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Thousands sign a Mekong River anti-dam petition
Radio Australia. 18 June 2009.
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/asiapac/stories/200906/s2602329.htm
To south east Asia now and in an unprecedented move more than 15-
thousand people from countries along the Mekong River system have
signed a petition urging governments to abandon plans for hydropower
along the river's mainstream. There are 11 dams proposed along the
lower Mekong, 7 in Laos, 2 at the Laos Thailand border and another 2
in Cambodia. The dilemma facing the region is that while the 11 dams
will create hydropower energy that'll increase the countries economic
potential, the dams could also destroy the fisheries and other aquatic
wildlife, ruining the lives of the thousands of people who depend on
the Mekong for their day to day existence and income.
Presenter: Claudette Werden
Speaker: Premrudee Daoroung, co founder Towards Ecological Recovery
and Regional Alliance
DAOROUNG : We spent about 30 minutes to discuss the issues, the Prime
Minister recognised the issues of the Mekong and also the dam and he
said that the Thai government and he himself had been monitoring the
situation but he didn't really have the opinion towards the hydropower
dam yet but he has the opinion on the other projects, for example the
water diversion from the Mekong to north-eastern Thailand which he
believes there should be a better way to find water for south-eastern
Thailand.
WERDEN: So were you happy with his response?
DAOROUNG: I do agree with the Prime Minister that the government needs
to have more information, in general I think we're grateful the
government and the Prime Minister spent more than 30 minutes with us
to discuss the issues in a bit more detail but we think we should have
more chance to monitor or follow up what we talked to him.
WERDEN: Now tell me how were you able to gather the 15-thousand
signatures?
DAOROUNG: Yes it's been 3 months and we have printed postcards in
three languages, Thai, Cambodian and English, so for us, even though
the 16-thousand 380 signatures that we have got now might not look too
big compared to the population of the Mekong but looking at the
process it's a very big work and this was the very first time this
news has reached the people, even the people along the Mekong and also
the city people who never heard about this dam issue before.
WERDEN: So you're saying basically that a lot of people when you were
approaching them to sign the petition had no idea the dams were being
built?
DAOROUNG: Most of the people don't know about the 11 proposed dams but
the impressive thing is that 95per cent of the people have listened to
us, they were willing to sign, willing to support, so for us it's a
good, good response and that as I mentioned before is a process
because we all need to understand what's going on before we can
support. |
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