Regional contributions of climate change and human activities to altered flow of the Lancang-mekong river

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrh.2023.101535
• Publication Date: 2023-10-17T03:37:23Z
• Authors: Keer Zhang; Khosro Morovati; Fuqiang Tian; Le Yu; Bo Liu; Marcelo Alberto O...
• Keywords: Mekong river

The Lancang-Mekong River (LMR) in Southeast Asia. LMR provides unparalleled economic and ecological resources for six Asian countries. However, the intensified impact of human activities, coupled with effects climate change, has led to alterations its natural flow, thereby disrupting river's flow regime. Ensuring future sustainable management downstream integrity this transboundary river requires understanding regional contributions altered at sub-basin level. We conducted an analysis last four decades using a hydrological model, which divided entire basin into eight sub-basins, each associated one main stations. Our showed significant differences precipitation variation across LMR, from headwaters lower regions, during both periods. Furthermore, spatial was observed impacts activities on runoff seasons, indicating lack effective coordinated efforts among riparian Notably, our findings indicated that agricultural expansion construction tributary dams certain sub-basins had more reduction mainstream compared dams. These underscore enormous potential water governance alleviate changing climate, offering valuable insights addressing critical issue.