Environmental and Human Impacts of Lancang-Mekong Mainstem and Tributary Dams on China, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam

The Lancang-Mekong River in China, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam is the soul and heart of mainland Southeast Asia. Over 60 million people depend on the river and its tributaries for food, transportation, water, and other necessities of life. The river supports one of the world’s most diverse fisheries, second only to Brazil’s Amazon River. Lancang-Mekong and tributaries are already heavily dammed primarily in China, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia, with many more dams planned or under construction. Dams can worsen the impact of periodic droughts in the Lancang-Mekong basin and block the river’s “pulse effect” that spreads water and nutrients needed for fishing and farming onto the floodplains and delta. The headwaters of the Lancang are in China and its waters are considered a national resource. China regards the Lancang, Yangtze and Yellow rivers as a free resource rather than a shared resource. The primary difference between these rivers is the Lancang flows from China into and through other countries and not directly into a sea or ocean. China and Myanmar have not joined the Mekong River Commission (MRC) as full members but have been Dialogue Partners since 1996. Over the past thirty years, China’s Lancang policies and actions have reflected its national resource interests. China has actively engaged with individual transboundary countries at various levels including environmental, conservation, and economic agreements. The primary objective of this study is to assess the environmental and human impacts of all Lancang-Mekong mainstem and tributary dams and the plans by many countries for more hydropower utilizing the potential of the river as the continent’s energy lifeline. Future dams need to include fish ladders and navigation locks to reduce the environmental impacts on fish populations, natural resources, navigation, and livelihoods. Strengthening of international collaboration via the MRC or by individual or multiple country agreements to address Lancang-Mekong’s sustainable transboundary development goals is recommended. When new Lancang-Mekong and tributary dams are built within any of the transboundary watershed countries, additional communities will need to be resettled. Significant environmental and human impacts are observed. Steps will have to be taken by all the concerned countries to prevent these problems and to ensure that people’s livelihoods are restored after resettlement.

“澜湄合作”构筑次区域粮食安全共同体

粮食问题关系发展与安全,既是经济命题更是政治命题,是国家安全的重要组成部分。在澜沧江-湄公河次区域内,各国自然资源禀赋高度互补,农业开发潜力巨大,是天然的合作伙伴。文章借助次区域经济合作理论和地缘政治经济学构建次区域粮食安全合作理论,就落实次区域粮食安全共同体的现实困境——复杂的内外环境,分析次区域合作的有利条件和挑战,提出了推动构筑次区域粮食安全合作命运共同体的可行路径。

Water Cooperation Priorities in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin Based on Cooperative Events Since the Mekong River Commission Establishment

The Lancang-Mekong River has attracted much attention from researchers, but the cooperation on water issues in this river basin has been limited, even after the establishment of the Mekong River Commission(MRC). Cooperation on water resources has been determined as one of the key priority areas in the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism, but there are no details of targets. In order to establish the priorities of water cooperation under the mechanism, we adopted nine categories to classify the objectives of 87 water cooperation events based on the ‘Lancang-Mekong Water Cooperative Events Database' from 1995 to 2015. Based on the occurrence of cooperative events, cooperative objectives, cooperative scales, and approaches to cooperation, we conducted statistical, correlation, and text analyses. Our analyses indicated the following results: under the impact of economic conditions inside and outside the river basin, full cooperation appeared more difficult than bilateral and multilateral cooperation. Each of the partners adopted different preferences for cooperation targets. Cooperation with more definite objectives was easier to establish than cooperation with broader and more complex objectives. The potential objectives for water cooperation were navigation, hydropower, joint management, data sharing, flood control and water use. Because hydropower development is controversial, and because water cooperation is avoided by most existing regional cooperation mechanisms due to its complexity, we suggest the following priority areas for water cooperation in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin. 1) Navigation and flood control/drought relief are attractive objectives for all the riparian countries across the whole watershed. 2) Data sharing should be a priority for cooperation in the watershed due to its laying the foundation for the equitable and reasonable utilization of transboundary waters. 3) Hydropower is an objective best implemented mainly through bilateral cooperation, and on tributaries.

