“We are strongly concerned that there may be widespread conflicts or, in the worst scenario, wars, over water resource management, because we are now facing both security and economic risks in our region,”

Say Mony, VOA Khmer | Siem Reap

The race for hydropower development among Mekong countries could lead to conflicts or even war over water, regional security experts say.

Hydroelectric projects have begun to spring up across the Mekong River, with some already under way and other already creating tensions between Southeast Asian neighbors.

Vietnam's first regional flood warning system is now operating in the five most flood-prone provinces of central Vietnam. The system in the provinces of Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai had taken three years to develop.

Tidal flooding at the edge of shops and homes in Can Tho, Vietnam. Photo Cristina Rumbatis del Rio

Dispite the impact of floods upon Vietnam, there are very few up to date flood maps to support disaster risk reduction and management efforts. Technology is available for flood-mapping in Vietnam but little progress has been made due to lack of funding, observes Professor Nguyen Dinh Duong, head of the Institute of Geography's Department of Environmental Information Study and Analysis, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST).

The Mekong Delta floods each year and small children travel to school by boat. Typhoons and tropical storms blow across the South China Sea to the central coast, often on course from the Philippines. Rains flood the cities and thousands of motorbike exhaust pipes choke on the murky water. But the floods that hit the north-central coast of Vietnam in October 2010 were outside the normal pattern.

The earthquake and tsunami that struck the north-eastern coast of Japan on 11 March, was a tragedy for the thousands of people who lost their lives and livelihoods. From the photos and videos documenting the devastation, it would have been difficult to imagine a worse outcome. Yet, just after the disaster, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat (UNISDR) said it could have been worse had it not been for the country’s long history of disaster preparedness and planning dating back to 1896.

In the United States, when world wheat prices rise by 75 percent, as they have over the last year, it means the difference between a $2 loaf of bread and a loaf costing maybe $2.10. If, however, you live in New Delhi, those skyrocketing costs really matter: A doubling in the world price of wheat actually means that the wheat you carry home from the market to hand-grind into flour for chapatis costs twice as much. And the same is true with rice. If the world price of rice doubles, so does the price of rice in your neighborhood market in Jakarta.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Resurgent global food prices, which posted record increases in the first two months of 2011, are again threatening to push millions of people in developing Asia into extreme poverty, says a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) titled 'Global Food Price Inflation and Developing Asia'.

VietNamNet Bridge – “Air pollution in Vietnam is getting serious in comparison with Southeast Asia and other Asian countries,” said Dang Van Loi, Deputy Director of the Agency for Pollution Control, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.