จดหมายถึงนายกชวน
จากองค์กรต่างประเทศ
กรณีการชุมนุมที่เขื่อนปากมูล
May 19, 2000
The Honorable Mr.
Chuan Leekpai
Prime Minister of
Thailand
Fax: 662-2803661
Dear Mr. Chuan
We write to express
our support for the members of the Assembly of the Poor who are currently
occupying the crest of Pak Mun dam and the fish ladder. They are demanding that
the Thai Government and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand open
the dam gates to allow the fish to migrate up the Mun from the Mekong to breed
as they did in former times. We wholeheartedly support the villager s efforts to
recover their lost livelihood and restore the ecology of the Mun River.
The villagers have
vowed to remain non-violent. We are concerned about reports that thousands of
police have been ordered to stand by at the Pak Mun site, and that villagers
will be forced to move on Friday May 19. In the past, a large police presence
like this has lead to the use of violence to disperse the protesters. We urge
you to direct the police to respect the rights of the protesters and to remain
non-violent. There is absolutely no justification for use of force against the
protesters.
The World Commission
on Dams Pak Mun Case Study shows that the Pak Mun project is not performing well
economically, and that it contributes only marginally to the North-Eastern grid.
In April and May, which are the most critical months in terms of power system
demand, the project s capacity over a 4 hour peaking period is only around 40
MW. Meanwhile, the study shows that there has been a dramatic decrease in fish
species diversity, fish abundance and productivity; lower fishing income for the
households and changes in fishing occupation, fishing pattern, food expense, and
the resultant social, economic and political consequences. According to the
study, it is now clear that the fish ladder is not accommodating seasonal fish
migration from the Mekong River into the Mun/Chi watershed. The WCD report
concludes that it is unlikely that the project would have been built if actual
true benefits would have been used in the economic analysis.
With independent
evidence now overwhelmingly supporting the villager s claims that the dam has
caused more harm than good, we believe that it is time your government took
action to address the villager s demands. The cost of opening the gates and
allowing the river to flow unimpeded is marginal compared to the cost of lost
fisheries that communities living along the Mun River have borne over the past
nine years. Furthermore, the current oversupply of power in Thailand makes it
technically feasible for EGAT to forfeit the generating capacity at Pak Mun
without causing any interruptions to power supply.
For over 14 months,
while the villagers have been living at Mae Mun Man Yeun Number 1, you have
remained silent. We ask that you now take responsibility for meeting the
villager s demands at Pak Mun: open the gates and restore the Mun River.
/2
Respectfully yours,
Aviva Imhof
South-East Asia
Campaigner
Endorsed by the
following organizations and individuals:
Organizations
Dave Batker
Asia-Pacific
Environmental Exchange, USA
Joan Carling
Cordillera People s
Alliance, Philippines
Juan Carlos Rodrรญguez
Murillo
Ecologistas en Acciรณn,
Spain
Liane Greeff
Environmental
Monitoring Group, South Africa
Roberto Epple
European Rivers
Network, France/Switzerland
Tove Selin
Finnish Asiatic
Society, Finland
Tonje Folkestad
FIVAS, Norway
Ikuko Matsumoto
Friends of the Earth
Japan
Jon Sohn
Friends of the Earth,
USA
Manoj Saranathan
Friends of the
Narmada, USA
Toshiyuki Doi
Fukuoka NGO Forum on
the Asian Development Bank, Japan
Rev. Len D. Beyea
Interfaith Alliance
for Human Rights, USA
Nozomi Sumida
Kyoto University
Unicef Club, Japan
Satoru Matsumoto
Mekong Watch, Japan
MURAI Yosinori
Pacific Asia Resource
Center, Japan
Grainne Ryder
Probe International,
Canada
Jaroslava Colajacomo
Reform the World Bank
Campaign, Italy
Sviatoslav Zabelin
Socio-Ecological
Union International, Russia
Philiipe Lhort
SOS Loire Vivante,
France
Himanshu Thakkar
South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, India
Hans van Willenswaard
Spirit in Education
Movement, the Netherlands
Gรถran
Eklรถf
Swedish Society for
Nature Conservation, Sweden
Ricardo Carrere
World Rainforest
Movement, Uruguay
Individuals
Kevin Acers, Oklahoma
City USA
Greg Alms
Ram Bindignavle
Peter Dorman
Faculty in Political
Economy
The Evergreen State
College, Olympia, WA, USA
Beth Fascitelli,
Thailand
Professor Michael
Goldman
Sociology Department
University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Dr Venu Govindu
Friends of River
Narmada - USA
Laura Hollinger,
Thailand
Briana Keafer
Charles Keyes
Professor of
Anthropology and International Studies
University of
Washington, Seattle, USA
Toshifumi Kuroda
The Faculty of
Economics in Kyoto University and Kyotodaigaku-UNICEF club, Japan
Kathleen Lane,
Madison, WI, USA
Guy R. Lanza
Professor of
Microbiology and Director, Environmental Sciences Program
University of
Massachusetts, USA
Gavan McCormack
Australian National
University
Tania Menard, USA
Christian Moe, Norway
Jeff Ordower,
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Nagini Prasad,
Maryland, USA
Miriam Rahav,
Fulbright Researcher, Thailand
Sarah Rasmussen
Dambara Shiho
Kyoto University
Unicef Club
Rev. Eduardo Solang
Chairperson,
Cordillera People s Alliance, Philippines
David Streckfuss
Council Study
Center--Thailand
Mao Takehara
Kyoto University
Unicef Club, Japan
Chris Tyler, USA
Siriporn Usanakornkul
Golden Gate
University, San Francisco, CA, USA
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