The government has been urged to hold talks with Beijing on the impact of Chinese dams on the upper Mekong River following recent sharp drops in the river's water flow.
The Save the Mekong Coalition - an alliance of environmental groups and riverside communities monitoring ecological changes in the Mekong River - believes the unusually low level of the river is caused by Chinese dams.
"It's time for the Thai government to look into the impact of [Chinese] dams on downstream communities," the group said in a statement issued yesterday.
The group said a large number of people had been affected by the unusual river flow patterns since 1993 when Manwan, the first dam built on the upper Mekong, began to operate.
The Chinese government has built four mega-dams on the Mekong. The fourth - Xiaowan, which is the world's highest arch dam and the second largest hydroelectric power station in China after the Three Gorges Dam - was completed and began to store water last October.
Peerasak Intayos, of the Chiang Rai-based Mekong Conservation Group, said water levels in the Mekong had dropped sharply since Saturday, prompting tour boat operators to suspend services such as those between Chiang Rai and Luang Prabang in Laos.
The Royal Irrigation Department yesterday reported that water levels measured in Loei, Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom provinces were at a "critical low".
Pianporn Deetes, of the Southeast Asia Rivers Network, urged the government to hold talks with Beijing on the situation.
"The Thai authorities must ask Beijing to disclose the amount of water stored by the dams to see if the water shortage has been caused by the dams' operations," she said.
"The government must also work with other Mekong countries to map out measures to help riverside folk."
Mekong river well know as Lancang river in the Yunnan province,china. i got an information from some sources about chinese built the dams on this river. chinese started to survey the possible way to build the dam on Lancang river in the 20th century, 50s and then, in the 80s from now the dam has already built 14 dams on the Lancang river in Yunnan province. 14 dams is much in this river and especially in the head of Mekong river. the Impact will be very huge in the near future, especially the countries as Laos, thailand, Burma, combodia who use the river. now the new protect of Mekong dam in salakham, Laos will be starting to study the environmental impact and they will build another one on Laos soil which will be very bad for people of countries as I mentioned above.
At least 21 Chinese grounded boats have been rescued on the Mekong River, a cross-border river flowing out of China from southwest China's Yunnan Province, the marine affairs bureau in Yunnan said on Tuesday.
The bureau's subsidiary in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, which borders Laos and Myanmar, has stopped issuing pass permits to vessels and repeatedly sent warnings to foreign vessels, telling them of the danger.
"The river is at its lowest level in 50 years. The boats grounded in the river sections in Laos and Myanmar have been pulled to relatively safer waters on the river or to docks in Thailand. But the vessels are not completely out of danger," said Liu Rongming, deputy chief of the Xishuangbanna bureau.
He said Chinese rescuers have sent relief goods and money to the crews.
The river's flow is only half the normal level, as a rare, large-scale drought -- the worst in 50 years -- hits southwest China, according to the bureau.
The river, called Lancang River, flowed at 240-260 cubic meters per second Monday, compared with 400-500 cubic meters per second in normal years.
The drought started in July last year has brought drinking water shortages to 4.9 million residents and 3.34 million livestock, according to the provincial headquarters of drought relief.
The provincial headquarters said 187 forest fires have been reportedly extinguished in the province since November last year, which is 56 percent more than the number in the same period of the previous year.
A fire burning for two days in a forest near Kunming, the provincial capital, was basically brought under control on Tuesday, according to the Forest Fire Control Headquarters in Xishan District, Kunming.
The headquarters said 15 hectares of forest was destroyed, mainly pine and eucalypt trees. More than 800 fire fighters were dispatched to fight the fire.
The provincial drought relief headquarters said Yunnan has newly recruited 16,171 forest wardens to bring the total number to 70,000, in order to closely monitor forest fires.
The meteorological station in Yunnan's neighboring region, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said the rare drought had also affected Guangxi and Guizhou provinces. Some of these provinces' regions have not seen rain since August last year.
"Such an extreme drought has not been seen for 50 years," said Tan Zhinian, chief weatherman at the station.
He said scientists with the station has noticed an El Nino affecting southwest China, which is likely related to the extreme weather.
The station has also noticed that the average temperature in Guangxi has risen 0.13 degree Celsius every ten years. The temperature rise has been faster in winter, when it climbed 0.21 degree Celsius every ten years, he said.
does any body know how they named the river lanxang river ??
was it just a coincidence or was their lao influence in naming the river ?
i dont think so, well... the river flows from Tibet to Yunnan is called " Lan cang Jiang" and is called Mekong river after flow out of china to Laos and Myanmar.. I am explaning you the meaning of Lan cang jiang.
Lan means Great, waves in chinese
cang: Blue sea
Jiang: river
i guess because the river is great and blue water. that's why
