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จดหมายจาก
96 องค์กร 23 ประเทศ
ส่งถึงนายกฯ
เพื่อสนับสนุนในการตัดสินใจเปิดประตูเขื่อนปากมูล
(ส่งเวลา
10.00 น.วันที่ 7 มิถุนายน 2544)
June 6, 2001
The Honorable Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra
Prime Minister of Thailand
Government House
Bangkok, Thailand
Dear Mr. Thaksin
First, may we extend our congratulations to you on your recent election as
Prime Minister of Thailand. We, the undersigned 96 international
organizations from 23 countries, welcome your new government with great
optimism. We are particularly pleased to see your government's commitment
to negotiating with Assembly of the Poor. The agreement that you made with
the Assembly of the Poor last month, including the commitment to open the
gates of the Pak Mun Dam for 4 months this rainy season, was greeted with
much enthusiasm from those of us around the world who have been monitoring
the situation with great interest.
We are writing to express our support for your decision to open the gates
of the Pak Mun Dam this month. The Pak Mun Dam has been a matter of
international concern since the project was first proposed in the early
1990s. Up until the World Bank approved its loan for the project in 1994,
many of the undersigned organizations worked with the villagers affected
by
Pak Mun Dam to oppose World Bank funding. Since then, we have worked to
support the villager's demands for compensation, and now for permanent
opening of the dam's gates.
Your government has taken a bold step by agreeing to open the dam's gates
and conduct studies into fisheries and social impacts. The international
community is behind you. We support the villagers' demands for permanent
opening of the Pak Mun Dam gates.
The commitment of your government to open the gates at Pak Mun is in
accord
with international trends. In the United States, the number of dams being
removed each year now exceeds the number of new dams being constructed. In
the past decade, 177 dams have been removed in the United States,
resulting
in restoration of fisheries and other ecological functions destroyed by
dams. One year after the Edwards Dam was removed in 1999, migratory fish
returned in abundance to previously impounded parts of the Kennebec River
in Maine. Fish diversity in Wisconsin's Baraboo River more than doubled,
from 11 to 24 species, just 18 months after removal of a dam on that
river.
These examples demonstrate that restoration of fisheries will occur after
a
dam is removed.
The claim by EGAT and some of its supporters that opening the dam gates
would destroy the reservoir fisheries is not corroborated by recent
independent research. The World Commission on Dams, an independent
international agency, studied the Pak Mun Dam as one of its seven detailed
studies of existing dams. The WCD released its final study on the Pak Mun
Dam in August 2000. The WCD found that the dam has failed to meet its
projected benefits and has had substantial impacts on fisheries.
Economically, Pak Mun Dam is not performing well. Researchers found that
the dam, which is supposed to generate 136 megawatts of electricity,
barely
generates 20 megawatts in high-demand months of April and May. This
seriously undermines the economic viability of the project.
The WCD estimated that the actual fish catch in the reservoir and upstream
is 60-80 percent less than in the pre-dam era, resulting in an economic
loss to villagers of about US$1.4 million per annum. The WCD recorded that
169 out of 265 species of fish in the Mun River were affected by the
construction of the dam. Of these, 56 species have completely disappeared.
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 concluded, "if all the benefits and costs were adequately
assessed,
it is unlikely that the project would have been built in the current
context."
Opening the dam's gates permanently to restore the river is technically
and
economically feasible. Currently, Thailand has an excess generating
capacity of around 55%. It is likely to remain this high for the next two
years. The loss of a small amount of power from Pak Mun would make no
discernible difference to Thailand's energy supply and would make a huge
difference to the lives of the Isan people who formerly depended on the
Mun
River's fisheries for their livelihood.
Mr. Thaksin, we support your decision to do what is right for the people
affected by Pak Mun dam and for the Mun River. We thank you for your
commitment to this important decision. We look forward to the day when the
Mun River is flowing freely and villagers' livelihoods have been restored
to their former level.
