Moji Motions

As of the past decade, the Mekong Subregion has seen Superpower Nations heavily invest in the region. These initiatives have focused on growing the region's transport corridors between markets through China's Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) in 2016 and clean energy grid development through Japan-US Mekong Power Partnership (JUMPP) in 2020.

In recent years, the floods in canal cities have become more frequent and severe because of sea-level rise, sinking ground, saltwater intrusion, and strong tides from the sea. The floods usually last only a short time (2-4 hours), but they can still damage buildings, disrupt daily life, and make it harder for people and tourists to move around the city. Climate adaptation means policies or physical changes designed to allow people and cities to "live with floods" rather than trying to prevent seawater intrusion at all costs. Methods include, but are not limited to, raising the ground level of public squares, waterproofing and elevating architectural structures, replanning urban spaces, and even establishing localized, decentralized drainage systems. Traditional flood defences are hard-engineering measures that try to keep water out, such as barriers, gates, dikes, and seawalls. The best-known example, in Venice, is the MOSE (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico) system, a mobile barrier at the lagoon inlets, which has quickly protected the city in several high-tide events but is also criticized for cost, maintenance, and ecological impacts

Labour standards typically cover minimum wage and timely pay, limits on working hours, and occupational safety and health. Environmental standards include environmental impact assessments and public consultation, hazardous waste handling and disposal, water-use permits, and biodiversity and land-use protections.

A sin tax, also known as a sumptuary tax or vice tax, is an excise tax applied in some countries to certain goods considered potentially harmful, such as alcohol, tobacco, sugary drinks, fast food, and gambling.

The landlocked and mountainous Laos aims to become the "Battery of Southeast Asia" to boost its economy and escape its prolonged poverty by exporting hydropower electricity harnessed through its dams on the Mekong River system to its richer neighbours. The development plan was financed through loan grants from China and currently has 16 hydropower stations, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, as downstream (Lower Mekong) countries, are protesting against dams built in China and Laos (Upper Mekong) for contributing to the prolonged drought conditions in the entire Indochina region.