Monitoring the Mekong Drought
As part of the Mekong Water Data Initiative (MWDI), the Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership (SIP) is continuing its long-standing collaboration with Eyes on Earth in a new effort to provide near real-time monitoring of climate conditions in the Mekong region. This collaboration begins as northeastern Thailand, central Cambodia, and parts of Myanmar continue to experience the most…
U.S., Vietnam Discuss Drought and Salinity Management
The Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership (SIP) and its partners launched the first Mekong Virtual Symposium today, focusing on issues of drought and salinity intrusion in the Mekong Delta. More than 200 participants registered for the one and a half-hour session online, which discussed ways in which the Mekong Delta in Vietnam—an important agricultural production area—can combat…
Drought and Dams: Climatologist’s Report Sparks calls for Data Sharing
A river monitoring report has sparked calls around the region for better data sharing on water use and dam operation on the Mekong. The report, by US-based climatologist Alan Basist and his team at the private consulting firm Eyes on Earth, suggests that the operation of hydropower dams in China may be contributing to downstream…
Mekong Research Symposium brings Data-Sharing Community Together
The Mekong Research Symposium (MRS) concluded today in Hanoi, after three days of discussions and demonstrations of tools for drought and flood predictions, water resource management, and resilience building. The event, organised by the Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership (SIP) as part of the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) from 16-18 December, brought together 160 participants from around…
Mekong Analysts form Socio-Economic Data Expert Consortium
Large-scale dams and development projects affect fishers and farmers throughout the Lower Mekong Basin—but social and economic data about the impacts is often unavailable. To counter this issue, socio-economists from the Mekong region have formed a consortium to promote sharing of data on livelihoods and wellbeing, especially from ‘hotspots’ where traditional livelihoods have been affected. …
In Lao PDR, Managing Crucial Groundwater Resources is an International Team Effort
SAVANNAKHET, LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC It’s a cloudy day in the late July rainy season in Savannakhet, a province in central Lao PDR that sits along the Mekong River and the Thai border. A group of men and women is gathered around a thick blue pipe. One end connects to a thinner pipe that leads…