Respectfully yours,
Aviva Imhof
Director, Southeast Asia Program
International Rivers Network, USA
On behalf of the following 95 organizations from 23 countries:
Argentina
Dra. Anna Petra Roge de Marzolini
Abogada, Asociacion Ambientalista EcoLaPaz
Australia
Melanie Gillbank
AID/WATCH
Lee Tan
Australian Conservation Foundation
Lynette J. Dumble
Global Sisterhood Network
Bangladesh
Saleem Samad
Like-Minded Environmental Activists Group, Bangladesh
Hossain Shahriar
Environmental & Social Development Organisation, Bangladesh
Harun-ur-Rashid
Community Development Library, Bangladesh
Hamidul Huq
Unnayan Shohojogi Team, Bangladesh
Majibul Haque Dulu
Jamuna Char Development Project, Bangladesh
Syed Tamjidur Rahman
Changemakers, Bangladesh
Shahidul Haque
SARPV, Bangladesh
Cambodia
Kong Socheat
Church World Service (Kompong Thom Project)
Vann Piseth
Culture and Environment Preservation Association (CEPA)
Emily Polack
Non Timber Forest Products Project
Canada
Daniel LeBlanc
Petitcodiac Riverkeeper, New Brunswick
Grainne Ryder
Probe International
Brewster Kneen, Publisher,
The Ram's Horn
Germany
Heffa Schuecking
Urgewald
Hong Kong
Kevin Li
Globalization Monitor
India
Ashish Fernandes
Sanctuary Asia
Himanshu Thakkar
South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, New Delhi
Indonesia
Riduan A. Munthei
Federation of Indonesian Peasant Union (FSPI)
Henry Saragih
Regional Coordinator
South East and East Asia La Via Campesina
Italy
Rose Fernando
Franciscans
Japan
Nakako WADA and Takashi KITAMURA
ALIVE (All Life In a Viable Environment)
Shigeko Ago
Amnesty International,Japan
SATOSHI KOBAYASHI
Anglican-Episcopal St. Stephen's Church
Kaji Etsuko and Akiyama Nobuko
ARA-Japan
Shigeo Watanabe
A SEED JAPAN
Yoko Nishida
Citizens for Saving the Kawabe
Futami Kouichi
Citizens for Saving the Kuma River
DOI, Toshiyuki
Fukuoka NGO Forum on the Asian Development Bank
Hideaki Kurakawa
Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
Sonoko Kawakami
Japan NGO Network on Indonesia (JANNI)
Junko Okura and Enri Mac Aodha
Jubilee Kyushu on World Debt and Poverty
Akio Kawamura
Lecturer, Kobe College (Hyogo, Japan)
Professor K. Hosokawa
Dept of Environmental and Social Studies
Kyoto Seika University
SUMIDA,Nozomi
Kyoto University Unicef Club
Satoru Matsumoto
Mekong Watch Japan
Kotorii Shinsuke
Nagasaki University of Foreign Studies
Kanda Hiroshi
ODA Reform Network/ APEC Monitor NGO Network
Heather Souter
Rivers!Japan
NAMURA Takayuki
Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Science
The University of Tokyo
YASOSHIMA, Chika
Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies
WASEDA UNIVERSITY
Miki Furuya
WWF Japan
Shunsuke Rai
Yokohama National University
Malaysia
S.M Mohamed Idris
President
Consumers' Association of Penang
Meenakshi Raman
Sahabat Alam Malaysia
Sam Hui and Dr. Rosli Omar
Save Our Sungai Selangor (SOS Selangor)
S.Arutchelvan
Secretary General
Socialist Party Of Malaysia
Mr Tan Jo Hann
South East Asia Popular Communications Programme
Kua Kia Soong
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram)
Nepal
Gopal Siwakoti 'Chintan'
Nepal Water and Energy Consumers' Federation, Kathmandu
Neeru Shrestha
International Institute for Human Rights, Environment and Development
(INHURED International), Kathmandu
Suresh Kumar Thapa
National Concerns Society, Kathmandu
Netherlands
Johan Frijns, International Financial Institutions Program
Friends of the Earth International
Norway
Tonje Folkestad
FIVAS (Association for International Water and Forest Studies)
Pakistan
Aly Ercelawn and Muhammad Nauman
creed alliance
Wagha
DAMAAN
Naeem Iqbal
Sungi Development Foundation
Philippines
Joan Carling
Cordillera Peoples Alliance
Deogracias P. Espiritu
Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY) (National Alliance of Urban Poor
Associations)
South Africa
Liane Greeff
Water Justice Programme Manager
Environmental Monitoring Group
Spain
Pedro Brufao
AEMS-RIOS CON VIDA (Living Rivers)
Manuel Sanchez
Unidad Caza y Pesca de Zaragoza (Government Fish and Game Agency)
Thailand
KUZE Nobutaka
Association of Japanese Students in Thailand.
FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN
MOO BAAN DEK (Children's Village School)inKanchanaburi
Dr Rasmi Shoocongdej
Silpakorn University
Pisit Charnsnoh and Jim Enright
YADFON ASSOCIATION
United Kingdom
Catherine Muller, Katherine Vokes, Alan Carr, Claire Baxter, Paul Gibbs,
David Trelawney
Cornerstone Resource Centre, Leeds
Peter Burt
Reading International Solidarity Centre
Prof. David Simon
Dept. of Geography, Royal Holloway
University of London
Chris Woodford
UK Rivers Network
United States
Len Beyea
Alliance for Democracy - Monterey Bay Chapter
Diana Bohn
Alliance for Global Justice
Neil Watkins
Center for Economic Justice.
Carol Hayman
Committee for Solidarity with Mexico and Chiapas, Austin, Texas
Dan Silver
Endangered Habitats League
Christopher Tyler
ENGAGE USA
Bruce Rich
Director, International Program
Environmental Defense
Soren Ambrose
50 Years Is Enough Network, Washington DC
Nadananda
Friends of the Eel River
Manoj Saranathan
Friends of River Narmada
Todd Tucker
George Washington University Action Coalition
Paula Palmer
Global Response
Richard Weigel
Hawai'i Sustainable Lifestyle Network
Allison Vogt
Institute for Fisheries Resources
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, San Francisco, CA
Rev. Deacon Arthur C. Donart
Justice & Peace Commission, Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace Catholic
Parish, Iowa
Barbara Warner
Marion County Water Watch
David Nelson
Northeast Chapter of the Connecticut Green Party
Stephen Donnelly
Pascommuck Conservation Trust, Massachusetts
Noah Madlin
Rainforest Action Group for Indigenous Peoples
Steve M. Harrison
South Central Indiana Jobs with Justice and South Central Indiana White
River Central Labor Council
Barbara Garson
Author: Money Makes the World Go Around: One Investor Tracks her Cash
Through the
Global Economy fro Brooklyn to Bangkok and Back
Uruguay
Teresa Perez
World Rainforest Movement - International Secretariat |
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