(February 17, 2010) As the rush to dam the Mekong river in Southeast Asia continues unabated, critics are fighting back by documenting the river’s elaborate ecology and economy that is under seige. The river–which runs for 3,032 miles, while coursing its way through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea–has become a regional ribbon of contention between local activists and the government bodies and international development agencies that want to dam the river’s flow.

(December 2, 2009) On the final day (December 1st) of the Mekong River Commission’s (MRC) call for public submissions to its Strategic Environmental Assessment on the Mekong mainstream dams, the Save the Mekong Coalition sent a letter to the Chairpersons of the National Mekong Committees (NMCs) of Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, urging for a strong and trusted consultative process at the national and local level on development options for the river, which guarantees the participation of all riparian communities who would be affected by the eleven dams proposed on the lower Mekong mainstream.

(October 28, 2009) This report by Probe International challenges the assumption that large-scale power imports and large-scale hydro dams are the cleanest and most efficient way to bring electricity to more people.

(October 17, 2009) “So near to the truth, yet so far.” That’s the feeling I came away with after watching Bob Woodruff’s recent China Inside Out documentary for ABC news. It’s regrettable that a journalist of such a high caliber as Woodruff can get so close to a story and not really see it — while helping to perpetuate a number of dangerous myths about China.

(September 17, 2009) As China and India gain economic heft, they are drawing ever more international attention at the time of an ongoing global shift of power to Asia. Their underlying strategic dissonance and rivalry, however, usually attracts less notice.

(September 5, 2009) Shan activists are calling on China to immediately halt all investment in dams on the Salween River following the recent heavy fighting between the Burmese military regime and the Kokang ceasefire army near the site of the Upper Salween Dam planned by Chinese companies in northern Shan State.

(August 14, 2009) Experts who attended a seminar about Vietnam’s economy in Can Tho last week said Vietnam needs to develop a plan to confront the water shortage of the Mekong River.

(August 9, 2009) Bhutan, India, Nepal & Pakistan are commissioning, contracting, planning hundred of dams along the Himalayans. Time is ticking out for the world community who are conscious about the negative consequences of a dam.