Welcome to Mekong Watch

Mekong Watch is a Japanese NGO based in Tokyo. We combine research and advocacy to address and prevent the negative environmental and social impacts of development in the Mekong Region. We are especially concerned about the lack of consultation with affected communities in development planning and implementation and the role Japanese financing. By contacting communities directly, we try to bridge the information and communication gaps between them and decision-makers in Japan.

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#NoMoreBusinessWithTheMyanmarJunta
Japan must responsibly disengage from the Yetagun gas project in Myanmar!

What's New!

• 【Opinion】 End Japan's loans to Myanmar's tatmadaw(Posted in the Bangkok Post, November 26, 2024)
  
• 【Press Release】 Institutional investors conduct climate change engagement with SOMPO after being encouraged by environmental NGOs(October 28, 2024)
  
• 【Letter of Request】 Dear Bondholders of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Request to engage with JBIC to stop financing new fossil fuel projects(September 30, 2024)
  
• 【Joint Statement】 Local company official and others arrested for corruption in ODA coal-fired power project in Bangladesh -JICA should immediately investigate the situation and suspend the loan-(September 5, 2024)
  
• 【Letter of Request】 Request to engage with SOMPO to stop underwriting new fossil fuel projects(August 28, 2024)
  
• 【Press Release】 Myanmar pearl company TASAKI and investors risk complicity in Myanmar military junta's international crimes - TASAKI must responsibly end all business with the sanctioned entity Myanmar Pearl Enterprise(July 10, 2024)
  
• 【Joint Statement】 Violation of G7 Agreement! We Condemn JBIC's Lending Decision to Provide Support for Vietnam's Block B-O Mon Project (Upstream and Midstream)(July 9, 2024)
  
• 【Inqiry】 Inquiry regarding TASAKI's business partnership with sanctioned entity Myanmar Pearls Enterprise(June 11, 2024)
  
• 【Inqiry】 Inquiry regarding human rights due diligence in relation to TASAKI's business partnership with sanctioned entity Myanmar Pearls Enterprise(June 11, 2024)
  
• 【Joint Statement】 NGOs strongly condemn decision by Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to finance Woodside Energy, the Australian gas extraction giant - Over USD 28 billion has been financed for fossil fuel projects since the G7 Elmau Commitment - (June 4, 2024)
  
• 【Joint Statement】 Prime Minister Kishida should cooperate with the US and the Philippines for true decarbonization (April 9, 2024)
  
• 【Joint Statement】 For Vietnam's Block B-O Mon Project, We Demand Retraction of FID by Mitsui & Co. and JOGMEC's FID and Loan Guarantee Decision (April 8, 2024)
  
• 【Joint Statement】 NGOs Strongly Condemn Decision by Japan Bank for International Cooperation(JBIC) and Citibank to finance two gas-fired power projects in Mexico (March 29, 2024)
  
• 【Joint Statement】 NGOs urge Japanese financial institutions to stop developing/supporting the Scarborough gas field in Australia (March 28, 2024)
  
• 【Joint Statement】 JBIC financing for two gas power projects in Mexico would violate the G7 agreement - JBIC, NEXI and private banks should stop consideration immediately - (January 25, 2024)
  
• 【Joint Statement】Statement calling on the Japanese government to stop ODA and publicly-funded projects benefiting the Myanmar military (December 1, 2023)
  
• 【Letter of Request】Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) should forgo support of the Block B Gas Field Development Project in Vietnam (October 2, 2023)
  
• 【Joint Statement】Tokio Marine sets Intermediate Decarbonization Target in an Ambition and Impact Lacking Move (October 2, 2023)
  
• 【Joint Statement】Three major Japanese non-life insurers left NZIA and failed to disclose the intermediate targets by deadline --NGOs urge insurers to set intermediate targets for emissions of the underwriting portfolio immediately! (August 1, 2023)
  
• 【Open Letter】United States Sanctions Myanmar Junta's Ministry of Defence - Japanese Government Should Immediately and Completely Withdraw from the Y Complex Project (July 25, 2023)
  
• 【Press Release / Joint Statement】Lao dam disaster: NGOs decry lack of effective remedy for survivors five years on (July 24, 2023)
  
• 【Open Letter】To Mr. Obama, Re: Arrest of Obama Foundation Scholar in Vietnam (June 20, 2023)
  
• 【Open Letter】Japan’s leadership urgently needed at the UN Security Council to stop Myanmar military’s atrocity crimes as Myanmar faces man-made and natural disasters (May 29, 2023)
  
• 【Press Release】Serious questions over the withdrawal of ENEOS Holdings and other entities from the Yetagun gas project (April 17, 2023)
  
• 【Open Letter】 'No room for fossil fuels in climate-vulnerable developing countries': G7 nations must reject the rollout of false energy transition technologies (April 14, 2023)
  
• 【Letter of Request】 Cirebon Coal-Fired Power Plant Project - Expansion Plan in Indonesia: Request for Immediate Suspension of the Loan Disbursement and Responsible Action to Halt the Project (March 28, 2023)
  
• 【Collective Statement】 Re: ADB's Draft Guidance Note on Large Hydropower - Collective Civil Society Response (March 14, 2023)
  
• 【Press Release】 Japan's "Zero Emissions" strategy is a Greenwashing 140 Civil society groups from 18 countries sent an open letter to G7 chair demanding support on swift, just and equitable transition from fossil fuels and not on "false solutions" (March 2, 2023)
  
• 【Open Letter】 Japan's "Zero Emissions" strategy is a fallacy - Japan must support just and equitable transition from fossil fuels not "false solutions" (March 2, 2023)
  
• 【Civil Society Joint Position】 Oil and Gas Restrictions under the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits (February 27, 2023)
  
• 【Letter of Request】 A Request to Engage with MS&AD to stop underwriting Fossil Fuel Projects (January 18, 2023)
  
• 【Press Release】 Response from ten institutional shareholders of three Japanese banks that continue investment in military-linked projects in Myanmar Bank shareholders are responsible for stopping the flow of funds to the Myanmar military (January 6, 2023)