Water management poses challenges for Southeast Asia.
That is because there are less fish to catch. In fact, more than 5,000 people marched in Thailand and Laos in 1998 to protest the giant hydroelectric dams which they say are not benefiting them. But it is not only fish that trouble the waters of the Mekong river today. The waters themselves pose the greatest potential for provoking conflict among China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The threat of these nations going to war because of water may become real in the future if there are no new guarantees of cooperation which offset the distinct advantage of the upstream countries over its downstream neighbors.