Battle for the Mekong Heats Up

Laos’s Xayaburi dam project faces opposition throughout the region over its ecological impact.

• Mekong Battle Delayed
• The Battle Over the Mekong
• Murder on the Mekong
• Laos’s Chinese Gamble
• America’s Pacific Air-Sea Battle Vision

The Mekong, a precious jewel of Southeast Asia, has become a critical battleground between hydropower dam projects and the survival of the world’s greatest freshwater fisheries.

The future of this 4,880 km (3032 miles) long river may well be decided by what happens to the Xayaburi mega-dam project in Laos, the first of a cascade of 11 dam projects on the lower Mekong.

Ame Trandem from the NGO International Rivers explained that, “The Mekong River is the lifeblood of Southeast Asia, feeding and employing millions of people. To move forward with the Xayaburi Dam would be reckless and irresponsible, as the dam would fatally impact the river's ecosystem and fisheries.”

In spite of repeated reports that the Xayaburi dam project had been suspended pending further scientific studies, a recent visit to the dam-site has suggested that the Lao government has not bowed to international pressure. As a World Wildlife Fund analysis recently warned, “Construction work is marching ahead at the Xayaburi dam site in northern Laos and risks making a mockery of the decision last December by Mekong countries to delay building the dam on the Mekong mainstream.”

In December 2011 the four-member nations of the Mekong River Commission – Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam –agreed that no dams should be built until further scientific studies of the negative impacts on all the riparian countries had been completed.

Scientists have warned that if the 11 dams are built it could bring on an ecological disaster that harms many of the 877 Mekong fish species. Furthermore, it is the uninhibited flow of the Mekong through the heart of Southeast Asia and the river’s bountiful natural resources that guarantees 65 million people’s food security.

Although Cambodia and Vietnam are determined to stop the dam, everything indicates that the Thai developer Ch. Karnchang and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) are equally determined to build it. In this context, a failure to resolve the dam issue could also trigger a major diplomatic row among the Mekong nations, undermining the credibility of the MRC and disrupting international cooperation along the region’s most important waterway.

“The Xayaburi Dam will trigger an ecological crisis of tremendous proportions. We urge the Prime Ministers of Laos and Thailand to show leadership by cancelling this project,” Shalmali Guttal of Focus on the Global South, a member of the 263 coalition of NGOs from 51 nations said in a statement condemning the damn.

In response to this opposition, Lao Foreign Minister, Thongloun Sisoulithmade announced during last month’s ASEAN FM summit that his country was suspending work on the Xayaburi dam until further studies on its impact could be done. Although opponents of the dam welcomed Vientiane’s announcement, they soon were disappointed.

Soon after the Lao government’s announcements, a number of diplomats, MRC officials, experts, and donors visited Laos to see the site. After the visit some MRC observers then asserted that, “the project is in an advanced preparation stage with exploratory excavation in and around the river completed.”

Similarly, International Rivers concluded in their own unofficial investigation of the dam-site in June, that, “the dredging and widening of river has already taken place.”

Meanwhile back in Bangkok, Ch.Karnchang, the Thai developer of the US$3.8 billion project, said the dam was going ahead with no delays in the original timetable.

Initial construction has evidently started, however. Has the Laotian government then reneged on its international commitments? 

Deputy Minister for Energy and Mines Viraphonh Viravonghas denied any violation of the MRC agreements. Instead he contended that all the construction done so far falls under the rubric of “preparatory work,” noting that the construction “does not involve permanent structures” and instead is mostly about building makeshift housing for construction workers.

Source:  August 02, 2012 by Tom Fawthrop

http://thediplomat.com/2012/08/02/battle-for-the-mekong-heats-up/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+the-diplomat+%28The+Diplomat+RSS%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Mekong villagers wary of Xayaburi dam

 A fisherman (L) checks his nets on a small tributary just a short distance from the Mekong River in Kratie province. Photograph: Will Baxter/Phnom Penh Post

Fishermen bring their boats to shore, pack away their traps and hand over the day’s catch to their awaiting families on the banks of the Mekong River in Kratie province’s Chitra Borei district.

