Under a peeling sun, two Thai grandmothers pan for gold along the Mekong River, sifting both through its muddy shale banks and their own memories of happier times for a waterway which has been changed forever by upstream hydropower dams. By the time the Mekong reaches them in Loei, on the Thai-Laos border, the water has already been strained through.
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Thailand’s gold panners blame Mekong dams in China, Laos as fortune dries up Vijitra Duangdee in Loei, Thailand Hieng Chantarasee, a 70-year-old gold panner in Loei province of Thailand, a few kilometres downstream from the proposed Sanakham dam in Laos. Photo: Vijitra Duangdee
Under a peeling sun, two Thai grandmothers pan for gold along the Mekong River, sifting both through its muddy shale banks and their own memories of happier times for a waterway which has been changed forever by upstream hydropower dams.
By the time the Mekong reaches them in Loei, on the Thai-Laos border, the water has already been strained through a dozen dams - 11 of them in China and one in Laos.