The Mekong runs from a mountain range in south-west China to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam
frantically in the shallow pool, as their schoolmates stranded on the exposed sandbar breathe their last. It is November, the end of the monsoon season, yet the water in the Mekong river is perilously low. On this stretch, in north-eastern Thailand, the bank is so parched the earth has cracked, and once-leafy bushes are bone dry. Visitors have flocked to the desiccated river bed to catch the trapped carp with their bare hands, but their delight does not diminish the disquiet of locals.
Yet the river is ailing. Last year the water in the Mekong fell to its lowest level since records began more than 60 years ago. Cambodia endured months of debilitating electricity blackouts because there was too little water to run a big hydropower plant. Fish catches declined by as much as 80-90% in parts of the country, whose citizens obtain almost two-thirds of their protein from their nets. The parched conditions are thought to have lopped $1.
The study, which was funded by America’s government, has its critics. China’s foreign ministry rubbished it, and even the Mekong River Commission , which works with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to manage the river, has reservations. Anoulak Kittikhoun of thesays drought was the main reason for the Mekong’s meagre flow. He does agree, however, that it would be helpful to have a better sense of the part China’s dams played.
The extra water is coming at the wrong time, unfortunately. A damp dry season prevents birds from laying eggs on exposed riverbanks, and farmers from planting crops in the rich sediment deposited during the monsoon. In Thailand sudden torrents of water have washed away boats and entire river banks, reports Pianporn Deetes of International Rivers. Ms Ormbun can no longer sell the fish she raises at the markets that normally spring up on beaches exposed during the dry season.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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