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Showing posts with the label Mekong belt and the water crisis

China’s Release Of Mekong Waters Reflects An Environmental Crisis – Analysis ( Source- Eurasia Review / Author- Kalinga Seneviratne)

Tributaries of the Mekong river  ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Shannon1) Source- Eurasia Review Author-  Kalinga Seneviratne China would like to project the release of Mekong River waters from its dams in March to “assist” drought-stricken farmers and fisheries further downstream, especially in Vietnam, as a magnanimous gesture from a friendly neighbour. But that action is in fact the reflection of a greater environmental and political crisis that is brewing in the region. China announced middle of March that in response to a Vietnamese request, it will discharge from March 15 to April 10 water from the Jinghong hydropower station on the Mekong River in Yunnan province to the lower reaches of the Mekong River to alleviate drought in Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. “In order to accommodate the concerns of countries at the lower reach of the Mekong River, the Chinese government decides to overcome its own difficulties to offer emergency water