Read more http://www.tdh.de/was-wir-tun/arbeitsfelder/oekologische-kinderrechte/forderungen-und-ziele/rio-20-einmischen/aktiv-bei-rio-20/jugendnetzwerk-in-rio.html
The 'Our Rivers, Our Life' campaign is a regional biodiversity campaign in South East Asian countries. The seven country members work to protect the health and biodiversity of 11 rivers: the Salween (Burma), Mekong (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam ), Mae Kok, Nan, Mae Ping and Mae ing (Thailand), Vaiko (Cambodia), Agusan and Rio Grande De Mindanao (Pulagi) (Philippines), Cisadane (Indonesia), the Dong Nai and Saigon (Vietnam) and the Xedone and Xelanong (Laos).
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Children and Youth join in banners campaign
Read more http://www.tdh.de/was-wir-tun/arbeitsfelder/oekologische-kinderrechte/forderungen-und-ziele/rio-20-einmischen/aktiv-bei-rio-20/jugendnetzwerk-in-rio.html
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Resettled Laotians Have Power Supply
Resettled Laotians Have Power Supply
2012-06-19
The World Bank refutes a report that said that some of the villagers who were settled to make way for the Nam Theun 2 project have no electricity.
The reservoir of the Nam Theun 2 in a handout photo from the power company, Oct. 23, 2010.
All the villagers who were resettled to make way for Nam Theun 2, Laos’s largest hydroelectric dam, have received electricity supply, the World bank said Monday, rejecting a report that some of those villagers did not receive power.
"[E]very resettlement village on the Nakai plateau, and every household in those villages, has an electricity connection and improved water supply, as part of a comprehensive compensation package to people affected by inundation of the reservoir," World Bank spokeswoman Meriem Gray said in a statement from Laos.
She was commenting on a RFA report dated June 14, which has since been retracted, that some of the 6,300 people in 15 villages resettled since 2005 to make room for the dam had no electricity supply.
The 1,070-megawatt Nam Theun 2 dam on a tributary of the Mekong River in Khammouane province has been producing electricity since March 2010. The dam diverts water from the Nam Theun River to the Xe Bang Fai River.
The U.S. $1.25 billion project, financed by international institutions including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, was launched as 6,300 people living in the assigned reservoir area on the Nakai Plateau were resettled.
"The project’s commitment to resettled communities extends beyond compensating them for the move, and includes helping villagers to develop significantly better livelihoods and living standards than they had before the project," Gray said.
She said that there was a small number of families who "voluntarily chose not to relocate to the resettlement villages but rather to receive cash compensation and to choose by themselves where they would relocate."
"These families were provided significant cash compensation."
Gray explained that Nam Theun 2 does not exacerbate any natural floods in the Xe Bang Fai downstream area as it ceases power production when the river reaches a certain predefined level.
In August last year, it ceased power generation for several weeks when the level was reached.
Poverty reduction
Nam Theun 2 will generate around U.S. $2 billion in government revenues for poverty reduction and environmental protection through the sale of electricity to Thailand and into the Lao grid, the bank said.
But International Rivers, an environmental group, said more than 110,000 people who depend on the Xe Bang Fai and Nam Theun rivers for their livelihoods have been directly affected by the project, due to destruction of fisheries, the flooding of riverbank gardens, and water quality problems.
It claimed that people on the Nakai Plateau still have no source of sustainable livelihood, threatening their food security.
A key selling point of the project was the funds it would provide for protection of the globally significant Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area, the largest protected area in Laos and one of the most important areas for biodiversity in Southeast Asia.
Yet, according to International Rivers, the reservoir has opened up an access to the area, exacerbating logging and poaching and threatening its ecological integrity.
But the World Bank said the Nam Theun 2 project has put in place a comprehensive downstream program that benefits more people than are affected by the dam and that food security has "significantly improved" for resettled people on the plateau compared to life before the project.
The Nam Theun 2 is also providing more than U.S. $1 million per year for the full 25-year concession period to improve the management and protection of the Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area, which includes the dam watershed. "This makes it the largest and best financed protected area in the country," it said.