“When my husband arrives home each day, we eat some of what he has caught, but the rest we have to sell at the market,” Ry Srey On says from one of the many houses that comprise the Thmar Kre Lue fishing community in Thmar Kre commune.

Like many other Cambodians who depend on the Mekong for their livelihood, the river has been the 35-year-old mother of five’s lifeblood since she was a child.

In recent times, however, Srey On has noticed things changing.

A drop in the number of fish being caught has corresponded with increased chatter about something that might diminish stocks even further: the arrival of hydroelectric dams on the Lower Mekong.

“At the moment, there is less fish, and I am worried that if they build a hydro dam it’s going to block fish even more,” she says.

Although far from Kratie province, the Xayaburi dam in northern Laos is one of 11 proposed hydro dams on the Lower Mekong that has sent both environmental groups and neighbouring governments into a spin over the damage it could cause.

The potential trans-boundary effects of the $3.5 billion 1,285-megawatt dam – which would send 95 per cent of its power to Thailand – have not been studied, and environmental groups say fish migration and sediment flow will be blocked.

And if reports are accurate, construction of the dam, though denied by the Lao government, has already begun.

A few doors down from Srey On, the fishing community’s chief, Chhim Sokea, says villagers are also concerned that proposed dams such as Xayaburi and the much closer – and potentially bigger – Sambor dam could damage their way of life.

“Each day, I take my boat out on the Mekong and set fishing traps and nets. Once I’ve caught something, I bring it back to my wife to sell,” Sokea says.

“We rely on fish for our livelihood, certainly,” he adds, referring to the 100 families who live in the village.

“We have no alternative to fishing,” he says. “If we cannot fish, we cannot live. I hope the government does not build Sambor, though I’m less concerned about Xayaburi, because it’s far away.”

Fish from the Mekong makes up more than 80 per cent of Cambodia’s protein intake and generates about $1 billion in produce each year.

According to Ame Trandem, Southeast Asia program director for International Rivers, these numbers could be seriously diminished if hydro dams are approved.

“Migratory fish make up a dominant proportion of annual fish production,” she says, adding that as many as 100 species could be blocked by the dams.

“Effects will be felt by millions of people who live along the river . . . because so many people fish and rely on agriculture. And if Xayaburi is approved, it is likely the others will also be approved,” she says.

On Phdao island, in nearby Sambor district’s Kampong Cham commune, about 2,000 families farm to supplement their fishing. 

According to 42-year-old Sous Vy, a fisherman’s wife, they can’t survive on one without the other.

What’s more, she believes construction of dams along the Mekong will affect both agriculture and fishing.

“Construction across the river blocks the flow of water and fish and even causes flood during rainy season,” she says. “I’ve seen this coming. I’ve attended workshops and done research into the living standards of residents living near hydro dams in Thailand. From what I see, they have health problems and food shortages.”

The four member states of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) – Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos – are bound by the 1995 Mekong Agreement, under which they must work together to preserve the river from environmental damage.

In 2010, the MRC conducted a strategic environmental assessment on the proposed dams and concluded that the dams would transform more than half of the Lower Mekong into a series of stagnant reservoirs and sections of rapidly fluctuating water.

According to Gordon Congdon, freshwater conservation manager for WWF-Cambodia, in Xayaburi’s case, such breaks in connection would affect fish migration into Cambodia.

“The proposed fish passages at Xayaburi have been deemed inadequate by scientists and will reduce fish passage up and down the Mekong,” he says.

“This will reduce the quantity of fish available throughout the Mekong system, including in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces.”

The MRC’s findings estimated Cambodia would be the worst hit – with fisheries losing more than 40 per cent of stock or $500 million per year, affecting the livelihoods and food security of millions, and sediment being blocked, which would increase the need for farmers to use fertiliser, thus increasing their costs.

The MRC recommended a regional moratorium on all proposed Mekong mainstream dams for at least 10 years while further studies were carried out, and has urged Xayaburi to be postponed two times since.

Members agreed that a joint study on the trans-boundary impacts of the project was needed before construction could be carried out.

