| |
Upstream power play
DAM EFFECT: A dam built far away is raising concerns in a village alongside the Mekong River in Thailand, where locals say their livelihoods have been affected
POONA ANTASEEDA, Bangkok Post Perspective Dec 22, 2002
In the last few years, the inhabitants of the riverside district of Chiang Khong in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, have noticed that there is less kai, a high-protein freshwater weed found in the Mekong River.
``There used to be a lot of kai, but a few years ago we noticed that it was getting to be more and more difficult to find,'' said Manee Chinnarat.
The scientific name of the riverweed is chlorophyta spirogyra. The green algae has thin filaments that contain starch, beta carotene, and chlorophylls a and b.
Kai grows during the dry season on submerged rapids, pebbles, and rock beaches along the Mekong River. It is a source of food for herbivorous fish such as the Mekong giant catfish.
For three months of the dry season, people along the river collect kai for either family consumption or for sale. Previously some river dwellers earned up to 500 baht per day selling kai in the local markets.
Dried kai is a commercial product of Had Krai village in Chiang Khong which is promoted under the government's One-Tambon-One-Product campaign. Locals report that this year they were able to collect kai for only seven days, whereas they used to do so for three months. Furthermore, the quality of the waterweed has decreased, as rock blasting upstream has made the waters turbid.
The villagers had no explanation for the diminishing of the kai. They were also puzzled by the unusual fluctuations in the river's water level.
One day, Chinese boat operators told them that these might be caused by the huge Manwan Dam in Yunnan, some 500 kilometres upstream of Chiang Khong. Thai villagers suspect the dam has caused many more changes in the Mekong River. Apart from the apparent effect on the kai, villagers in Chiang Khong complain that during the dry season they can no longer grow vegetables on the riverbank.
So far, there has been no official study into the dam's effects on the downstream communities of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. However, several non-governmental organisations and politicians share the locals' concerns. On an inspection trip to Chiang Khong early this month, a group of Thai senators found that vegetable plots on the riverbank, usually dry in December, were submerged. Chainarong Srettachua, chairman of the Southeast Asia River Network (SEARIN), said the flooding was probably caused by the release of water from the Manwan Dam.
``There is no other explanation,'' he told the senators. ``There has been no rain for several days.''
CHANGING WATER LEVELS
Manee, who is the chairman of the Kai Group in Chiang Khong, told the same group of senators and reporters that measures should be taken by government authorities to protect the kai.
The group visited villagers in the districts of Chiang Khong, Chiang Saen and Wiang Kaen in Chiang Rai early this month to hear their opinions about the Chinese-led plan to blast rocks and reefs in the Mekong River.
The senators also heard of the unnatural fluctuations of the Mekong's water level.
The villagers, who have been living on the river's banks for generations, were concerned. The fluctuations have affected fishing, fish-breeding and the growth of kai in the river, they say.
``The water rises and falls unexpectedly. In a single day sometimes, the water rises 12 inches. This has confused the breeding patterns of the fish,'' says Cho Chinnarat, a representative of the Chiang Khong Fishermen's Group.
Villagers in Huay Leuk village of Wiang Kaen district, which is located further downstream, also complain. They say that China opens the dam gates when Chinese cargo ships need to navigate the Mekong from Yunnan to downstream ports such as Luang Prabang in Laos and Chiang Saen in Thailand.
``The water level is normally low in January and high in August, but this year, the water levels are even higher in January,'' says a villager.
China also plans to blast rocks in the river to increase the navigable length. The villagers say that during the rock blasting, China will reduce the water level by closing the Manwan Dam gates for two days and opening it for a day.
The rock-blasting from the river bed is part of the Chinese-initiated Navigation Channel Improvement Project, which is supported by the Thai, Lao and Burmese governments.
When the dam gates are opened, cargo ships rush to unload Chinese goods at Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong in Chiang Rai, which worries local farmers. ``Chinese farm goods such as garlic, oranges and onions are much cheaper than Thai goods,'' says a local farmer. ``They have already dumped these in the Thai market, and they will do it some more.''
WARNINGS MIGHT HELP
Somchai Poolnikom, head of the Chiang Saen Hydrological Centre in Chiang Rai, says China never informs downstream countries of water releases from Manwan Dam.
Although in April this year China signed an agreement with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to provide hydrological information to the four downstream countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, the information sharing practice has yet to begin.
``At the present,'' said Somchai, ``China has the staff to record water level changes, but they do not forward information to this centre.
``We don't know whether China will release or store water upstream. We can know only by measuring water levels here,'' he said.
Somchai explains that his centre is improving water level measurements via a new computer system that will soon be installed.
In the Chiang Saen area this year, the Mekong River rose to a record high of 10.38 metres in August, the highest in eight years. The high water cut across access roads to Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong.
Hydro-engineer Sman Chimviset of the Survey and Chart Production Division of the Chiang Saen Harbour Department said this year's floods in Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong were worsened by releases of floodwaters from the Chinese dams.
``The floods forced China to open the Manwan Dam and release water, which flooded Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong, and even parts of Vietnam and Cambodia,'' he said.
According to the MRC newsletter Mekong News, an MRC-Chinese agreement confirms that the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources in Beijing will provide data on water levels and rainfall to the MRC Secretariat in Phnom Penh by email every 24 hours. The information will come from river monitoring stations in Yunnan province.
In return, the MRC will assist China to upgrade the two monitoring stations as well as train the station staff.