As of the beginning of this year, Laos had 14 operational hydropower dams, 10 under construction, and 56 proposed or in planning stages, according to an online government report.
Among these is the controversial Xayaburi dam, which would be the first on the mainstream Lower Mekong. Green groups say the dam could have a major impact on the regional environment and threaten Southeast Asia’s food security.
Reported by Parameswaran Ponnudurai and Rachel Vandenbrink.
"[E]very resettlement village on the Nakai plateau, and every household in those villages, has an electricity connection and improved water supply, as part of a comprehensive compensation package to people affected by inundation of the reservoir," World Bank spokeswoman Meriem Gray said in a statement from Laos.
She was commenting on a RFA report dated June 14, which has since been retracted, that some of the 6,300 people in 15 villages resettled since 2005 to make room for the dam had no electricity supply.
The 1,070-megawatt Nam Theun 2 dam on a tributary of the Mekong River in Khammouane province has been producing electricity since March 2010. The dam diverts water from the Nam Theun River to the Xe Bang Fai River.
The U.S. $1.25 billion project, financed by international institutions including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, was launched as 6,300 people living in the assigned reservoir area on the Nakai Plateau were resettled.
"The project’s commitment to resettled communities extends beyond compensating them for the move, and includes helping villagers to develop significantly better livelihoods and living standards than they had before the project," Gray said.
She said that there was a small number of families who "voluntarily chose not to relocate to the resettlement villages but rather to receive cash compensation and to choose by themselves where they would relocate."
"These families were provided significant cash compensation."
Gray explained that Nam Theun 2 does not exacerbate any natural floods in the Xe Bang Fai downstream area as it ceases power production when the river reaches a certain predefined level.
In August last year, it ceased power generation for several weeks when the level was reached.
Poverty reduction
Nam Theun 2 will generate around U.S. $2 billion in government revenues for poverty reduction and environmental protection through the sale of electricity to Thailand and into the Lao grid, the bank said.
But International Rivers, an environmental group, said more than 110,000 people who depend on the Xe Bang Fai and Nam Theun rivers for their livelihoods have been directly affected by the project, due to destruction of fisheries, the flooding of riverbank gardens, and water quality problems.
It claimed that people on the Nakai Plateau still have no source of sustainable livelihood, threatening their food security.
A key selling point of the project was the funds it would provide for protection of the globally significant Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area, the largest protected area in Laos and one of the most important areas for biodiversity in Southeast Asia.
Yet, according to International Rivers, the reservoir has opened up an access to the area, exacerbating logging and poaching and threatening its ecological integrity.
But the World Bank said the Nam Theun 2 project has put in place a comprehensive downstream program that benefits more people than are affected by the dam and that food security has "significantly improved" for resettled people on the plateau compared to life before the project.
The Nam Theun 2 is also providing more than U.S. $1 million per year for the full 25-year concession period to improve the management and protection of the Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area, which includes the dam watershed. "This makes it the largest and best financed protected area in the country," it said.
As of the beginning of this year, Laos had 14 operational hydropower dams, 10 under construction, and 56 proposed or in planning stages, according to an online government report.
Among these is the controversial Xayaburi dam, which would be the first on the mainstream Lower Mekong. Green groups say the dam could have a major impact on the regional environment and threaten Southeast Asia’s food security.
Reported by Parameswaran Ponnudurai and Rachel Vandenbrink.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Xayaburi study questioned
A road leading to the proposed dam site in Xayaburi province, Laos, was constructed last year. Photograph: Bangkok post
Lao Vice Minister of Energy and Mines Viraponh Viravong was reported as saying last week that a redesigned Xayaburi dam in northern Laos would allow a steady flow of sediment downsteam, thus allaying environmental concerns.
“First, we hired … Poyry to do the impact study, but people were not satisfied with that. And now we have hired a French company,” he told Radio Free Asia. “This study … confirms that if the Lao government wants to let the dam be redesigned, there will be no impact on the environment.”
