A new dam proposed by Laos threatens further damage to the troubled Mekong and its inhabitants.
By Michelle Tolson
November 28, 2013
Fishing in the Mekong
Image Credit: REUTERS/Samrang Pring
The 4,000 Island region in southern Laos,
named after the large number of islands situated in the waters of the murky
Mekong, boasts idyllic, undeveloped villages surrounded by small rice fields
and expansive forests. The lack of hustle and bustle is precisely what draws
foreign tourists. An estimated 113,684 visited Champasak Province in 2006,
according to one report.
The
southernmost tip of the islands offer a refuge for the critically endangered
Irrawaddy dolphin, numbered at
just ten in Laos, as well as some famous waterfalls. Yet this area,
just two kilometers from Cambodia, is also home to the Hoo Sahong channel,
where the controversial Don Sahong Dam will be built starting November,
according to the Laos government. Plans for the 260 megawatt structure have
been seen as a way for this developing country to capitalize on its
hydrological energy for export. However, environmental experts warn the region
could lose not only its dolphins and tourists, but also the massive fish
migrations that feed its people.
The
Hoo Sahong has been said to be the only viable transit point for large numbers
of fish during the lowest part of the dry season, impacting not just Laos but
countries downstream, like Cambodia.
Boun
Sayavong, a tourism operator on Don Det, a popular tourist island just west of
the site, told The Diplomathe is not concerned about losing
dolphins or fish. He said the government is preparing for construction by
banning the use of wooden fish traps, known as “Ly,” which are placed along the
numerous channels between the islands to catch fish as they migrate.
When
asked how fishermen will survive without their traps, he said they have other
ways to catch fish. “Only those people without jobs are unhappy about the dam.”
“The
government asked people by survey and 60 percent said [the dam] is a good idea.
Only 40 percent said they didn’t like the idea. It is not like Cambodia where
the government decides without asking the people. If Hun Sen says ‘you have to
go, we need this land’ then the people have to leave within 24 hours. Not
here,” said Boun.
Ian
Baird, a leading Mekong fisheries expert who lived in Laos for several years
and is fluent in the language, told The Diplomat from the U.S.
he was not aware of a government survey. “Nobody would dare say they don’t
support the project. I know the villages there well. Of course they can’t say
anything as they have been warned – they know their performance well. What he’s
doing is telling you what the government wants him to say. He’d doing a perfect
PR job. If they say anything else, they will go to jail.”
Ame
Trandem of International Rivers NGO agrees. “Most people are careful to say
only positive things about the dam in public but once we spend time with them,
away from other villagers and once they trust us, they pass their concerns when
we tell them won’t use their names.”
Villagers
told Trandem preliminary work along the channel began this past summer. A
nearby channel has been blasted and villagers’ fish traps have been confiscated
to create an alternative migration route for fish.
Mega
First Corporation, the Malaysian company slated to build the dam, alleges the
fish passes it plans to install with the dam will be sufficient.
Baird,
who reviewed the previous Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) said “In the
EIA, they only ask fishermen the kilos they caught, not which species. They are
comparing fish in this region, which has 200 species, to migrating salmon in
North America. I worked in this region for 15 years and published several
academic articles. I can tell they don’t have a clue. They are consultants,
guessing.”
The
Diplomat reached
out to Mega First for comment without reply.
Fish
migrate up the Mekong from the Tonle Sap Lake in response to hydrological
triggers once the dry season begins in November, which also heralds the
beginning of fishing season. Both Baird and Trandem warn the insufficient
passes would not allow for large-scale migrations and will threaten food
security for Laos and Cambodia, which rely on fish for their protein.
Baird
said the sharp reduction of wildlife in the region represents a loss of protein
and fats that used to be available for consumption and helps explain why both
countries have rates as high as 40 percent for child malnutrition.
While
people in Laos may hold their tongues, in Cambodia they are speaking out.
Around the Sesan, Srepok and Sesong tributaries of the Mekong in remote
northeast Cambodia, a civil society group was organized for grassroots
push-back in 2001 in response to Vietnam’s dams. When Vietnam dammed the Yali
Falls in 1996 upstream of the Sesan River, initially they released excess water
from the dam without warning the communities downstream causing numerous deaths.
The region suffered greatly and without compensation from violent and irregular
floods that wiped out crops and livestock. Residents along the Sesan River
told The Diplomat that there are hardly any fish anymore.
Meach Mean of the 3SRivers Protection Network, said rivers are the livelihoods
of the Khmer, Laotian, Chinese and indigenous tribes living in the watershed. “We need the
rivers for farming too,” explained Meach, who is Laos-Tampuan, (an indigenous group).
Rivers expand during the wet season, bringing agricultural land to life through
irrigation to grow rice, another staple of both Cambodia and Laos.
Trandem,
who used to live in Cambodia’s Ratanakiri region herself, said because people
didn’t even know about the dam upstream, they thought the spirits of the river
were angry with them and sacrificed animals to appease them. Vietnam is now
required to notify Cambodia prior to releases but she said sometimes the
process takes 14 days, reaching remote villages after they have been flooded.
About
1,000 people in the three rivers region have died, also from problems with
water quality. “Toxicity can result from the blue-green algae growing in
reservoirs, which is released downstream. It harms fish, animals and people.”
Trandom has no doubt that livestock has died from drinking
poisoned water. “People rely on the river for everything – fishing,
bathing, and farming and to water livestock.”
According
to Trandem, Vietnam has now cancelled 400 hydropower projects, which she hopes
will be a lesson for Laos and Cambodia. While the impacts from the upper Sesan
Dams are striking, the Mekong is even more vital to the region. But the
benefits of hydrological dams are tempting.
Ironically,
Cambodia buys electricity from the very country that will impact its food
security as it does not have an electricity grid, as Baird points out, while
Laos has a basic grid. Residents in Stung Treng and northeast Cambodia
told The Diplomat their electricity was imported from Laos and
sold by private companies ranging from 2000-3500 riel ($0.50-0.75) per kilowatt
per hour. Residents in Banlung, Ratanakiri said Cambodia also buys electricity
from Vietnam, as the small Ouchum hydrological dam nearby can’t provide enough
to meet the city’s needs. According to the World Bank, only 26 percent of
Cambodians have access to government-supplied electricity, the rest
use private operators, generators or none at all. Electricity does not even
reach Ratanakiri’s remote indigenous villages, which get no benefit from the
dams, Meach added. “’Rich’ villagers in district centers use generators
[starting at $ 700] or solar panels [starting at $400], but most people have no
electricity, especially indigenous people.”
Meach
said Mega First Corporation also has a
connection to Cambodia’s popular Angkor Beer, brewed by Cambrew.
Cambrew is jointly owned by the Carlsberg Group. He urges local and foreign
consumers to support the Mekong River by boycotting Carlsberg and Angkor beer.
While
choosing a different beer might take money away from Mega First, in the
meantime electricity-starved northern Cambodia will still need to buy from its
upstream neighbors. But it seems the Laotian government’s efforts to get its
neighbors onboard the project has backfired. Trandem said a site visit by
Cambodian and Vietnamese government officials this past week to Laos left the
impression that the environmental impact assessment was not comprehensive.
“Since the site visit, Cambodia has sent out a statement demanding dam
construction halt and an impact assessment be done.”
Michelle
Tolson is a freelance journalist based in Asia.
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