FACILITATING REGIONAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH INTEGRATED MULTI-OBJECTIVE UTILIZATION, MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES IN THE LANCANG-MEKONG RIVER BASIN

The Lancnag Mekong River is the most important international river across China and Southeast Asia, If it is developed according to 'Great Mekong Subregional Cooperation Plan' [9] prepared by ADB, the area directly affected will be up to over 2.32 million km 2, the population over 220 million, and the natural environment, and socio-economic conditions within a large area will be greatly changed. 'Agreement on Cooperation for Sustainable Development of Mekong Basin' signed by the four riparian countries along the lower Mekong River on April 5, 1995 provides a new opportunity for sustainable development of the Basin. According to preliminary analysis, if the multipurpose utilization of the water resources is the target for carrying out integrated planning and management, and the efforts are made 1) to focus on energy exploitation on the Lancang River Mainstream and the tributaries of the lower Mekong River; 2) to build gated weirs at Tonle Sam; 3) to construct spillways at the Mekong Delta; 4) to facilitate flood dykes in big cities and on both banks of the mainstream which are concentrated with population and farmland and liable to be flooded, and 5) to strengthen networks for forecasting hydrological and meteorological conditions, then all problems such as power demand, irrigation, flood, salt water intrusion as well as acid water erosion to soil could be solved without constructing large cascaded stations and dams on the lower Mekong Mainstream. This will not only avoid input of great number of fund, large scale resettlement and land inundation, but also prevent aquatic organisms living in Mekong River from being injured due to dam construction, and promote the sustainable development of the Basin.

Hydrological Simulation Using TRMM and CHIRPS Precipitation Estimates in the Lower Lancang-Mekong River Basin

Satellite-based products with high spatial and temporal resolution provide useful precipitation information for data-sparse or ungauged large-scale watersheds. In the Lower Lancang-Mekong River Basin, rainfall stations are sparse and unevenly distributed, and the transboundary characteristic makes the collection of precipitation data more difficult, which has restricted hydrological processes simulation. In this study, daily precipitation data from four datasets(gauge observations, inverse distance weighted(IDW) data, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission(TRMM) estimates, and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Stations(CHIRPS) estimates), were applied to drive the Soil and Water Assessment Tool(SWAT) model, and then their capability for hydrological simulation in the Lower Lancang-Mekong River Basin were examined. TRMM and CHIRPS data showed good performances on precipitation estimation in the Lower Lancang-Mekong River Basin, with the better performance for TRMM product. The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency(NSE) values of gauge, IDW, TRMM, and CHIRPS simulations during the calibration period were 0.87, 0.86, 0.95, and 0.93 for monthly flow, respectively, and those for daily flow were 0.75, 0.77, 0.86, and 0.84, respectively. TRMM and CHIRPS data were superior to rain gauge and IDW data for driving the hydrological model, and TRMM data produced the best simulation performance. Satellite-based precipitation estimates could be suitable data sources when simulating hydrological processes for large data-poor or ungauged watersheds, especially in international river basins for which precipitation observations are difficult to collect. CHIRPS data provide long precipitation time series from 1981 to near present and thus could be used as an alternative precipitation input for hydrological simulation, especially for the period without TRMM data. For satellite-based precipitation products, the differences in the occurrence frequencies and amounts of precipitation with different intensities would affect simulation results of water balance components, which should be comprehensively considered in water resources estimation and planning.

A new technique for high precision sub-regional camera calibration based on checkerboard pattern

Camera calibration is critical in computer vision measurement system, affecting the accuracy of the whole system. Many camera calibration methods have been proposed, but they cannot consider precision and operation complexity at the same time. In this paper, a new technique is proposed to calibrate camera. Firstly, the global calibration method is described in de-tail. It requires the camera to observe a checkerboard pattern shown at a few different orientations. The checkerboard corners are obtained by Harris algorithm. With direct linear transformation and non-linear optimal algorithm, the global calibration pa-rameters are obtained. Then, a sub-regional method is proposed. Those corners are divided into two groups, middle corners and edge corners, which are used to calibrate the corresponding area to get two sets of calibration parameters. Finally, some experimental images are used to test the proposed method. Experimental results demonstrate that the average projection error of sub-region method is decreased at least 16% compared with the global calibration method. The proposed technique is simple and accurate. It is suitable for the industrial computer vision measurement.

Trade and Investment Facilitation under the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework

Despite their economic potential, the Lancang-Mekong countries' performance in trade and investment facilitation is far from satisfactory. Enhancing the facilitation level is key to promoting the LMC to a deeper stage, and relevant measures can serve to drive domestic reforms, increase competitiveness of sub-regional countries, and realize coordinated development.

