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Civic groups call Mekong Commission a failure
DPA (via Bangkok Post). 13 November 2007.
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) has failed to prevent six dam
projects from moving ahead on the regional river despite unanswered
questions about environmental and social impact of the schemes,
environmental and civil society groups said Tuesday.
"We urge all donors to review their support to the MRC," said
Premrudee Daoroung, director of the Towards Ecological Recovery &
Regional Alliances (TERRA), one of 201 groups to sign a petition
blasting the four-party Mekong River Commission for failing to protect
the river's fisheries and people dependent on the waterway, the
longest in South-East Asia.
International donors to the MRC will meet on Thursday in Siem Reap,
Cambodia, to assess the commission's recent performance.
The MRC was set up in 1995 as an inter-governmental mechanism to
facilitate cooperation between the four lower Mekong River-basin
countries - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam - in assuring the
sustainable development of the river, which courses through all four
countries and starts in China.
Between June 2006 to June 2007 the MRC has received 23 million dollars
in aid from 17 international donors, including the governments of
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, the German Technical
Cooperation (GTZ) and European Commission, among others.
And yet the MRC has failed to sound the alarm on six new hydro-dams
planned on the Mekong River since 2006 that will have a dubious impact
on the sub-region's environment and fisheries.
"Despite the serious ecological and economic implications of damming
the lower Mekong, the Mekong commission has remained notably silent,"
said the petition.
The six dams - four in Laos, one each in Cambodia and Thailand - will
be built by Thai, Malaysian and Chinese companies with most of the
electricity sold to Thailand.
Up to 75,000 people could be displaced if the dams are built.
Research conducted by the MRC in 2004 identified dams built for
irrigation, hydroelectricity and flood controls as "the overriding
threat to the future of the Mekong's fish and fisheries," and yet the
same commission has failed to object to the new dam projects.
"We would like the MRC to make known their standpoint on the six
dams," said Premrudee. "And the next point will be, why does the MRC
keep getting money and technical assistance."
The MRC is currently headquartered in Vientiane, Laos, a communist
country that is notorious for its lack of "transparency" in decision
making and information sharing.
Among the other country members only Thailand has a strong civil
society and environmental movement. Vietnam is a communist state and
Cambodia used to be one.
"The MRC system needs to be reformed," said Surichai Wungaeo, director
of Chulalongkorn University's Social Research Institute. "It needs to
see it's role not only as a facilitating mechanism for building dams
but also be concerned for the sustainable development of the
region." (dpa)
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