Focus on Arts and Ecology

The big environmental stories in the Chinese media this week (21-27 August) 

China is to begin sharing with its neighbours hydrological data on the Lancang River (the upstream section of the Mekong, within Chinese borders) covering the whole year, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced this week.

This level of data sharing, which will start this year and involve rainfall and water levels, is a direct response to the calls of downstream countries.
 
The announcement was made at the 3rd Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting held virtually on 24 August. In Premier Li’s address, he emphasised that Mekong River Basin countries should “respect each other’s proper right to reasonably develop water resources”, while taking care of the concern and interest of their neighbours. “We should talk to each other when issues emerge,” he said. 
 
In the past, China only provided flood season data through an agreement made in 2002 with the Mekong River Commission (MRC), a body representing lower basin countries including Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Article 1 of the agreement specifies that each year China should provide data from two Lancang River hydrological monitoring stations, Yunjinghong and Man’an, during the monsoon season from 15 June to 15 October.  
 
The limited nature of that arrangement caused major complaints earlier this year, when the lower Mekong Basin suffered a record drought, prompting governments to call for more information from China on the upstream. Dry season data from the Lancang will allow more accurate analysis of Mekong hydrology, which is heavily influenced by climate change, dam-building, agriculture and other activities.

A controversial report by the Stimson Centre in the US claimed that China’s “water hoarding” behind its upstream dams was responsible for this year’s drought. This was later disputed by both the MRC and several Mekong researchers. 
 
For now it is unclear if Premier Li’s pledge will be followed by a formal update to the 2002 China-MRC agreement and if the scope of information disclosure can go beyond the two monitoring stations, something downstream countries have also requested.
 
Read this June article on why data sharing is crucial for improving cross-border governance of the Mekong.