An Analysis of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism in China’s Neighboring Diplomacy

The Indochina Peninsula is of special and important significance to China's geopolitical strategy,which is the foothold of China's strategy in Southeast Asia and even the whole Asia-Pacific region,as well as the strategic springboard of*China s global development.In 2016,China led the establishment of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism,and achieved remarkable results in terms of institutional development,project implementation and the construction of international relations among member states in the short term.The establishment and rapid development of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation is based on member states,strong willingness to cooperate.It also benefits from the rational design of their institutional structures,geographical advantages,strong and complementary economies,and close sociocultural similarities.On the other hand,the further development of the Lancang?Mekong Cooperation is facing many risks and challenges as a result of the complexities of the internal environment of the Indochina Peninsula and the geopolitical competition of extraterritorial forces in the region.In this regard,China should make more efforts to improve relevant institutional arrangements for the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation,broaden the areas and enrich the content of cooperation,coordinate with extraterritorial forces and increase the number of stakeholders.

The effect of zinc supplementation on diarrheal diseases in children in the Niger Delta Sub-Region of Nigeria

This study evaluated the trend of diarrheal diseases managed with zinc supplementation by comparing it with diarrheal diseases managed without zinc supplementation at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching hospital (UPTH), Nigeria. The study was a descriptive retrospective study done at the Diarrhea Training Unit (DTU) of UPTH to determine the effect of zinc supplementation in the management of diarrhea in children under 5 years. Out of the 134 case records studied, of children aged 0 to 59 months who presented with diarrhea at the DTU, 57 children did not receive zinc supplementation between October and December, 2007 and 77 children received zinc supplementation between October and December 2009. The results showed that (74) 96.1% of patients who received zinc supplementation, and (48) 84.2% of those who did not, had no repeat diarrheal episodes when seen at the follow up clinic. On the other hand, 1.3% of those who received zinc supplementation and 1.8% of those who did not, had increased episodes of diarrhea when seen at the follow up clinic. Of those who received, and those who did not receive zinc supplementation, 2.6% and 14% respectively, had reduced episodes of diarrhea. These findings clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of zinc supplementation in halting the course of diarrheal diseases in children aged 0 to 59 months. We therefore advocate for the use of zinc supplementation in the management of diarrhea in

Progress and Future Development of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation

The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation has become an important model for China and neighboring countries seeking to build a community of shared future with its remarkable achievements. Based on the solid foundation, the LMC needs to overcome several challenges to ensure strong and sustainable momentum.

LANCANG-MEKONG WEEK LAUNCHED

The 2019 Yunnan Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Series and Lancang-Mekong Week were launched at Yunnan University on March 18.More than 200 representatives from Kunming-based foreign consulates,local governments,universities and companies,including Lao consul general Khamphone Vongsanty,Myanmar consul general U Soe Paing,Cambodian consul general Lem Puthviro and Malaysian consul general Faizal Bin Shani,attended the launch ceremony.

COMPUTATION OF STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS BY THE SUB-REGION MIXED FINITE ELEMENT METHOD OF LINES

Based on the sub-region generalized variationM principle, a sub-region mixed version of the newly-developed semi-analytical ＇finite element method of lines＇ （FEMOL） is proposed in this paper for accurate and efficient computation of stress intensity factors （SIFs） of two-dimensional notches/cracks. The circular regions surrounding notch/crack tips are taken as the complementary energy region in which a number of leading terms of singular solutions for stresses are used, with the sought SIFs being among the unknown coefficients. The rest of the arbitrary domain is taken as the potential energy region in which FEMOL is applied to obtain approximate displacements. A mixed system of ordinary differential equations （ODEs） and algebraic equations is derived via the sub-region generalized variational principle. A singularity removal technique that eliminates the stress parameters from the mixed equation system eventually yields a standard FEMOL ODE system, the solution of which is no longer singular and is simply and efficiently obtained using a standard general-purpose ODE solver. A number of numerical examples, including bi-material notches/cracks in anti-plane and plane elasticity, are given to show the generally excellent performance of the proposed method.

The Optimal Energy Management for Lighting of Bank in GMS （Greater Mekong Sub-region） Countries

As a result of the high economic growth in GMS （Greater Mekong Sub-region） countries, bank branches have now expanded at high rate. The expansion of new buildings, however, has not considered energy, especially lighting system, in the design stage. This paper presents the optimal energy management design of lighting system for the bank buildings in the countries along Mekong River, namely China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. The lighting system is considered in the study as most of the countries use T8 fluorescent luminaires. The LCC （life cycle cost） method has been considered for the installation and operational cost. The assumed benefit-cost ratio analysis comprises of the lifetime cycle, price of fluorescent lamps, electricity unit price, operating times and hours of lighting bulb. The T8 fluorescent luminaires with low watt loss ballast are compared with T5 fluorescent luminaires and LED lamps. Electricity rates and the cost of the investment are considered to determine the suitable selection of the lighting system in each GMS country.

