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A river becoming a road to ruin
The Nation September 10, 2009
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/09/10/opinion/opinion_30111862.php
Dams and rock-blasting projects are destroying biodiversity and
traditional cultures of the Mekong
The groans and grumbles emanating from Thai villages along the banks
of the Mekong right now suggest that the river is in serious trouble.
Villagers are complaining that Chinese dams upstream are causing
unseasonably high and low levels that are disrupting river life.
One calamity that befell riverside villages in Chiang Rai was a swift
surge of two metres in August last year. The residents, as well as
environmental groups, blamed this on the opening of gates at several
dams in China's Yunnan province, including at the huge barrier in
Jinhong, the capital of Xishuangbanna administrative region. In just
five minutes, the river level jumped half a metre.
Seen as a harbinger of a bleak future for both farmers and fishermen,
this single event inundated farmland and villages in three of Chiang
Rai's districts along the river's bank and its tributaries, creating
widespread panic and mass evacuations. Such a swift surge hadn't
happened in 40 years and the villagers were caught unprepared.
Meanwhile, fishermen are seeing their catches dwindle day by day. As
hydropower dams upstream block the river's flow, fish find it hard to
adjust to the river's changing ecology. Researchers reckon their
seasonal migrations are being disturbed and disrupted by the dam
projects.
Almost immediately, locals pointed the finger of blame at the dams in
China. But the Thai government is not out of the loop of
responsibility. With ample warning from experts and environmentalists,
Bangkok can't really say it didn't see this coming. The question is
what the government will now do about it.
Last May, the United Nations released a report stating that China's
dam-building ambitions pose the greatest threat to the future of the
already beleaguered Mekong, one of the world's major rivers and a key
source of water, transport and food for the region.
Although the Mekong is widely regarded as a Southeast Asian river, its
source is in the Himalayan glaciers high in Tibet. Nearly half of the
4,880-kilometre river flows through China's Yunnan province before it
reaches the Southeast Asian nations of Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia
and Vietnam, where it empties into the South China Sea.
China is constructing a series of eight dams on the upper half of the
Mekong, where the river passes through the high gorges of Yunnan.
These include the recently completed Xiowan Dam which, at 292 metres
high, is the world's tallest. Its storage capacity is equal to all of
Southeast Asia's reservoirs combined, the UN report said. The dams are
needed to meet China's rapacious energy demands.
Laos, meanwhile, has started construction on 23 dams on the Mekong and
its tributaries, expected to be finished by 2010, the UN said. They
will act as a means to spur development and lift the country from
poverty. Cambodia and Vietnam also have ambitious dam-building plans.
The report also mentioned that the effects of the proposed dam
developments include "changes in river flow volume and timing, water
quality deterioration and loss of biodiversity".
In addition to the dam-building spree are more river-blasting schemes.
The Chinese are going to blow up islets, boulders and other natural
barriers in several locations to make the river accessible to 500-
tonne cargo craft. The belief is that shipping cargo to trading posts
downstream at Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong in Thailand will be more
cost-efficient than using air and land routes. And the Chinese are
determined to achieve that goal no matter what.
The Thai locals are unsympathetic, pointing to the damage to the
river's ecology.
One research project shows that the river junction in the Golden
Triangle used to boast 65 types of flora that formed the food source
and habitat of river creatures. Locals say that Mekong giant catfish
lay their eggs around the islets and boulders that have been earmarked
for blasting. Another study found that the lower stretches of the
Mekong were capable of yielding fish catches of 11.3 million tonnes
per year, and the middle stretches 0.9-1.2 million tonnes, worth an
overall Bt105 billion to the local economy.
There have already been attempts to blow up islets in the Chiang Rai
Mekong. Somkiat Khuenchiangsa, coordinator for the Natural Resources
and Mekong Lanna Culture Conservation Network, says that China
targeted Pha Dai in Chiang Rai, a scenic spot popular with tourists.
Following villagers' protests, the river there was spared.
That stretch is a habitat for several species of fish. But Chinese
engineers consider the islets obstacles to their mega projects.
Somkiat says that Thailand and China shook hands on an agreement to
remove the Mekong islets in that area, but local villagers were never
consulted.
For now, the Mekong's ordinary folk are finding it hard to make their
voices heard, and their way of life is, it seems, steadily being
destroyed. Fishermen are leaving their villages to labour in fruit
orchards and farms. But the silent cry from the riverbank remains:
Stop hurting the Mekong, its plants, creatures and people |
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