The Mekong is considered one of the world’s major rivers. It is the 11th-longest river in the world, and the 12th-largest by volume. Its estimated length is 4,880 km. From the Tibetan Plateau, it runs through China's Yunnan province, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of rapids and waterfalls have made navigation on the Mekong extremely difficult. The Mekong River is one of the world’s major rivers. It is the world's 10th longest river and the 7th longest in Asia. (discharging 475 km3/114 cu mi of water annually). Its estimated length is 4,350 km (2,703 mi), and it drains an area of 795,000 km2 (307,000 sq mi).[1] From the Tibetan Plateau it runs through China's Yunnan province, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. All except China and Burma belong to the Mekong River Commission. A South- and Southeast Asian regional association, the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation, is named after this river and the Ganges river. The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of rapids and waterfalls have made navigation extremely difficult. Rising in southern Qinghai province, China, it flows south through eastern Tibet and across the highlands of Yunnan province. It then forms part of the border between Myanmar (Burma) and Laos, as well as between Laos and Thailand. It runs through Laos and Cambodia before entering the South China Sea in a delta south of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam after a course of 2,700 mi (4,350 km). Vientiane, Laos, and Phnom Penh, Camb., stand on its banks. Since 1957 the Mekong Committee, an international effort, has initiated projects to harness the river for hydroelectricity and irrigation. The Mekong River, known as the Lancang in China, is the heart and soul of mainland Southeast Asia. Over 60 million people depend on the river and its tributaries for food, water, transport and many other aspects of their daily lives. The river supports one of the world’s most diverse fisheries, second only to Brazil’s Amazon River. China’s construction of dams and a navigation channel along the upper reaches of the Mekong threatens this complex ecosystem. Development of an 8-dam cascade (see map) is already well underway, with two dams completed and three currently under construction. The scheme will drastically change the river’s natural
The Mekong River is one of the world's 10th rivers in its river length and has great influences upon nature and societies of the Indo-china Peninsula. The name "MEKONG" originate in Thai language, Mae Nam Khong1). The source of the Mekong River is in Tibet mountains and is called Dza Chu River (River of Rock). After running through very narrow valley paralling Yangz Jiang and Salween River, the Mekong reach to Yung-Nan Province of China and is called Lancang Jiang (Turbulent River). Via Golden Triangle, the crossing of China, Myanmer and Laos boarder, the Mekong flow into Vientiane Plain. The term, Lower Mekong means downstream segment from the point. There are some notorious rapids for French navigation plan in colonial period before the Mekong get to Cambodia, and the last segment is the Mekong Delta in Viet Nam, which distributes grate influeces to agriculture, especially paddy fields there. According to a sketch on the right, we can see this long river with some segments hereinafter;
In Laos and Cambodia, approximately 85% of national area corresponds to the basin of Mekong River, therefore these countries have pretty deep relationships to the river. Both of capitals, Vientiane and Phnom Penh have the Mekong River in its central part. Regarding China and Myanmar, the Mekong River carves not so much part of each country. Thailand has some areas of the Mekong River over the Kholart highland which located east part of the country. And not only the Mekong Delta but also some small basin in south-central mountains which run into Cambodia belong to Viet Nam. These countries constitute the Indo-China Peninsula and at the same time, they have strong interactions with some regional cooperation like ASEAN. On the viewpoint of nation, the Mekong basin is under the complex social frameworks which can be reasoned from political system like, social republic, kingdom, republic, democratic. However, this region has many common points or connections due to same races in life style and cultures on the backdrop of history over borders of each country. This complicated flow and relationships between each country have created specific history and international relationships of the Mekong River, i.e. many kinds of problems or frictions related to economy and politics among the nations. Therefore this river is often called 'The Danube in Asia' due to its difficulty as an international river. The history of adjustment began from the Mekong River Committee that organized under ECAFE of UN in 1957. After the long war period on Indo-China nations, the committee was reorganized to interim one without Cambodia and then MRC (Mekong River Commission) undertake the task independently against UN. Present members are Viet Nam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos followed by China and Myanmar as observers.
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) was formed on 5 April 1995 by an agreement between the governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. The four countries signed The Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin and agreed on joint management of their shared water resources and development of the economic potential of the river. The MRC has been built on a foundation of nearly 50 years of knowledge and experience in the region starting from 1957 when it began life as the UN-founded Mekong Committee. In 1996 China and Myanmar became Dialogue Partners of the MRC and the countries now work together within a cooperation framework. The MRC is an international, country-driven river basin organisation that provides the institutional framework to promote regional cooperation in order to implement the 1995 Agreement. The MRC serves its member states by supporting decisions and promoting action on sustainable development and poverty alleviation as a contribution to the UN Millennium Development Goals. It is very difficult to define the strict area of the Mekong Delta due to its topographical vagueness and the border between the Mekong River and Saigon River is also unclear especially in rainy season. Generally, at the point of Kompong Cham, Cambodia is recognized as the top of the Delta but we might be able to understand its top corner at Phnom Penh like the map here. The area of the Mekong Delta is approximately 49,520km2.