Somchai says: ``China controls the water upstream. We have problems because we don't know when they will release water. In the dry season, they store water for themselves, but whenever they want Chinese boats to enter they release water without informing us.''
It is not clear, however, if the information transfer will do much to reduce the negative effects of the water fluctuations in countries downstream. Observers say that China has taken control of the Mekong.
A LOT OF ENERGY
The Chinese-initiated Navigation Channel Improvement Project to blast away rocks from the upper Mekong River has also drawn the ire of environmentalists.
``The attempts to modify the Mekong riverbed for commerce and tourism show how China is taking control of the Mekong,'' said one.
``If they blast the rapids from the river,'' says Chairman Jermsak Pinthong of the Senate's Public Participation Committee, ``Thailand, Laos and Burma must rely on China to store water upstream in the future.''
``The rapids are now serving as dams which store water in the river,'' explained the senator. ``Why do we have to blast the rapids and place our security with China? Is Thailand clever or stupid in doing that?''
Despite the increasing concerns over Chinese dam construction and control of the Mekong, a total of eight dams will slice up the Mekong River in Yunnan province if the Chinese officials proceed with their plans.
Watershed magazine reported that the eight power stations would be capable of generating up to 15,550 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
The Manwan Dam (1,500 MW) was completed in 1996 while the Dachaoshan dam (1,350 MW) is scheduled to begin operation in 2003.
The Xiaowan will be one of the world's tallest dams at 292 metres high when completed in 2012. It will cost about US$3.3 billion and generate 4,200 MW.
In 2014, the 5,500-MW Nuozhadu will begin to transmit electricity to Thailand. Four other dams on the plan to be built are the 600-MW Mengson, the 150-MW Ganlanba, the 1,500-MW Jinhong and the 750-MW Gongguoqiao.
WESTWARD EXPANSION
In Yunnan, the hydropower projects are a major feature of China's ``Go West '' policy, one of five pillars of Yunnan's economy.
The purpose of the ``Go West'' policy or the ``Great Western Region Development'' is to reduce the gap between eastern and western China.
With financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Yunnan regional government is focusing on developing hydropower resources for eastern and foreign markets.
Early last month, the members of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), which includes Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, and China, signed an agreement for the interconnection of power grids, highways, and telecommunications worth some US$ 4.5 billion.
These countries hope to soon develop a vast and cheap power network based on one of the mighty river's greatest resources _ hydropower.
The integrated grid will connect hydropower dams in China, Burma, and Laos to markets in Vietnam and Thailand.
Director Yu Xiaogang of Green Watershed, a Chinese non-governmental group in Yunnan, said at the recent training course Men and the Mighty Mekong River, held by the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation (IMMF), that the water resource potential for hydropower development in Yunnan province is about 24 percent of the total in China. Of this, 92 percent of hydropower resources come from the Mekong and Salween rivers.
DOWNSTREAM WAVES
The 4,880-kilometre Mekong River begins in the Tibetan Plateau and runs through China's Yunnan province, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before it empties into the South China Sea. It runs 1,240 km within the boundaries of Yunnan, where it is named Lancang.
The Manwan Dam in the Upper Mekong has already affected the environment negatively. The floods in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and Cambodia this year were blamed partly on the Chinese dam.
``Dams in China released 20 percent more water downstream,'' said David Hubbel of TERRA (Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance), a Thai environmental protection group.
The environmental and social problems presented by the Chinese dams for the downstream countries is the subject of a research paper by Tyson R. Roberts from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. According to Mr Roberts, severe ecological deterioration of the Mekong River is a foregone conclusion if the dams are built.
Downstream communities will be forced to undertake exhausting and largely futile efforts to protect themselves and make up for the damage to their agriculture, fisheries, forests and way of life. Cambodia and Vietnam, the two countries farthest downstream, will benefit little and will experience the most negative effects from the dams. Particularly at risk are Cambodia's Great Lake and Vietnam's Plain of Reeds and Mekong Delta, said Mr Roberts.
Director Ian Baird of the Global Association for People and the Environment, an NGO in Laos, says that ``dam construction by the upriver countries causes serious impacts to downstream countries along the Mekong River, especially Cambodia, because the country is flat and lies close to the river.''
Yu pointed out that the Lancang-Mekong River is considered as an international river. ``Several dams will change the river's flow and raise more international issues.
``These Chinese dams will destroy the river's ecosystem. They will also give China control over water levels and the Mekong will no longer be useful for any purpose other than electricity generation,'' he said.
MORE COOPERATION NEEDED
Last month, the MRC member countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam agreed on specific procedures to notify each other of any Mekong River projects undertaken in their own countries which may affect the neighbours.
The new agreement, known as the Preliminary Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement, requires a six-month time frame for consultation between the countries affected, before a proposed development can begin. The agreement also prescribes a detailed format for notification to be carried out.
The agreement refers specifically to inter- and intra-basin diversions of Mekong water. These could involve any kind of water retention and diversion for the purposes of electricity generation, irrigation or flood management.
But there have been no attempts to bring in China as a member of the commission.
MRC communications officer Delia Paul, who visited Perspective recently, said however that now ``there is closer cooperation between the MRC and China.''
``The hydrological information sharing is a step closer,'' she said.
However, environmentalists and downstream countries want to be heard before any more Chinese dams are built on the Mekong River. Cooperation for responsible development among the four downstream countries is made almost meaningless by the lack of Chinese cooperation. There was no response to attempts by Perspective to contact the Chinese Embassy in Thailand for comment on the matter. |
|