Two reports on the dam have been carried out – one by a Swiss arm of Finnish consulting and engineering firm Pöyry and the other by French dam-building company Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) – both were commissioned by Laos and both were criticised for not meeting the requests of the other MRC countries.

Laos has yet to agree to another one, but has agreed to a different study, partly funded by Japan, that will assess the impacts of all the dams.

More controversy has plagued the Xayaburi project since the developer behind the project, Thai firm Ch. Karnchang, announced in April it had signed the construction deal for the project – replete with a starting date a month earlier.

NGOs have since threatened to sue the Thailand for allowing the project, protesters have marched in the streets, Cambodia and Vietnam have written letters to Laos demanding it suspend the project and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has vowed to intervene and halt construction.

Laos maintains that construction never began, but environmental groups including International Rivers, which claims an entire Lao village has been relocated to make way for construction, says things are quite the opposite.

According to Trandem, another structure is being built near Xayaburi to stop water from reaching the main dam site.

“This will be finished by May 2013,” she says. “That is construction. You would only build it to build a hydroelectric dam. There are already plans to build the spillway [by October next year].”

The Lao government and Ch. Karnchang could not be reached for comment.

Source:  
Phnom Penh Post, Thursday, 09 August 2012 Shane Worrell and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012080957913/National-news/mekong-villagers-weary-of-xayaburi-dam.html

Groups Highlight Rights Concerns

Rights groups plan protests ahead of the Cambodian foreign minister’s visit to Washington.

RFA

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong speaks with reporters at the airport in Phnom Penh, June 10, 2012.

Updated at 12:30 p.m. EST on 2012-06-14

Rights groups have highlighted deteriorating human rights, government intimidation of the opposition, and land grabs in Cambodia on the eve of a visit by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong to Washington for talks with his counterpart U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The one-day visit will take place on Tuesday, during which Hor Namhong is expected to discuss with Clinton and other senior U.S. officials issues related to security in Asia, regional use of the Mekong River, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Cambodia is chairing this year.

He will also request the U.S. to cancel Cambodia’s debt of around U.S. $440 million, including interest, which it incurred through agricultural aid during the Lon Nol era of the 1970s. Prime Minister Hun Sen has called the loan Cambodia’s “dirty debt.”

In a petition addressed to Clinton, Cambodian Americans for Human Rights and Democracy and Khmer People’s Network for Cambodia wrote that human rights conditions in Cambodia have gone “from bad to worse” over the last two decades.

“Initially, the victims of human rights violations had mostly been people who Prime Minister Hun Sen, his wife, and his associates considered potential opponents, competitors, detractors, environmentalists, unionists, and human rights defenders,” the statement read.

“Now, they have widened their focus to include land owners, members of their families, and those who sympathize with their causes.”

Rights petition

The groups requested Clinton push the Cambodian government to reinstate parliamentary immunity to three opposition lawmakers from the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), to allow the return of self-exiled party leader Sam Rainsy, and to reform the National Election Committee ahead of parliamentary polls slated for mid-2013.

Sam Rainsy currently lives in exile in France and is facing a two-year jail sentence for uprooting markers at the border with Vietnam in 2009, if he returns. He has said that he plans to return for the elections to lead the opposition against the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

Hor Namhong said Sunday that the government is considering revoking Sam Rainsy’s passport, though an SRP spokesperson said that as a legal citizen of France, the opposition leader can travel on his French passport and his overseas plans should not be affected.

The U.S.-rights groups also pointed to a longstanding dispute between tens of thousands of residents of capital Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak Lake district who were evicted from their homes, or are in risk of losing them, and developers looking to turn the area into a luxury residential and shopping center.

Last month, a Phnom Penh court ordered 13 women jailed for between one year and two and a half years for their part in protests which authorities said “encroached on private property” on the site. The rights groups called in the petition to Clinton for their release and the release of two others detained on similar charges.

The rights groups have also asked for U.S. assistance to “ensure the full independence of the judiciary branch of the government,” which opposition lawmakers have called a “political tool” of the CPP. The top officials of Cambodia’s Supreme Court are CPP members.

The visit has brought criticism from Cambodian rights groups who say they will hold protests in front of the U.S. State Department on Tuesday during the meeting between the two diplomats.

