No Easy Fix after Decades of Droughts in Yunnan

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(Caixin Online)Three years ago, en route to an interview, I traveled by boat to Thailand from China's Yunnan Province by cruising down the Lancang River. The same trip would be impossible today; boats are now scattered high and dry along the shoreline, and international shipping has been suspended.

But disrupted boating is a minor concern in many areas of Yunnan now afflicted by serious drought. Millions of people have been hard-pressed to find basic drinking water, and the agricultural industry has suffered at least 10 billion yuan in direct economic losses.