VietNamNet Bridge – After the Mekong River Council (MRC) decided to further consider the Xayaburi - Laos controversial hydro-electric project; scientists and environmental organizations in Southeast Asia have called for Laos to give up this project.

Decision on Laos hydro-electric dam not yet made

Vietnam worries about impacts from Laos hydroelectric project

Giant fish species of Mekong River

Government representatives from the four lower Mekong Basin countries agreed on April 19, that the decision on the Xayaburi Dam, the first dam proposed for the lower Mekong mainstream, be deferred and elevated to the Ministerial level.

According to a press release from the MRC, whilst Laos proposed to proceed with the dam; Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam called for an extension to the decision making process, citing concerns about trans-boundary impacts and knowledge gaps that require both further study and public consultation.

“The Mekong River is a valuable shared resource, and the Xayaburi dam’s trans-boundary impacts require agreement between the region’s governments and the public” said Ms. Ame Trandem, Mekong Campaigner with International Rivers.

“A healthy Mekong River is central to sustainable development in the region, and simply too precious a resource to squander. Given the project’s inevitable trans-boundary impacts, we urge the region’s governments to acknowledge the widespread concern of the public and civil society groups and indefinitely cancel the Xayaburi Dam project,” she said.

The Xayaburi Dam, if built, would forcibly resettle over 2,100 people and directly affect over 202,000 people, and could threaten the extinction of approximately 41 fish species, including the critically endangered Mekong Giant Catfish. An additional 23 to 100 migratory fish species would be threatened through a blocked fish migration route. These impacts in turn will affect the livelihoods and food security of millions of people in the region.

Though the six month consultation process was not finished, Laos began to build infrastructure for the Xayaburi project five months ago, according to the Bangkok Post.

Pianporn Deetes, also from IRN, said that Laos’s construction activities must be stopped immediately.

Speaking on the MRC’s decision made on April 19, Chhith Sam Ath, from NGO Forum on Cambodia, said: “This delay is an acknowledgement of the dam’s far-reaching ramifications for the Mekong River ecosystem and millions of people in the region. We expect the Laos government to respect the decision of the MRC Joint Committee”.

Nguy Thi Khanh, from the Center for Preservation and Development of Water Resources (WARECOD), a Vietnamese NGO, said: “We hope the governments of the region have recognized that much more needs to be understood about the river and its rich fisheries before a rash decision is made that could threaten the integrity of the entire ecosystem and the livelihoods of millions of people”.

Jirasak Inthayos, from the Chiang Khong District, Chiang Rai Province, who joined a protest  against the Xayaburi Dam in Bangkok on April 19, said: “We are happy to hear that the project has been delayed, but we will continue to fight for our Mother Mekong and for the health of the river’s fisheries, which provides so much to so many people in this region. We will continue to push the Thai government to cancel the agreement to buy power from the Xayaburi Dam”.

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) welcomed the delay in the decision making process on the proposed US$3.8 billion Xayaburi dam.

"The MRC has taken an important step towards responsible decision making and is clearly looking at the potential impacts the Xayaburi dam would have on millions of people in the Mekong river basin," Jian-hua Meng, hydropower specialist for the WWF.

Dao Trong Tu, former Deputy Secretary General of Vietnam’s Mekong River Committee, said the result of the MRC meeting on April 19 was the success for the countries in the low basin of Mekong River.

Meach Mean, coordinator for the 3S Rivers Protection Network, called the delay “good news”, but added that activists would still urge the four countries to agree to a 10-year moratorium on all mainstream Mekong dams, and called for further study and consultations that would include communities affected by the project.

The Mekong River is central to the lives and culture of mainland Southeast Asia. As the world’s largest inland freshwater fishery, the Mekong River feeds millions of people throughout the region, and the river’s extraordinary aquatic biodiversity is second only to the Amazon River. The Xayaburi Dam is the first of eleven large dams proposed for the lower Mekong River’s mainstream.

PV