Water management institute opens in Laos

Sapa | 13 October, 2011

Rescuers stand on a broken dyke of the Mekong river in An Giang province.
Image by: STRINGER/VIETNAM / REUTERS

The International Water Management Insitute opened an office in Vientiane to conduct research on the effects of climate change on Laos and the region, state media reports.

The office was inaugurated Wednesday at the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute, the Vientiane Times reported.

"Over the next 40 years, the world's population will place tremendous pressure on food supplies, water resources and the environment," the institute's director general, Colin Chartres, said.

It is to conduct research in Laos and South-East Asia with a focus on the Mekong River, the region's longest waterway. It flows from southern China to Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Vientiane was selected as the most appropriate location for the institute's regional office because the Lao capital is the home of the Mekong River Commission, whose members are Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.