Viraponh Viravong did not name the study’s French authors, but conservation groups said Laos had commissioned Compagnie Nationale du Rhone (CNR) to review Poyry’s 2011 study.
Marc Goichot, sustainable hydropower manager for WWF-Greater Mekong, said CNR failed to address concerns about potential effects on fish in the Lower Mekong.
“WWF’s understanding is that the scope of the CNR review is limited to hydrology, sediment and navigation impact,” he said. “Questions about fish and fisheries raised in response to the Poyry report have not yet been addressed.”
International Rivers Southeast Asia programme director Ame Trandem said the new report was a “meaningless” attempt to woo fellow Mekong River Commission member countries.
“While Poyry sidestepped science on the dam’s fishery impacts, the new CNR review deliberately omits the dam’s fishery impacts,” she said. “Until the transboundary impacts of the project are assessed, Laos has no basis for claiming this dam is sustainable.”
The four MRC member states – Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos – agreed in December that the 1,260-megawatt could not proceed until further studies assessed its potential impact.
Japan last month agreed to help fund a study with MRC’s other development partners.
Thai developer Ch.Karnchang said last month that construction had begun on the dam – the first of 11 along the Lower Mekong – on March 15. Laos agreed early this month to suspend construction.
Viraponh Viravong and CNR could not be reached yesterday.
Monday, 21 May 2012 by Shane Worrell
Source: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052156277/National-news/xayaburi-study-questioned.html
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Xayaburi Dam Controversy Flares
Back in December, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia had scored high praise for reaching an agreement that essentially postponed construction of the Xayaburi Dam while further studies could be undertaken into the potential damage to fish stocks and food security in the Lower Mekong Basin.
However, there were doubts over the commitment by Laos simply because of the money at stake – about $3.5 billion. Despite the concerns, Vientiane wants to build a total of 11 dams along the Mekong River and establish itself as the “Battery of Southeast Asia” insisting the dams pose no serious risks.
Authorities in Hanoi and Phnom Penh simply don’t believe this while those in Bangkok – who are financially backing the project and are keen to source electricity from the project – are happy not to notice the neighborly complaints.
Quietly, the December agreement was ignored, and construction around the site continued. This included the building of roads, sewage, embankments and facilities needed for workers who would eventually begin the work on the mega-project.
Now it appears that work on the actual dam may have already begun, contradicting the agreement.
In a filing to the Thai Stock Exchange, construction company CH Karnchang said it had finalized the contract with Xayaburi Power Company to build the 1,206-megawatt dam over the next eight years and that construction was due to begin on March 15.
The United States and Vietnamese had called for a 10-year moratorium in dam construction on the Mekong while Australia – a chief financial supporter of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) – backed concerns by Vietnam and Cambodia over the project.
The World Wildlife Fund and International Rivers say the Xayaburi is an environmental disaster in the making that will alter the river’s patterns and impact on fish catches. They want it scrapped, citing damage already caused by Chinese dams.
According to an independent report prepared for the MRC by the International Centre for Environmental Management (ICEM), planned dam construction along the Mekong would be devastating, and it highlighted what many see as the single most important issue for the region – food security. It said if 11 mainstream dams were built, the total loss in fish resources would be 550,000 – 880,000 tons or 26 percent to 42 percent compared to the 2000 baseline – 340,000 tons of that estimate directly due to mainstream dams.
The amount of protein at risk of being lost annually if 11 mainstream dams were built by 2030 represents 110 percent of the current total annual livestock production of Cambodia and Laos.
“The mainstream projects would fundamentally undermine the abundance, productivity and diversity of the Mekong fish resources, affecting the millions of rural people who rely on it for nutrition and livelihoods,” it warned.
Laos has done nothing to reassure its neighbors that it’s serious about looking after the downstream livelihoods of the 60 million people who depend on the Mekong River. Instead, it appears to be paying only lip service to the greater concerns about the dam’s construction.
All the parties left last December’s meeting convinced there would be no more construction until independent studies were complete and no doubt those same parties will now be seeking a clarification from Laos on the status of the project.
