral Arts, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Vietnam, Laos split over Mekong dam

Marwaan Macan-Markar in IPS: The first in a new series of 11 dams planned across the Mekong, South-east Asia’s largest river, could break a special bond between two communist-ruled countries. Critics in Vietnam see red over a 1,260-megawatt hydropower project planned by their smaller, poorer, land-locked neighbour, Laos. They call it an environmental disaster.

Laos, however, wants to be the powerhouse of the region – to sell power to its neighbours and earn enough to help the poor, that is a third of its population of 5.8 million. The dam in an idyllic hill setting in the north Laos province of Xayaburi (or Sayaboury), will be built by a Thai developer. Thailand is expected to buy 95 percent of its power to fuel its booming economy.

Environmentalists say the Xayaburi dam and 10 more such constructions planned on the Mekong’s mainstream, nine in Laos, make a Faustian bargain. The dam will "reduce fresh water and silt downstream in Vietnam and devastate fishing among others," stated ‘Tuoi Tre’, the country’s largest circulating paper, published by the Communist Youth Organisation from Ho Chi Minh City (former Saigon) in the south.

The potential threat of the 3.5 billion dollar dam in the Mekong delta, Vietnam’s "biggest rice producing and fish farming area", has been highlighted by The Saigon Times too. Vietnam’s government officials have raised their voice against the 32-metre- tall, 820-metre-wide dam. "If built, Laos’ Xayaburi dam will greatly affect Vietnam’s agriculture production and aquaculture," deputy minister of natural resources and environment Nguyen Thai Lai reportedly said in a meeting of the country’s Mekong River experts.

Such criticism goes against the spirit of a 1977 treaty of friendship and cooperation that binds them in a ‘special relationship’. The treaty followed the communist triumph against the U.S. in the Vietnam War….

The Mekong River between Laos and Thailand, shot by Prince Roy, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Mekong countries should delay dam projects for decade

Terra Daily via AFP: Countries in the lower Mekong River region should delay any decisions about building hydropower dams for 10 years, an influential new study said Friday, warning of the many risks involved. The recommendation was made in a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) report commissioned by the Mekong River Commission (MRC), an inter-governmental advisory body that deals with all Mekong River-related activities.

The MRC -- which represents Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam -- is studying the possible construction of 11 hydropower projects on southeast Asia's longest river. "The recommendation to defer dam construction for a 10-year period is very significant," said Tiffany Hacker, an interim communication advisor for the MRC.

Environmental groups have long objected to damming the river, arguing that it would damage fragile ecosystems. The assessment, led by consultants with the help of the MRC, government agencies and civil society representatives, said more time was needed to study the risks that come with building dams in such a complex environment….

Sunset on the Mekong, shot by ZAC, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Climate change to blame for Mekong droughts: Cambodian PM

Bernama: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Tuesday that blames on China over droughts of the Mekong River is baseless and the global climate change is to blame instead. Hun Sen, who attended last week's Mekong Summit in Hua Hin of Thailand along with other leaders and scientists, said:"They (some countries) are blaming China while China itself is being victimized by droughts.

".. China's Lancang River has no water, either," Xinhua news agency cited Hun Sen as saying here. "The upper part of China's Yunnan province is also facing severe droughts, worse than Cambodia," he said. "The level of water in the Mekong River totally depends on rain and the level of water fluctuates with the climate change," said Hun Sen.

"I am not defending China, but I am saying this only to provide justice for China," Hun Sen said, adding that he had a separate talk with China and Laos on the sidelines of the Mekong Summit in Thailand. Hun Sen also said that the climate change hit countries across the world. "In Cambodia, wells are dried up," he said. "We -- Cambodia, China, Laos and Vietnam -- are facing droughts as well."…

Swimming in the Mekong in Cambodia. Shot by Clear Path International, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

China says dams not to blame for low Mekong levels

Reuters: China on Monday denied that its dams were reducing water levels on the Mekong River and blamed problems along the river on unusually dry weather, but it also offered to share more data with its neighbors.

Leaders of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, badly hit by the Mekong's biggest drop in water levels in decades, met in the Thai coastal town of Hua Hin to discuss management of Southeast Asia's longest waterway.

…China sent vice foreign minister Song Tao to rebut criticism of the eight hydropower dams it has built or is building in its south. "Statistics show the recent drought that hit the whole river basin is attributable to the extreme dry weather, and the water level decline of the Mekong River has nothing to do with the hydropower development," Song said in an official statement after the meeting.

….Song said southwestern China was suffering its worst drought in decades. Beijing says the drought has left about 18 million people and 11 million animals with insufficient drinking water and affects 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) of crops.

…Environmental organizations in the lower Mekong basin, particularly in Thailand, have long accused China of a lack of transparency in water management policies. In particular, they are demanding more detailed data from Xiaowan hydroelectric dam on the upper reaches of the Mekong. Xiaowan, China's second-largest hydroelectric station, began storing water in its reservoir last October…..

A dam under construction near the Wanglang nature preserve in China, shot by Philippe Semanaz, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Could not discern which river this would block.