US-backed Mekong monitoring project set to test China's patience
A Washington-sponsored programme aimed at monitoring the state of the Mekong River risks further testing already fraught US-China relations when it officially launches on Tuesday.
The Mekong Dam Monitor is an open-source online platform that promises to provide weekly updates using remote sensing and satellite imagery on the levels of reservoirs at 13 dams along the Mekong's main stretch, as well as at 15 tributary dams with power generation capacities greater than 200MW.
It further seeks to circulate weekly visualisations and analysis of "China's 11 dam cascade on the upper Mekong", as well as maps and data on temperature, snow cover, precipitation and other indicators along the river's full course, according to its website.
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The collaborative project from the Washington-based Stimson Center think tank's Southeast Asia programme and Eyes On Earth Inc. - a US research and consulting company specialising in water - comes after years of frustrations from countries along the river at China's lack of transparency with sharing such information.
It is set to launch on Tuesday at a virtual event - where US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell will deliver a keynote address - just weeks after the launch of a similar Chinese initiative aimed at "tackling climate change and natural disasters" to show "China's goodwill and sincerity as a responsible upstream neighbour", according to state media reports.
Previously, Beijing had only publicised flood season information, but vowed with the November unveiling of its Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Information Sharing Platform to share year-round hydrological data as well.
The Mekong Dam Monitor seeks to "counter inaccurate statements about the condition and operation of dams and reservoirs and water flow in the Mekong Basin" with its "ongoing, transparent and evidence-based monitoring", according to its website.
China's information-sharing platform, by contrast, only provides infrequent updates from the Chinese dam nearest the border with Thailand, said Brian Eyler, project lead for the monitor and director of the Stimson Center's Southeast Asia and energy, water and sustainability programmes.
A graphic showing the Mekong River's course. Image: SCMP alt=A graphic showing the Mekong River's course. Image: SCMP
"The new [Chinese] website gives daily river level information for a gauge located just below the dam on the river, but river level data and dam operations data are entirely different indicators," he said, adding that operational knowledge of China's 11 dam cascade on the upper Mekong, including data on the condition of upstream reservoirs and availability of water flow, is still kept inside a black box.
It was too early to tell if the Chinese platform would offer the reliable forecasting and early warnings of floods and droughts that were promised upon its launch last month, Eyler said, as these systems "apparently have yet to be used".
The 4,350km (2,700 miles) Mekong emerges in China - where it is known as the Lancang River - before running through Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. It is relied upon by the more than 60 million people living along its length.
Over the years, China's hydropower stations on the upper Mekong have been blamed for damaging the environment, hurting the livelihoods of those living downstream and causing floods and droughts - accusations Beijing has denied.
In April, Eyes on Earth released its findings, as part a US-government funded study, that Chinese dams had been holding back large amounts of the Mekong's volume despite higher-than-average water levels upstream.
Beijing disputed the claims, however, saying low rainfall during last year's monsoon season on its portion of the river had caused the lower water volumes.
Alan Basist, lead author of the April report from Eyes On Earth and co-lead on the Mekong Dam Monitor project, said in the "medium-term" they planned to "collaborate with various organisations" such as the Mekong River Commission (MRC) - an intergovernmental organisation headquartered in Laos that works to jointly manage the shared water resources of that country and Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam - "to support this work and ongoing activities central to the operations and data delivery".
He said the project would draw on the expertise of its advisory board - whose members include hydrologists, remote sensing experts, and area studies specialists - to achieve its goals of building a monitoring system, educating local communities and stakeholders on how to use it, and training technicians to maintain it in future.
The data generated will promote transparency, he said, and not compete with the activities of the MRC or the China-spearheaded Lancang-Mekong Cooperation forum, which was launched in 2016.
Eyler said that the Mekong Dam Monitor has had "fruitful engagements" with the MRC and had reached out to the governments of all five Mekong countries, as well as China's Lancang Mekong Water Resources Center in Beijing - launched in 2017 in a bid to strengthen technical exchanges, drought and flood management and information sharing - for consultations and demonstrations of the platform.
"These consultations provided the team with constructive feedback," he said, adding that they did not receive a reply from the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation forum.
Supported by a grant from the US Department of State with additional funding from the Chino Cienega Foundation and individual donors, Eyler said the Mekong Dam Monitor aimed to be "a lean platform that can easily be transferred to regional ownership in due time" - with an operating budget of US$215,000 budget for its first year.
"Big steps toward data transparency and upstream accountability do not have to cost much in terms of dollars," he said.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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