On March 11-12 of 2009, EarthRights Mekong School staff and alumni from Thailand and Burma joined local and regional NGOs on a trip to Chiang Khong, where the Mekong River forms the border between Thailand’s Chiang Rai province and Lao PDR’s Bo Kaew province. Over 50 youth joined in activities in commemoration of the International Day of Action for Rivers. Group members meet with civil society groups on both the Thai and Lao sides of the river, and discussed changes resulting from increased globalization in the region. These changes include blasting the river to widen navigation channels for Chinese ships, a new highway linking China, Laos, and Thailand, an influx of Chinese produce and consumer goods, and an increase in illegal drugs.

The area has seen a huge rise in numbers of tourists and laborers from neighboring countries, leading to a massive growth in the sex industry, and an increase of HIV/AIDS. The area has also been hit hard by changes in the river ecology from dams on the mainstream of the Mekong upriver in China. The NGO New Generation hosted the trip to prepare the new generation to work together to meet these challenges.