Whether Laos, which is ranked near the bottom of the heap at 154 on Transparency International’s corruption index alongside Cambodia and Vietnam, will respond honestly appears unlikely. Whether its neighbors will believe what is has to say appears even less likely.
Image credit:
Jack Zalium
ข้อเท็จจริง เขื่อนไซยะบุรี : ใครคือเจ้าของลำน้ำโขง ?
รพีพัฒน์ อิงคสิทธิ์
มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์
เป็นข่าวครึกโครมไม่นานมานี้เมื่อมีกลุ่มผู้ประท้วงการสร้างเขื่อนไซยะ
บุรี ที่รวมตัวหน้าอาคาร ช.การช่าง
เพื่อยื่นหนังสือให้หยุดยั้งโครงการดังกล่าว เขื่อนไซยะบุรี
ฟังดูอย่างไรก็ไม่น่าจะเป็นเขื่อนในประเทศไทย หลายคนอาจสงสัยว่า
แล้วมันเกี่ยวอะไรกับเรา ?มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์
เพราะประเทศไทยเองก็ยังคงมีเรื่องเขื่อน ค้างคา ไม่ว่าจะเป็นแก่งเสือเต้น หรือเขื่อนแม่วงก์ อยู่แล้ว แล้วเราจะไป ‘ชักศึกเข้าบ้าน’ หาเรื่องเดือดร้อนเพิ่มทำไม ซึ่งผู้เขียนจะขอเป็นผู้ชี้แจงถึงข้อเท็จจริง ‘เบื้องหลัง’ โครงการขนาดใหญ่อย่างเขื่อนไซยะบุรีในบทความนี้
เขื่อนไซยะบุรี..ใคร ? ได้ประโยชน์
โครงการเขื่อนบนแม่น้ำโขง จาก stimson.org
แต่เนื่องจากผลกระทบทางระบบนิเวศและสิ่งแวดล้อมนั้นยังไม่ชัดเจน จึงทำให้คณะกรรมาธิการแม่น้ำโขง ซึ่งประกอบด้วย 4 ประเทศสมาชิก คือ ไทย ลาว กัมพูชา และเวียดนาม มีมติเลื่อนการสร้างเขื่อนไซยะบุรีออกไปก่อน โดยให้บริษัทจากประเทศญี่ปุ่นเข้ามาศึกษาผลกระทบให้ชัดเจน โดยมีกรอบระยะเวลา 10 ปี
เรื่องราวน่าจะจบด้วยดีเพียงเท่านี้ ซึ่งตามข้อตกลง โครงการควรถูกเลื่อนออกไปเพื่อศึกษาผลกระทบ แต่ไม่นานมานี้ บริษัท ช.การช่าง (ลาว) จำกัด ซึ่งเป็นบริษัทย่อยของ บริษัท ช.การช่าง จำกัด (มหาชน) กลับไปเซ็นต์สัญญา มูลค่าสัญญาประมาณ 51,824.64 ล้านบาทกับ บริษัทไซยะบุรีพาวเวอร์ (ลาว) เมื่อวันที่ 17 เม.ย.55 ที่ผ่านมา และเดินหน้าก่อสร้างเขื่อนโดยไม่ใส่ใจมติที่ประชุมคณะกรรมาธิการแม่น้ำโขง (Mekong River Commission: MRC)
โดยผู้ให้สินเชื่อการก่อสร้างดังกล่าวก็คือธนาคารกรุงไทย (KTB) ธนาคารกสิกรไทย (KBANK) ธนาคารไทยพาณิชย์ (SCB) และ ธนาคารกรุงเทพ (BBL) ซึ่งกิจการเหล่านี้ต่างซื้อขายอยู่ในตลาดหลักทรัพย์แห่งประเทศไทยทั้งสิ้น ยิ่งไปกว่านั้น กระแสไฟฟ้าจำนวน 1,260 MW ที่ผลิตได้จากเขื่อนไซยะบุรี การไฟฟ้าฝ่ายผลิตแห่งประเทศไทยก็ได้ทำการเซ็นต์สัญญาซื้อพลังงานราว 95% ที่ผลิตได้จากเขื่อนดังกล่าวไปเรียยบร้อยแล้ว
ผู้เขียนจึงไม่แปลกใจเลยที่เครือข่ายภาคประชาชน 8 จังหวัดลุ่มน้ำโขง จะออกมาประท้วงและแสดงความไม่พอใจ เนื่องจากประเทศไทยเองก็เป็นผู้มีส่วนได้เสียระดับยักษ์กับเขื่อนไซยะบุรี และแน่นอนว่า ผู้มีส่วนได้เสียเหล่านั้นไม่ได้หมายถึงภาคประชาชน แต่เป็นภาคธุรกิจแทบทั้งหมด
ในขณะที่ทางประเทศลาว ก็ออกมากล่าวว่า คณะกรรมาธิการแม่น้ำโขงหรือ MRC นั้นมีหน้าที่เพียง ‘ให้ข้อมูล’ ในการสร้างเขื่อน แต่การตัดสินใจทั้งหมดนั้น อยู่ที่ประเทศลาวเอง ทั้งๆที่ได้มีการตกลงร่วมกันในความตกลงว่าด้วยการร่วมมือเพื่อการพัฒนาลุ่ม แม่น้ำโขงแบบยั่งยืน
