A cluster of huge Chinese dams in the upper reaches of the Mekong exacerbated severe drought conditions in the river’s lower reaches this summer. Experts believe that over the past decades, the dams have become a de facto weapon of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), advancing its interests in Southeast Asia, while heavily damaging and threatening the region’s ecology and livelihoods.
The Mekong is about 2,900 miles long, with its headwaters in the Tibetan Plateau. Its upper reaches, winding 1,300 miles through southwest China, are known as the Lancang River. In addition to China, the Mekong flows through five countries in Southeast Asia: Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The giant river is a lifeline for millions of people.
“Climate indicators suggest there is a severe drought developing in the Mekong,” Brian Eyler, senior researcher, and director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Stimson Center, a U.S. think tank, said after a recent event in Washington.
China takes “water out of the river during the wet season and then puts it back during the dry season for hydropower production,” said Mr. Eyler, “That exacerbates the kind of drought conditions that are setting in now.”
Mr. Eyler co-leads the Mekong Dam Monitor (MDM). The project uses remote sensing, satellite imagery, and GIS analysis, together with social media, to inform vulnerable Mekong communities and governments about the impacts of upstream dams over the Mekong.
Holding Back Water, Exacerbating Drought
By storing water and then releasing it unnaturally, Chinese dams artificially alter the river’s water level. When the water level in the lower reaches fluctuates abnormally, it has long-term effects on fish migration, agriculture, and even transportation.
Chinese-German hydrologist Wang Weiluo, in an article published in Yibao China online journal in March 2021, voiced similar concerns. Moreover, according to Mr. Wang’s data, the situation may actually be more severe than the MDM indicates at present.
MDM monitors an 11-dam cascade on the Lancang River. Mr. Wang noted that by the end of 2020 that number was actually 12: it should include the Guoduo hydropower plant, which is located on the Zhaqu River in CCP-controlled Tibet. The Zhaqu is viewed as the source of the Lancang River. Eight more dams are either planned or under construction.
By Grace Hsing and Lynn Xu
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