With all upstream countries – China, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia planning major dams on the Mekong River, Vietnam faces imminent threats to its ecology, food security and livelihoods of its people, an expert has warned.
Just Laos, Thailand and Cambodia are planning eleven big hydropower dams on mainstream Mekong River, which will limit the deposit of silt, acidify agricultural land, and decimate upstream fish stocks, affecting hundreds of thousands of fishermen and their households, said Ngo Xuan Quang of the Vietnam’s Institute of Tropical Biology.
Speaking to Thanh Nien at the launching ceremony of the “Save the Mekong” campaign in Bangkok on Thursday, Quang said even if no dam was planned on the Vietnam stretch of the Mekong River, the country would be very vulnerable to the impacts of upstream dams.
In Vietnam, the Mekong is known as the Cuu Long River as it flows through the southwestern region and joins the sea.
When the river waters are blocked upstream, sea water will further encroach the Mekong Delta, and exacerbate problems caused by rising sea levels because of climate change.
The dams will retain the silt, leaving areas deprived of the river’s flow susceptible to land erosion and landslides, he added.
The Mekong River flows through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia before ending its journey in Vietnam.
River cry
On Thursday, the Save the Mekong coalition had handed over a petition to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to express concern regarding plans to build eleven hydropower dams on the Mekong River’s lower mainstream.
The coalition is a network of non-government organizations, community groups, academics, journalists, artists, fishers, farmers and ordinary people from within the Mekong countries and internationally.
Of the 11 dams planned by the three lower mainstream countries, seven are in Laos, two in Cambodia, and two on the Thai-Lao border.
Building dams on the river’s mainstream will block major fish migrations that accounts for up to 70 percent of the nation’s commercial catch, the petition said.
They will also disrupt the vitally important river, placing at risk the livelihoods of millions of people who depend upon it for their food security and incomes, it added.
The Mekong River is host to the world’s largest inland fisheries. The commercial fish catch is currently worth US$3 billion annually, the petition pointed out.
Not only are these fisheries an important source of income for local fishers, which include many of the region’s poorest people, but they are also vital in ensuring regional food security. Between half and four-fifths of the animal protein consumed by the 60 million people in the lower Mekong basin come from the river’s fisheries, it said.
The undammed Mekong River has an extraordinary aquatic biodiversity, second only to the Amazon. Building mainstream dams would push the endangered species such as the Irrawaddy Dolphin, the Mekong Giant Catfish, and countless other migratory fish species to the brink of extinction, international experts have said, adding losing this ecological wealth would be a tragedy of global proportions.
The petition, which collects public signatures at http://tinyurl.com/Save-the-Mekong, also said China’s dam construction on the Upper Mekong mainstream (Lancang) has already caused serious environmental problems in downstream Myanmar, northern Thailand, and northern Laos.
Declining fish stocks and unpredictable water levels have made life more difficult for downstream communities, pointing toward the damage that mainstream dams will inflict, it added.
The Save the Mekong coalition thus urges the Mekong governments to keep the Mekong flowing freely to save this critical source of food, income and life for present and future generations. It appeals to people from all walks of life around the world to join the effort to save the river.
This petition has thus far been signed by 16,380 people from within the Mekong Region and around the world.
Since March, Save the Mekong has been collecting signed postcards from people in the Mekong countries and around the world, urging the region’s political leaders to keep the Mekong flowing freely as a precious source of food, income and life for present and future generations.
Source: TN, Agencies
Monday, 22 June 2009
Mekong River dams a serious threat to Vietnam
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