ความตกลงดังกล่าวกำหนดให้มีระเบียบปฏิบัติเรื่องการแจ้ง การปรึกษาหารือล่วงหน้าและข้อตกลง (Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement: PNPCA) โดยประเทศสมาชิกจะต้องแจ้งต่อคณะกรรมาธิการแม่น้ำโขง ในกรณีที่ประเทศสมาชิกมีโครงการพัฒนาสิ่งก่อสร้างขนาดใหญ่ใดๆ บนแม่น้ำโขงสายหลักหรือแม่น้ำสาขา
การกระทำดังกล่าวทั้งจากประเทศลาว และนักธุรกิจในไทย ย่อมสร้างคำถามให้กับหลายคนว่า ‘ใครคือเจ้าของลำน้ำโขง’
ผลกระทบจากเขื่อนไซยะบุรี ที่ไม่ได้จบแค่ประเทศเดียว
แน่นอนว่าเขื่อนไซยะบุรี ย่อมส่งผลกระทบทั้งในเชิงระบบนิเวศและวัฒนธรรม และหากสังเกตจากที่ตั้งของเขื่อนจะพบว่า ผลกระทบจะกินลำน้ำโขงยาวเรื่อยไปถึงประเทศกัมพูชา ซึ่งจะได้รับผลกระทบมากที่สุด จึงไม่น่าแปลกใจที่ทางคณะกรรมาธิการแม่น้ำโขงมีมติให้ศึกษาข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมผู้เขียนได้สืบค้นข้อมูลเกี่ยวกับผลกระทบที่อาจเกิดจากเขื่อนไซยะบุรี และสรุปได้คร่าวๆดังนี้
- การปิดกั้นลำน้ำของเขื่อนไซยะบุรี อาจทำให้พันธุ์ปลาจำนวน 43 สายพันธุ์เสี่ยงต่อการสูญพันธุ์ และยังเป็นเครื่องกีดขวางการอพยพตามธรรมชาติของปลาอีกอย่างน้อย 23 สายพันธุ์
- รายงานคณะกรรมการแม่น้ำโขงแห่งชาติกัมพูชา และ World Fish Center ปี 2550 เปิดเผยว่ามีปลาเพียง 9 สายพันธุ์ในแม่น้ำโขงที่สามารถขยายพันธุ์ได้ในอ่างเก็บน้ำ และมีข้อบ่งชี้ว่าการทำประมงในอ่างเก็บน้ำไม่สามารถทดแทนการทำประมงตาม ธรรมชาติได้
- เขื่อนไซยะบุรีมีความสูงถึง 48 เมตร แต่มีผู้เสนอให้ใช้แนวทางลดผลกระทบเรียกว่า ‘ทางปลาผ่าน’ ซึ่งหมายความว่าปลาจะต้องว่ายน้ำอพยพผ่านทางสันเขื่อนซึ่งมีความสูงเท่าตึก 15 ชั้น
- เขื่อนจะทำให้น้ำท่วมเหนือสันเขื่อน 90 กิโลเมตร ส่งผลให้ประชาชนราว 2,000 คนต้องอพยพ และอีกว่า 200,000 คนที่จะได้รับผลกระทบต่อการดำเนินวิถีชีวิต
- เขื่อนจะปล่อยกระแสน้ำเพื่อผลิตกระแสไฟฟ้าในอัตรา 5,000 ลบ.ม.ต่อวินาที ในขณะที่อัตราการไหลเฉลี่ยของแม่น้ำโขงในหน้าแล้งคือ 1,200 ลบ.ม. ต่อวินาที ซึ่งจะทำให้ระดับน้ำของลำน้ำโขงตอนล่างของเขื่อนเปลี่ยนแปลงราว 3 – 5 เมตรใน 1 วัน
- ประชาชนหลายสิบล้านคนที่ใช้ชีวิตโดยพึ่งพิงลำน้ำโขงอาจต้องเปลี่ยนวิถี ชีวิต และอาจทำให้ผลผลิตทางประมงจากลำน้ำโขงตอนล่างลดลงกว่า 10,000 ตันต่อปี
Cambodia Lodges Dam Protest with Laos
The Xayaburi hydropower project on the Mekong River stirs up controversy among Laos's neighbors.
Activists protest the construction of the Xayaburi Dam in front of the Lao Embassy in Bangkok, April 18, 2011.
Cambodia has called for an immediate halt to the construction of the
Xayaburi dam in an official protest note to Laos, officials said in a
statement released Tuesday, as opposition to the hydropower project
gained momentum in Thailand.
