The Save the Mekong coalition has expressed concerns over the development of the Don Sahong Dam in Champassak Province, Lao P.D.R. The network, consisted of communities, local and international environmental groups, reiterates their concern over the construction of the Don Sahong Dam due to its location in an area critical to Mekong fish migration, the potential impacts of the project on regional fisheries are severe. They stress that food security of thousands of people in the Mekong Basin is dependent on many of the migratory fish species which have traditionally passed through the Hou Sahong channel. The also claim inadequate information has been made available to date regarding the scale and scope of the project’s impacts, the ongoing studies and monitoring efforts that are informing the project’s ‘adaptive and flexible approach’ to mitigation, and confirmation of the implementation and efficacy of the project’s mitigation measures.
Category: Region
Selected environmental stories from media outlets in the Mekong region and beyond.
Communities’ new tool for participation: manual on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the Mekong Region
USAID-supported Mekong Partnership for the Environment partner EarthRights International is bringing a new tool to communities across the Mekong region. On 10 November 2016, EarthRights held a workshop on “Community Engagement in Environment Impact Assessment in Cambodia and other Mekong Countries” in Stung Treng province, Cambodia.
Official speaks out against coal power
If the people say “no” to coal, so do we, say government officials. In an interview with The Myanmar Times this week, a deputy permanent secretary of the Electricity and Energy Department has confirmed that the government has no plans to pursue coal-based energy.
KLCM: Sucking Blood from Earth – Thailand Diverts the Mekong River and Threatens Its Water Security
Even though, Thailand has announced that the diversion of the Mekong’s water will only take place in the rainy season but in fact it is also being carried out during the dry one that lasts from February to May of each year. This plan has been going on “quietly” and continuously without any public announcement to inform the world communities or the countries downstream.
Our River…, Our Life…
Plans to build dams on the Salween River by the Burma government, China and Thailand threatens millions of villagers and animals that depend on the free flowing river for their living, food sources and as a vital transport link.
Vietnam reduces number of hydropower plants in its Power Development Plan 7
Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) today said it will remove 471 small and cascade hydropower plants from its Power Development Plan 7 (PDP 7) that would have had a combined installed capacity of 2,059 MW. MOIT also rejected another 213 potential projects because of environmental and efficiency concerns, according to locally published reports.
Powerful new documentary looks at lives threatened by Salween dams
A powerful new documentary produced by Karen News profiles people who may be affected by a string of planned hydropower dams on Myanmar’s Salween River. “Our River…, Our Life” takes viewers along one of the world’s longest undammed rivers.
“It gives voice to the people currently missing from the debate on the dams,” said Karen News. The film goes “deeper into the impacts of those policies/events on the people most affected – the villagers.”
Mekong projects ‘to kill biodiversity’
DEVELOPMENT projects in the lower reaches of the Mekong River will take a great toll on the area’s biodiversity, experts have warned, with much of its fauna and flora facing imminent extinction.
In the face of major projects, such as the plan for a navigation route on the Mekong from Chiang Rai province down to Luang Prabang in Laos, as well as a controversial dam, concerned academics and experts attended the Greater Mekong Forum in Bangkok on Friday.
Commission chief insists ‘imperfect’ body has river basin’s interests at heart
AS THE Mekong region faces intensifying challenges from developments needed by its riparian countries including Laos’ latest mega-project, the Pak Beng Dam, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) insists that it is still the best institutional arrangement to ensure sustainable development for the basin.
Pham Tuan Phan, who assumed the post of MRC chief executive this year, stressed that point while delivering his presentation about the organisation, empowered by the 1995 Mekong Agreement, at the Greater Mekong Forum last week, where leading river experts and policy-makers attended to find out the best approach to ensure the river’s sustainable development.
Incomes of Thousands of Cambodian Villagers to be Harmed by Don Sahong Dam
The lives of the Preag Romkil villagers have turned to grief since Laos started building the Don Sahong Dam on the other side of the border.
“Many of us express deep concerns on survival of the dolphins. There has been some dolphins that died here. We are afraid of bigger damages to happen caused by the dam construction. Our lives rely mostly on the ecotourist site and the dolphins. Laos gets benefits from the dam, but we do not, we are the losers”.