It’s kind of China’s moonshot. Nothing like it has been built before. And when a moon mission happens, the world is watching” Brian Eyler on the International Risk Podcast On the 19th July 2025, Chinese Premier Li Qiang presided over the ceremony marking the start of construction of the world’s largest hydropower project on the…
On 19 July 2025, China began construction on a 60,000-megawatt hydropower project at Medog, with three times the output of Three Gorges and roughly the UK’s entire annual power production. This is a 1.2-trillion-yuan investment (USD 170B) that Beijing frames as clean energy and development. It is located in southeast Tibert, and only 30km upstream…
Palmo Tenzin is an Advocacy Officer and Senior Researcher for the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT). She is an experienced researcher and policy officer specialising in Chinese politics and contemporary Tibet, Sino-Tibetan relations and Asia-Pacific security. At ICT, Tenzin focuses on investigating and analyzing developments in Tibet, ranging from land management and environmental policies to…
Brian Eyler is the Director of the Stimson Center‘s Southeast Asia and Energy, Water and Sustainability programs. He is widely recognised as a leading voice and expert on transboundary water-energy-food nexus security issues in the Mekong River Basin, having spent more than 15 years living and working in China. Eyler is the Co-Lead of the…
Pakistan has been battling severe monsoon flooding this year, enduring almost constant flooding since June. The devastation has been calamitous. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), since the rains began on 26 June, 998 deaths have been reported. Torrential rains and riverine flooding wreaked havoc across the country’s agricultural heartland: over 4,700 villages…
Pakistan is once again underwater. In the country’s north—specifically the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa—torrential monsoon rains dropped 150 millimeters in under an hour. That’s six inches of rain, fast enough to overwhelm any drainage system. But here, it didn’t just flood streets—it destroyed entire communities. At least 700 people are dead. Over 100 are missing….
Dr Erum K. Sattar LLB, LLM, SJD, is a Lecturer and Former Program Director of the Sustainable Water Management program at the Institute of the Enviornment at Tufts University. She has degrees from Harvard Law School, Queen Mary University and the University of London. Dr. Sattar is a Member of the Bar of England and…
“‘The cancellation or what you call the abeyance of the Indus Water treaty is not anything which is practical but it is very political; it is politically dividing these two countries and creating huge mistrust. Just in May, these two countries were on the verge of nuclear war so anything can happen”. Ashok Swain, Episode…
When we think about flashpoints between India and Pakistan, most people picture borders, bombs, or Kashmir. But the most strategic weapon in South Asia today may not be nuclear—it’s water. The Indus Water Treaty has been called one of the world’s most successful peace agreements, surviving wars, nuclear standoffs, and decades of political hostility. But…
Ashok Swain is the UNESCO Chair on International Water Cooperation, Professor and Head of Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, Sweden. Professor Swain is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal, Environment and Security, published by Sage. Over his career he has authored and edited 20 books and more than 150 journal…
