Killing the environment

KEN  ALBERTSEN , Chiang Rai
Bangkok Post, Postbag, 11 July 2007

The beautiful Salween River rolls south out of Burma to form part of the northwestern border of Thailand. Similarly, the stately Mekong River flows south out of China, slips by Burma and Laos and forms part of the northeastern border of Thailand. Now both of these majestic rivers are under serious threat. The question is not whether they'll be dammed, blasted and their valleys drowned; the question is to what alarming degree?

The big commonality in their dire fates is Chinese policy. Just as the Chinese see every wild animal as a potential part of their pantry or medicine cabinet (when dead), so too Chinese officials see every large river as a commercial tool to be exploited.

Some of us view large rivers in awe as sources for sustenance, for wildness and for nurturing a plethora of flora and fauna. Not so for the Chinese and their Burmese and Laotian vassals. For them, a river is a large volume of gravity-driven water that should be harnessed for commercial gain.

Indeed, if people upriver benefit to the detriment of those downriver, and watershed-dwelling villagers must be forcefully relocated, then so be it. Progress must march on.

In north America there are provisions that allow citizens to organise, gather petitions and lobby their governments to set aside special natural places for protection. In Burma, Laos and China, such citizen action would be laughed at, if not callously nipped in the bud.

Thailand's state-owned Egat and the private MDX Group are poised to provide significant funding for the upcoming dams. They should seriously consider the ramifications of being a party to ethnic cleansing and environmental destruction that are integral to dam building. Have they considered alternative options to generating electricity, or are their heads snugly buried in the sand of old thinking?