By: Maureen Harris, Programs Director & Pai Deetes, Thailand & Myanmar Campaigns Director Last week we lost a champion for the Mekong and Salween Rivers, Kraisak Choonhavan, a long time supporter and friend of International Rivers. Senator Kraisak passed away on 11 June after a long battle with cancer. He held many roles during the course…
Read MoreSTATEMENT | The Mekong needs just energy transitions, not more destructive dams
By: Save the Mekong Coalition On 11 May, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) announced that the proposed Sanakham hydropower project in Laos will undergo the MRC’s Prior Consultation process.[1] Sanakham is the sixth mainstream dam to be submitted for Prior Consultation. Opposing the Sanakham Dam The proposed Sanakham dam is expensive, unnecessary and risky – and…
Read MoreCovid-19 Impacts in the Mekong Region: Crisis to Opportunities Series
By: Pai Deetes, Thailand & Myanmar Campaigns Director The global Covid-19 crisis has shed a light on the deep-seated inequities in the way our rivers and the people who depend on them are treated. With the exposure created by this crisis comes an opportunity. As International Rivers adapts to current circumstances, we are strengthening our…
Read MoreIN THE NEWS | Karen fear ravages from river diversion schemes
BY: Pai Deetes, Thailand and Myanmar Campaigns Director Originally published on the Bangkok Post Muesaw Chokedilok, an ethnic Karen woman from Thailand’s Kaburdin Village in Chiang Mai’s Omkoi district, hops aboard an old pickup truck for a rugged ride up the mountain. With her are a group of housewives from the same village, all clad…
Read MorePRESS RELEASE | Thai Mekong communities submit evidence of impacts in Xayaburi lawsuit
By: Pai Deetes, Thailand & Myanmar Campaigns Director FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Today, the Network of Thai People in Eight Mekong Provinces submits additional evidence to the Thai Supreme Administrative Court in the ongoing lawsuit regarding the Xayaburi dam on the Mekong River in Laos. The lawsuit targets five Thai state agencies and challenges the legitimacy…
Read MoreVictory on the Upper Mekong: Thai Cabinet Terminates Rapids Blasting Project
By: Pai Deetes, Thailand and Myanmar Campaigns Director In a momentous win for the Mekong River, this week the Thai Cabinet formally called for cancellation of the Lancang-Mekong Navigation Channel Improvement Project, popularly known as the Mekong “rapids-blasting” project. The cabinet decision is the culmination of decades of campaigning by Thai Mekong communities and civil…
Read MoreWill China decide the future of Myanmar’s rivers?
Chinese companies are pushing to resume destructive dam projects, ignoring a key assessment By: Maureen Harris, Programs Director & Pai Deetes, Thailand & Myanmar Campaigns Director Also featured on China Dialogue Much media attention in Myanmar is focussed on China’s apparent efforts to revive the stalled Myitsone dam, its role in advising the Myanmar government on developing a new…
Read MoreJOINT STATEMENT | One year after Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy dam collapse, civil society from Korea and the Mekong call for immediate accountability and redress
One year ago today, on 23 July 2018, Saddle Dam of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydropower project in Attapeu Province, Laos, collapsed. The dam collapse unleashed a disaster with transboundary implications in which dozens of people were killed and thousands of residents were driven from their homes. We offer our thoughts and prayers for the 49…
Read MorePRESS RELEASE | Backers of Collapsed Laos Dam Must Be Held Accountable
New report calls on developers, banks and insurers to ensure full compensation and restitution for victims, who remain in dire conditions facing an uncertain future FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Bangkok, July 23, 2019 – One year after the devastating collapse of saddle dam D of the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy hydropower project in southern Laos, none of the…
Read MoreRenewable Energy Exchange 2019 (TROSA)
By: Ayesha DSouza Working on the Transboundary Rivers of South Asia program to advance uptake of small scale, renewable energy as an alternative to large dams, our teams in the South Asia and South East Asia collaborated with partners on a Renewable Energy Exchange between governments, civil society, NGO’s and micro hydro practitioners from India,…
Read MorePRESS RELEASE | The ASEAN We Want: An Open Statement to ASEAN Leaders
In an open statement to ASEAN leaders as they gather in Bangkok for the 34th ASEAN Summit, 110 community and civil society organisations and networks have urged ASEAN to respect people’s rights and livelihoods. Noting that ASEAN economic integration has prioritised the interests of investors with little regard to the negative impacts on people’s territories, livelihoods…
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