Territory 01: Upper Mekong River Basin

Territory 01 Plan

The Upper Mekong River Basin (UMRB) is a long and narrow territory, geologically shaped by the region’s steep terrain, and altered by recent main-stem developments. The path of the upper portion of the Mekong River begins in China’s Qinhai Province in the Tibetan Plateau and concludes at the tri-border point of Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos, known as the “Golden Triangle.” The upper stretch is approximately 1,400 miles and drains an area of 73,000 square miles.1 It accounts for more than half of the total length of the entire river, but only a quarter of the drainage basin. Both the upper Mekong River and its watershed are almost entirely located in China, which has a regional name for the river, the “Lancang.” The river’s headwaters, the Lasagongma Springs, originate in the Sanjiangyuan (or “Source of the Three Rivers”), where the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers also begin. While the Yellow and Yangtze travel to the east and remain exclusively in China, the Mekong travels in a southeast direction, where it is flanked by the Irrawaddy and Hong (Red) Rivers. Due to the mountainous terrain in this UMRB, only a few small cities have been established in the watershed, but countless villages are dotted along its riverbanks. In total, the UMRB contributes 16 percent of the annual water flow in the river, which peaks at 40 percent during the dry season, and it also supplies up to half of all the sediment in the Mekong River.2 As a result, the UMRB has been disproportionately developed in terms of main-stem hydropower. Since the late 20th century, China has been constructing hydroelectric dams in the Lancang to address both regional and national growth.3 By 2020, seven main-stem hydroelectric dams were completed, with five currently under construction, and seven more planned. All nineteen main-stem upper Mekong River dams are located in China. In the early 2000s, the Chinese government created the state-owned corporation Hydrolancang, which has been rebranded to Huaneng Lancang River Hydropower Inc., tasked to be the sole legal entity responsible for the coordination and development of hydroelectric projects in the Mekong River.4 While China has undeniably benefited from the hydroelectricity generated from the UMRB, a 2008