“澜湄太空合作计划”的基础、挑战及前景

2022年7月4日,在澜湄合作第七次外长会上,中国宣布实施“澜湄太空合作计划”,这一计划的提出是中国与下湄公河国家分享合作红利、增添发展动力的一项创新举措,对中国和澜湄次区域均具有极强的现实意义。长期以来,由于中国同下湄公河国家间的关系良好且战略需求契合,澜湄次区域已经形成了全方位、多层次、宽领域的太空合作态势,这些既有合作成为“澜湄太空合作计划”实施的现实基础。与此同时,该计划的实施仍然面临着下湄公河国家的认可和接受程度、域外大国的竞争角力、各国政局稳定程度以及资金匮乏等挑战。未来,该计划的实施应坚持“共商、共建、共享”“真实亲诚、亲诚惠容”以及“四位一体”合作理念;创建一个专门的、有针对性的澜湄太空合作平台;平衡好双边和多边、区域内各类机制、域内外大国之间的竞合关系;争取太空合作资金多元化;着力开发太空合作项目新领域。基于此,借助“太空科技”,助推澜湄合作机制新发展,为澜湄命运共同体的建设注入新动力。

澜湄次区域货币兑换障碍问题研究

澜沧江—湄公河次区域内具有丰富的自然资源,各国在资源、产业、技术和市场等方面具有较强的互补性。近年来,日趋稳定的政治环境以及次区域内各国发展经济的强烈需求使得各国政府认识到成功的合作将有力推动其经济快速发展。然而,货币兑换障碍问题已经成为制约其发展的重要因素。因此提出相应建议,力图缓解货币兑换障碍所产生的消极影响。

澜湄国家次区域地学信息合作前景展望

澜湄合作国家是"一带一路"的重要组成部分,是促进东盟经济发展的重要枢纽。中国与东盟国家在地学信息方面已开展了一系列长期有效的合作,其中湄公河五国与中国具有相似的地质背景,开展地学研究合作有利于促进地质环境、地质资源方面的合作。澜湄合作国家地学信息技术水平参差不齐,中国作为亚洲区域地学信息技术领先的国家之一,将不断摸清各国地学信息共享领域国际合作现状与愿望;探讨多、双边地学信息共享机制,搭建协同操作的数据、信息、系统、空间公共基础设施,倡议以澜湄国家地质矿产信息为示范,建立相关国家地学信息共享技术交流平台,促进澜湄国家多学科的地学信息融合,解决跨区域的重大地学、环境和工程问题;技术交流与研讨会会促进各国地学信息共享技术合作与国际标准应用与更新。

大西南联合参与澜沧江—湄公河次区域经济合作的探讨

澜沧江—湄公河次区域经济合作是我国全方位、多层次、宽领域对外开放格局的一个重要组成部分 ,也是我国实施西部大开发的一个重要内容 ,必将成为 2 1世纪初叶中国与东南亚、南亚国家进行区域合作与交流的国家发展战略。我国西南各省区市联合参与澜沧江—湄公河次区域经济合作有利于西部大开发战略的实施 ,还有利于推进西南地区开放式发展格局的形成 ,加速与国际经济接轨。

面向21世纪的澜沧江—湄公河次区域经济合作

本文主要分析和探讨澜沧江—湄公河次区域经济合作发展的历程、特点及其前景。面向21世纪的澜沧江—湄公河次区域经济合作正出现新的发展趋势,次区域合作更具战略性和复杂性,更具竞争性和挑战性。随着中国西部大开发战略的实施和中国与东盟关系的全面发展,该次区域合作正面临前所未有的发展机遇。

澜沧江——湄公河合作机制:动力、特点和前景分析

澜沧江—湄公河合作机制(简称澜湄合作机制)从提出到形成经历了不到两年的时间,却已经建立了相当完备的合作架构。澜湄合作机制是在中国与部分东盟国家关系持续发展过程中的新增长点,反映了各国的外交理念、政策和重点发展方向,以及优化次区域外交环境和架构的愿望,必将促进各国扩大合作的范围、议题和功能。澜湄合作机制符合本地区合作的现有规范,与大湄公河次区域合作机制相互包容和补充,将更趋完善和健全。澜湄合作机制是中国周边外交政策的具体实践,但需要妥善处理与现有大湄公河次区域合作机制和中国—东盟(10+1)合作框架等合作机制的关系,其他大国与湄公河次区域国家之间合作机制的关系以及澜湄合作机制内部各成员国之间在合作议程选择上的差异等,显示出澜湄合作机制的独特优势。澜湄合作机制建设不断取得新成绩,将推进命运相连、政治互信、经济共进、社会文化共生的澜湄共同体不断从构想成为现实。