Several major projects, including the construction of dozens of dams, threaten fish and rice production in the Mekong basin. This puts food security at risk, say experts.
The Mekong runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. An estimated 60 million people live in the Mekong basin and 80 percent of them depend on the water of the lower Mekong and its tributaries for food.
Megadam
By 2030, 88 dams must be built on the Mekong. In China, seven have already been completed and twenty more are in preparation. Construction of a mega dam, the Xayaburi, is underway in northern Laos. Work started in 2010 and the dam is now 10 percent complete. It will be the first of eleven dams on the Mekong's main branch, nine of which will be in Laos and two in Cambodia.
The Mekong has an exceptional fish diversity. Critics fear that the dam projects will be detrimental to the migration routes of the fish and thus to the food supply of the population, for whom fish is the most important part of the diet. If all dams are built, an estimated 220.000 to 440.000 tons of white fish will disappear.
Not enough livestock
“The Cambodians are the largest fish eaters in the world. If the fish disappears, you will be in serious trouble because there is not enough cattle in Cambodia and Laos to compensate for that loss,” says Ame Trandem of the International Rivers organization.
The Mekong Delta is the rice barn of Vietnam. The rivers feed huge rice fields that account for half of the national rice production and 70 percent of rice exports.
Geoffrey Blate, advisor to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)'s Thai Mekong Program, says the delicate ecosystem is highly vulnerable to the changes brought about by climate change and major infrastructure projects. You can already see how the water flow can suddenly change as a result of the continuous damming, resulting in more and heavier precipitation in the rainy season, he says.
extravagance
Thailand says it is short of energy and that the Xayaburidam, with a planned capacity of 1285 megawatts, is absolutely necessary. Energy experts like Chuenchom Sangarasri Greacen, author of an alternative energy plan for Thailand, say that Thailand wastes a lot of energy. Laos and Cambodia need much more energy in the short term.
According to the World Bank, only 84 percent of the population in Laos and 26 percent of the population in Cambodia have access to electricity; in Thailand, 99,3 percent of the population has electricity.
Source: MO