SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Sat Apr 18, 2020 6:29 am So once again - serious environmental issues get hijacked by the political warriors/propagandists/haters.
Most of these heroes have zero interest or understanding of the subject - they just use it as ammunition for their political agenda.

Not sure whether to let out a big long sighh..
or a short sharp spit

Not sure what you’re getting at there Stern. Who are these “propagandists/haters?” The people who put out out the report or the groups who are hedging their responses in deference to big brother PRC?

yeh well, SilkSuit an over-reaction maybe -
but it is a bit of a frustration of mine - yes, i want to point the finger of foul at the chinese, thais and lao.
but in a way that directly focuses on the environmental-political crimes on the Mekong. Not so much on the greater battle.

But that is just my own particular frustration.
I think china/thailand/laos actions on the river should be front and centre in this challenge, not lost in the general din of a wider war. I thought some of the posts, not the report, were slanting that way.
At least everybody is pointing in the right direction.

Mekong nations face growing threat to food security amid claims China’s dams exacerbate effects of drought
Drought, erratic water levels along 4,300km river are disrupting rice yields and fish catches, raising costs for farmers. Beijing rejects claim Chinese dams behind drought hitting countries downstream.
South China Morning Post -
May 11, 2020

Fishermen in northeast Thailand say they have seen catches in the Mekong River plunge, while some farmers in Vietnam and Cambodia are leaving for jobs in cities as harvests of rice and other crops shrink.

The common thread driving these events is erratic water levels in Asia’s third longest waterway.

Water flows along the 4,300km (2,700 mile) Mekong shift naturally between monsoon and dry seasons, but non-governmental groups say the 11 hydroelectric dams on China’s portion of the river – five of them starting operation since 2017 – have disrupted seasonal rhythms. This threatens food security for the more than 60 million people in the Lower Mekong that rely on the river for a livelihood, they say.

"Naturally, Mekong water rises and decreases slowly about three to four months from highest to lowest levels,” said Teerapong Pomun, director of the Mekong Community Institute, an NGO focused on water resource management and based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

“[But now] the water levels fluctuate almost every two to three days all year, and every year, because of the dams.”
In full: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article ... hinas-dams

Xina is damning up the Mekong to control the lives of tens of millions downstream. This is how the xinese think and act. It is no different than their buying up protective gear before the World learned of the plague they unleashed.
One of my favorite shows has been River Monsters where Jeremy went around the world trying to catch moster fish.
Alas, he now is just looking to find a tiny bit of hope for these species of fish.
The mighty Mekong is now being manipulated by the xinese people party..
They will make the once lush lands deserts and then move in and get it cheap...then open the floodgates and fuck the Southeast Asians out of their lands and wealth.
I caught some huge Mekong catfish at a private lake in Chiang Mai years ago. I felt like Jeremy out on the river 45 minutes fights with incredible fish.
Catch and release was the rule.. A tiny hook and a piece of white bread for bait.
Fuck the xinese

the governments in all the SE Asian countries are only interested in their off shore bank accounts. I dont blame the chinese for taking advantage of their greed

$1M Grant From Luce Foundation Launches Interdisciplinary Program On Mekong Sustainability

A Michigan State University interdisciplinary team of faculty and staff is working to foster environmental justice in Southeast Asia. The Henry Luce Foundation’s Initiative on Southeast Asia, or LuceSEA, is providing $1 million in funding to help create the Mekong Culture WELL project.

The Lower Mekong River Basin in mainland Southeast Asia is home to 60 million people in five countries — Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam — with globally significant and diverse cultures, environments and economies. Political volatility, climate change and development pressures such as hydropower damming are challenging WELL (water, ecology, land and livelihoods) security in the region.

The Mekong Culture WELL project will integrate satellite and local mapping of the Mekong River to determine how climate change and hydropower damming are reshaping communities in downstream regions.

“We are grateful for the partnership of the Luce Foundation, which will help us expand work that is critical to forging sustainable and just futures in Southeast Asia and beyond,” said MSU President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D. “MSU has long been a leader in seeking to meld science with humanities and the lived experiences of local communities. As in Michigan and around the world, indigenous communities in Southeast Asia have been profoundly affected by ongoing transformations to their environments, yet their critical leadership and perspectives have been overlooked for too long.”
https://research.msu.edu/1m-grant-from- ... inability/

Not looking too good on the river.
Mekong is at historical lows

The Mekong is once again at historical lows. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) gauge at Phnom Penh Port shows river level to be four metres below average for this time of year – and lower than last year’s record.

This gauge is measuring river level on the Tonle Sap River just a few hundred metres upstream from the Tonle Sap’s confluence with the Mekong mainstream. This river level indicates the annual reversal of the Tonle Sap River and flooding around the Tonle Sap lake will happen much later than expected, tweeted Brian Eyler, a senior fellow and director of Stimson’s Southeast Asia programme.

He went on to say: “The causal factors are a lack of rainfall, the Mekong’s wet season has yet to kick in and the impacts of hundreds of upstream dams in Laos (100+), Cambodia (two), Thailand (nine+), Vietnam (16+), and China (100+). China’s major upstream dams at Nuozhadu and Xiaowan have already turned off their taps and are in the process of restricting around 20 billion cubic metres of water – at a time when the downstream needs that water.

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50748811/m ... ical-lows/

Amazing how humans are so short-sighted, and generally terrible are working on long-term issues and impeding danger.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 7:13 pm Amazing how humans are so short-sighted, and generally terrible are working on long-term issues and impeding danger.

Are you referring to people getting drunk, then driving cars and motobikes ?