Mu Sochua prepares for an interview at RFA, June 8, 2012. Credit: RFA

Aid suspension

SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua, who is visiting the U.S., said she held talks with Clinton Monday in Boston, Massachusetts, at the inauguration of a two-week women’s leadership conference.

She said in her talks, she asked Washington to suspend any military aid to Cambodia as the authorities in Phnom Penh had used the armed forces to evict people in land disputes.

Mu Sochua also sought Clinton’s help to bring about the release of the 15 Boeung Kak  villagers being held at Prey Sar prison.

“I requested her [Clinton] to suspend military aid to Cambodia,” she told RFA after the talks. 

“Madame Hillary Clinton has promised me that she would seek a solution to make sure women’s rights will be respected and put an end to violence.”

Cambodian Americans for Human Rights and Democracy coordinator Saunora Prom said he believes pressure by the U.S. could help to influence Cambodia on the issues.

“I am confident that the U.S. will resolve these issues because they are in the U.S. interest,” he said.

Mekong initiative

Speaking to reporters before he left Phnom Penh Sunday, Hor Namhong said that besides raising Cambodian issues with Clinton, he will also discuss issues linked to ASEAN and the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI).

The LMI was created following a 2009 meeting between Clinton and the foreign ministers of the Lower Mekong countries, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, in order to enhance cooperation in the areas of environment, health, education, and infrastructure development.

Hor Namhong said Sunday that he expects Tuesday’s meeting with Clinton to yield improved relations between the two nations and their role in the Asian region.

“The U.S. and Cambodia, we have many cooperation forums … we will also talk about regional issues,” he said. 

He said he hoped that the U.S. would consider cancelation of Cambodia’s debt, despite earlier talks where the two sides had failed to see eye-to-eye.

“We have negotiated many times already, and we hope that we will do whatever we can for the two parties [U.S. and Cambodia] to reach an agreement,” he said.

Clinton is due to visit Phnom Penh in mid-July to participate in the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting.

Reported by Samean Yun and Sok Serey for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Copyright © 1998-2011 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/opposition-06112012163824.html

Laos vows to address Mekong dam fears

Laos has pledged to stall construction of a controversial multi-billion dollar dam on the Mekong river until all its neighbours' environmental concerns have been answered, state media said Friday.

A Laotian fisherman casts his net in the Mekong river in May 2012. Laos has pledged to stall construction of a controversial multi-billion dollar dam on the Mekong river until all its neighbours' environmental concerns have been answered, state media said Friday.

The $3.8 billion hydroelectric project at Xayaburi, led by Thai group CH Karnchang, has sharply divided the four Mekong nations -- Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand -- who rely on the river system for fish and irrigation.

"The Xayaburi project will develop one of the most transparent and modern dams in the world," Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines Viraphonh Viravong told state-run Vientiane Times.

He promised that construction would not start until all the concerns of neighboring countries have been resolved.

The minister said changes to the project will address the two major issues -- fish migration and sediment flow -- by including a passage to allow 85 percent of fish to travel along the river and a "flushing system" to prevent sediment build up.

The mooted 1,260 megawatt dam, the first of 11 on the key waterway, has become a symbol of the potential risks of hydropower projects in the region and the Mekong nations have tussled over its varying impact.

Communist Laos, one the most world's under-developed nations, believes the dam will help it become "the battery of Southeast Asia" by selling electricity to its richer neighbours.

Thailand has agreed to buy most of the electricity generated by the project, but Cambodia and Vietnam fear the dam could decimate their farming and fishing industries.

Environmentalists say the dam would be disastrous for the 60 million people who depend on the river for transportation, food and economy.

They fear Mekong fish species will become endangered as vital nutrients are trapped and dozens of species are prevented from swimming upstream to mating grounds.

Campaign group International Rivers said the Thai firm had already "undertaken significant resettlement and construction activities", despite calls from the four-nation Mekong River Commission to halt work until further impact studies have been carried out.

Laos rejects the accusations and has invited neighbouring governments to visit the project site.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/301327/laos-vows-to-address-mekong-dam-fears