Lim Kean Hor, Cambodia’s water resources minister and its representative to the Mekong River Commission (MRC), an intergovernmental body of four countries that share the river, demanded in a letter to his Lao counterpart Noulinh Sinbandhit that construction on the dam be suspended pending an environmental impact assessment.
“Cambodia’s position is that Laos should halt the dam construction while the environmental impact study is being carried out,” the Cambodian minister said in the April 24 statement, according to Cambodian online newspaper CEN.
He urged Laos to stick to commitments made at an MRC summit in December, when member countries agreed in principle that further studies were needed on the impact of the dam before it could be built.
The letter comes weeks after Sin Niny, vice-chairman of Cambodia’s Mekong Committee, threatened that Cambodia could file a complaint against Laos in an international court if it allowed the dam —which would be the first mainstream dam on the Lower Mekong—to be built without regional consensus.
Since the December agreement to suspend construction, the Thai company Ch. Karnchang announced it has signed contracts for the construction of the dam beginning March 15.
Through the MRC, established in 1995, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam have agreed to a protocol for consulting with and notifying each other about use of Mekong resources, but the organization has no binding jurisdiction.
Thai protests
Meanwhile in Thailand, which will buy nearly all the power generated by the hydro-electric project, opposition to the dam has escalated, with representatives from the country’s riparian provinces holding a demonstration outside a MRC conference in Phuket on Tuesday.
About 30 protesters representing members of riparian communities in Thailand’s eight provinces along the Mekong gathered outside the MRC’s Mekong2Rio conference, an international gathering of on transboundary water resources management.
The group’s protest followed larger demonstrations last week outside the Bangkok headquarters of Ch. Karnchang, which will be building the dam, and Thai banks providing loans to finance the project.
The protesters are concerned that the dam, which would block fish migration on Southeast Asia’s main waterway, could not only impact the lives of millions in the region who rely on the river for their food and their livelihoods, but also pave the way for other hydropower projects on the river.
At least 11 other dams have been proposed on the mainstream Lower Mekong, in addition to five already built on the upper part of the river in China.
