The newly-built Xayaburi dam has raised some key concerns about Lao PDR’s hydropower strategy.While hydropower is one of the country’s main exports, Lao PDR still has to import electricity.

Water levels at Southeast Asia’s largest river may be at its lowest levels in a century.Low rainfall, high temperatures and poor dam regulations are contributing to a historic low at the Mekong, affecting the region’s agriculture and fishing industries and leading to rapidly drying taps.Chinese dams control the flow of the 4,350-kilometre (km) river which originates in the Tibetan highlands before travelling across Myanmar, Lao, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.