Mekong River Levels
In recent years water levels on certain stretches of the Mekong River have reached record lows. This is not simply due to lower rainfall and global warming, but because of 8 new Chinese ‘super-dams’ stemming the water flow to ensure a plentiful water supply to regions of China outside of the Mekong River’s natural basin. The result of this damming is that the rivers fish stocks are declining dramatically in the lower Mekong countries, with other wildlife expected to become quickly over-hunted as a result.
At this time a typically disappointing amount of international pressure is being applied to China to exercise more stringent control on their damning procedure to ensure the countries of the lower Mekong receive acceptable levels of water.