The protesters were allowed a brief meeting with the MRC’s chief executive officer Hans Guttman, who told them only preliminary construction had begun around the Xayaburi site and that the commission would consider the concerns of local people, according to Thailand’s The Nation newspaper.
Power study
The day before the protests, representatives from more than 130 civil society groups issued a statement backing a report that proposes an alternative power plan for Thailand that excludes the Xayaburi dam.
The report, produced by Thai energy experts Chuenchom Sangasri Greacen and Chris Greacen, was presented to the country’s Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday and recommends Thailand seek sources of energy with environmental impact less damaging than that of the Xayaburi dam.
The report, “Power Development Plan (PDP) 2012 and a Framework for Improving Accountability and Performance of Power Sector Planning,” criticizes the country’s plan for investing in energy infrastructure and recommends ways where energy use could be reduced.
“If we can invest in the know-how to manage energy consumption, in sustainable energy, and in production efficiency, not only will the price of electricity be lower, but we can also avoid … importing energy from high-impact dams such as Xayaburi,” Chuenchom Sangasri Greacen told RFA.
She said that Thailand’s energy planning process is flawed and that the country should invest in efficiency measures and alternative energy instead.
“We have a better alternative,” she said. “According to energy conservation policy, we should be invest more in the area of producing better electrical devices, or the standard of buildings instead of building new power plant, or building hydroelectric dams that create impacts to environment.”
Reported by RFA’s Khmer and Lao services. Translations by Samean Yun and Somnet Inthapannha. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
Source: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/xayaburi-05012012190456.html
Lim Kean Hor, Cambodia’s water resources minister and its representative to the Mekong River Commission (MRC), an intergovernmental body of four countries that share the river, demanded in a letter to his Lao counterpart Noulinh Sinbandhit that construction on the dam be suspended pending an environmental impact assessment.
“Cambodia’s position is that Laos should halt the dam construction while the environmental impact study is being carried out,” the Cambodian minister said in the April 24 statement, according to Cambodian online newspaper CEN.
He urged Laos to stick to commitments made at an MRC summit in December, when member countries agreed in principle that further studies were needed on the impact of the dam before it could be built.
The letter comes weeks after Sin Niny, vice-chairman of Cambodia’s Mekong Committee, threatened that Cambodia could file a complaint against Laos in an international court if it allowed the dam —which would be the first mainstream dam on the Lower Mekong—to be built without regional consensus.
Since the December agreement to suspend construction, the Thai company Ch. Karnchang announced it has signed contracts for the construction of the dam beginning March 15.
Through the MRC, established in 1995, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam have agreed to a protocol for consulting with and notifying each other about use of Mekong resources, but the organization has no binding jurisdiction.
Thai protests
Meanwhile in Thailand, which will buy nearly all the power generated by the hydro-electric project, opposition to the dam has escalated, with representatives from the country’s riparian provinces holding a demonstration outside a MRC conference in Phuket on Tuesday.
About 30 protesters representing members of riparian communities in Thailand’s eight provinces along the Mekong gathered outside the MRC’s Mekong2Rio conference, an international gathering of on transboundary water resources management.
The group’s protest followed larger demonstrations last week outside the Bangkok headquarters of Ch. Karnchang, which will be building the dam, and Thai banks providing loans to finance the project.
The protesters are concerned that the dam, which would block fish migration on Southeast Asia’s main waterway, could not only impact the lives of millions in the region who rely on the river for their food and their livelihoods, but also pave the way for other hydropower projects on the river.
At least 11 other dams have been proposed on the mainstream Lower Mekong, in addition to five already built on the upper part of the river in China.
The protesters were allowed a brief meeting with the MRC’s chief executive officer Hans Guttman, who told them only preliminary construction had begun around the Xayaburi site and that the commission would consider the concerns of local people, according to Thailand’s The Nation newspaper.
Power study
The day before the protests, representatives from more than 130 civil society groups issued a statement backing a report that proposes an alternative power plan for Thailand that excludes the Xayaburi dam.
