Activists argue that "dams will kill the mighty Mekong"
Losses in aquaculture and farm production could easily outstrip any profit from power generation if planned Mekong River dams are built in China, Laos and Cambodia, says a Can Tho University professor.UN says China dams threaten water supplies to Mekong delta farmers
Landslides are increasing along the banks of the Tien
Giang, the upper branch of the Mekong.
A forum organized by the Can Tho City government and a number of
NGOs active in Vietnam and nearby countries on 3 February addressed
the topic "The environment and livelihoods along the Mekong River."
The discussion aimed at finding ways to preserve the river’s rich
bounty in the face of a rush to build dams in the river’s upper
reaches. Reporters from the HCM City-based newspaper Tuoi Tre were
present.
The ecosystems on which the prosperity of the Mekong River
Delta depends are in double jeapordy. Experts have warned that the
Delta is being seriously affected by climate change. The construction
of dams upriver will increase the stresses on the Delta ecosystems.
Surveys in 2009 showed that many areas in An Giang
province, far from the mouths of the river, have been affected by salt
water. In some places, the river water level has fallen nearly 1m, a
highly abnormal phenomenon.
Dao Trong Tu, former vice secretary general of the Vietnam
Committee for Mekong River, said that China is already building three
of 16 planned hydropower dams while Laos wants to build an additional
nine, and Cambodia two, dams on the river.
Electricity is not food
"We want to eat fish; we cannot live by eating electricity,"
said La Chhuon, from the Oxfam Australia office in Cambodia, quoting
Cambodian fishermen who live in the areas where dams are about to
built. (Cambodia is making surveys for the construction of two
hydropower dams on the Mekong between Phnom Penh and the Lao border).
Chhuon said that none of the fishermen interviewed were happy
with the project of losing their livelihoods. They don't want
financial compensation. "If fishermen are moved to the mountain, what
can they do to support their life?" Chhuon asked.
Dao Trong Tu said that the construction of dams will change the
annual rhythm of flood and ebb, block the migration of fish and
aquatic mammals, reduce the volume of alluvial soil, and otherwise do
serious harm to the downstream area.
Dr. Carl Middleton of the International River Organisation, an
American NGO, agreed with Tu, saying that the planned dam building not
only affects the migration of aquatic animals but also seriously
threatens food security in the region.
Middleton estimated that the countries located in the Mekong
River basin will lose between 700,000 and 1.6 million tons of river
fisheries production each year owing to the planned dams. The people
along the river and in its delta, he pointed out, cannot easily
switch to raising cattle and poultry as alternatives to their
traditional reliance on protein from fish and aquatic products.
Meanwhile, Mak Sithrith, director of the Cambodian Fisheries
Alliance, expressed worry that fisheries will be reduced because of
dams. As a consequence, he predicted, fishermen will intensify efforts
to catch fish in the remaining areas to offset the loss of other
fisheries, resulting in exhaustion of aquatic resources and
environmental pollution.
Are the dams really necessary?
Chuenchom, speaking for a Thai NGO, said that forecasts of
electricity consumption in Thailand are always higher than actual
consumption because the forecasts are the justification for private,
semi-private and state companies to implement more hydropower projects
and make more profits.
She said that many retired officials are on the payrolls of
these companies. To get at the root of the problem, Chuenchom argued,
profit considerations should be swept aside in planning power
projects, and there must be realistic forecasts of electricity demand.
"Natural resources can satisfy our needs but cannot satisfy our
greed," she emphasized.
Nguyen Huu Thien, an agronomist and wetlands specialist, warned
that if 11 dams are built in Laos and Cambodia, the flow of the Mekong
River would be under the control of the 11 plant managers. Once the
river is barred by these dams, Thien predicted, the volume of rich
silt carried to the Delta by the Mekong will fall drastically. The
people who live in Vietnam's Mekong Delta will have to pay more for
fertilizer. Industries like fish processing and agricultural
processing will be hard hit also. Thien calculated that the total loss
of seafood and agricultural production may be greater than the value
of electricity generation achieved by the hydropower plants.
Dr. Duong Van Ni from the Can Tho University said that after a
survey trip to northern Cambodia with other sub-Mekong Region
officials, Chinese experts realized that 50 percent of the items that
are used by farm families there come from China. "China builds dams to
develop industry," Ni observed, "but if they have more products but
the people who would buy them are impoverished, how can they sell
them?"
Convincing data is needed
Nguyen Hieu Trung, dean of the Faculty for Environment and
Natural Resources at Can Tho university, said that organizations and
scientists should research, compile and publish data that proves the
harmful impact of the planned hydropower dams on the economy, society
and the environment – data that compels governments to reconsider
their construction.
Dao Trong Tu, the former Mekong River Commission official,
reminded that every nation has the right to build dams on its own
territory. However, each nation must also bear in mind the impacts on
its neighbors, he said, and seek to minimize bad consequences.
Tran Van Tu of the Vietnam Alliance of Scientific and
Technological Association's Can Tho branch, commented that it is man's
activities that threaten the Mekong River so the solutions must also
come from man. He said it is not useful to confront governments, but
essential to make every effort to persuade them.
A vice chairman of Can Tho City, Nguyen Thanh Son, underlined
the consequences of failure. Protecting the environment and the
productivity of the Mekong River is a vital requirement of the region,
he said. "If a country seeks to take water just to satisfy its own
need, there will be impacts on other countries. The long-term
development in the entire region may come to a virtual standstill."
VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre