BANGKOK: THE livelihood of millions of people in China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam will be affected as drought and newly-built dams impede the Mekong River’s flow, drying up segments of the once fast-flowing river.
Observers predict that these two factors may lead to the death of the 4,700km waterway.
At a discussion on the Mekong River at Chulalongkorn University recently, Pou Sothirak, director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace and a former energy minister, was quoted by Asia Times as saying: “Regional policymakers, energy ministers, they are totally consumed by infrastructure development. They just want more energy — they are consumed by the idea that dam-building will improve their national economy.”