The report, produced by Thai energy experts Chuenchom Sangasri Greacen and Chris Greacen, was presented to the country’s Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday and recommends Thailand seek sources of energy with environmental impact less damaging than that of the Xayaburi dam.
The report, “Power Development Plan (PDP) 2012 and a Framework for Improving Accountability and Performance of Power Sector Planning,” criticizes the country’s plan for investing in energy infrastructure and recommends ways where energy use could be reduced.
“If we can invest in the know-how to manage energy consumption, in sustainable energy, and in production efficiency, not only will the price of electricity be lower, but we can also avoid … importing energy from high-impact dams such as Xayaburi,” Chuenchom Sangasri Greacen told RFA.
She said that Thailand’s energy planning process is flawed and that the country should invest in efficiency measures and alternative energy instead.
“We have a better alternative,” she said. “According to energy conservation policy, we should be invest more in the area of producing better electrical devices, or the standard of buildings instead of building new power plant, or building hydroelectric dams that create impacts to environment.”
Reported by RFA’s Khmer and Lao services. Translations by Samean Yun and Somnet Inthapannha. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
Source: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/xayaburi-05012012190456.html
Residents demand answers on Xayaburi
The topic of Laos's controversial Xayaburi dam yesterday warmed up an international conference here on transboundary river management as dozens of Mekong residents and conservationists demanded a halt to its construction.
They called on governments in the Lower Mekong basin - Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam - to immediately address the ambiguities that have left the future of Xayaburi dam and other projects in mainstream Mekong unanswered.
The group representing residents of eight Thai provinces along the river, from Chiang Rai to Ubon Ratchathani, was allowed to get into the conference venue and have a brief meeting with Mekong River Commission (MRC)'s chief executive officer Hans Guttman.
Niwat Roykaew, chairman of the Chiang Khong Conservation Group, told Guttman that the local residents would have no choice but to shut down the Mekong Friendship bridges between Thailand and Laos if the MRC failed to comply with its own regulations to force Laos to halt the project construction.
The 1995 agreement to establish the MRC required members to notify and consult other members if it wanted to utilise water from the mainstream - but such a pact had no jurisdiction over the decision of a sovereign state.
Guttman told them that the MRC would coordinate with member countries to convey to them the concerns of local people. Indeed the Laos government has not made a final decision on the dam, he said. Work at the site, such as a road, was now just in preparation and there was no construction going on in the river, he said.
Laos has proposed building the Xayaburi Dam on mainstream Mekong approximately 150 kilometres downstream from Luang Prabang. The 1,260MW electricity generated would mostly be exported to Thailand.
Conservationists said the dam would block the migration of fish and many endangered species in the Mekong River and could affect fisheries and the livelihood of local residents. Downstream countries like Cambodia and Vietnam are also worried about the negative impact of the dam would have on their food production.
The MRC ministerial council at their meeting in Seam Reap last December decided to delay the project and asked for a comprehensive study of dam construction planned for the Mekong mainstream.
The study would begin this year and provide information on its findings every year, according to Guttman. In particular, the MRC needs details of the impact on fish migration and navigation in the Mekong if dams are built in the mainstream, he said.
Thai construction firm Ch Karnchang, however, announced last month that it had signed a Bt51.8-billion construction contract with Xayaburi Power, the company that holds a concession from the Lao authorities.
Meanwhile, Natural Resource and Environment Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk said Thailand would take into account local people's concerns and seek a proper solution for the matter.
Laos has guaranteed several times in MRC meetings that its study indicated that the Xayaburi dam would cause no serious damage to communities or the environment, he said.
"If there was any damage [likely], they would not build the dam," Preecha said.
Laos Vice-Minister of Energy and Mines Viraphonh Viravong yesterday declined to comment on the issue.
More than 300 river managers, leaders and other stakeholders from around the world are participating in a three-day conference in Phuket to discuss ways transboundary rivers can meet growing food, water and energy needs while minimising negative consequences. The summit kicked off yesterday.
They gave no specific answer to the Xayaburi dam question, but plan to discuss the issue at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro next month.
Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Residents-demand-answers-on-Xayaburi-30181095.html
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