'Postpone construction of Xayaburi dam for 10 years'
When the Xayaburi dam in Laos gets approval from Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, that is the start of a doomsday scenario with another 10 dams being built in the Lower Mekong.
Then 55 percent of the river will turn into stagnant water, fish will no longer be able to migrate to their spawning grounds, farmers will be cut off from the supply of sediment and millions of people will no longer be able to eat fish, which is an important source of protein in their meals.
Kirk Herbertson, who works for the American organization International Rivers, recounts in the Bangkok Post the consequences of the construction of the controversial Xayaburi dam – a day before the Mekong countries in Siem Raep (Cambodia) make a decision about the dam.
Laos thinks it can convince its neighbors with a report made by the Swiss agency Poyry Energy. With some adjustments in the design, the dam would not harm the river's ecosystem. Herbertsen calls the report "quasi-scientific"; 'it has already been widely dismissed as greenwash'.
Two other reports do deserve to be classified as scientific. In 2010, a report commissioned by the Mekong River Commission, a consultative body of the countries involved, concluded that the eleven proposed dams in the Lower Mekong are likely to cause 'serious and irreversible environmental damage' in all four countries. The report calls for a 10-year delay to be used for more scientific studies. The MRC ignored the report.
In 2011, a study funded by the US Agency for International Development questioned the cost-benefit analyzes of regional policymakers. In one scenario, the costs exceed the benefits by US$274 billion.
The least the concerned governments can do this week, Herbertson said, is to postpone dam construction for 10 years. Thailand must abandon its plan to buy electricity from the dam. And donor countries should offer funds to finance further study.
[Today's Bangkok Post features a full-page ad protesting the construction.]
In my opinion, it seems best to throw the building plans in the trash once and for all, given the destructive nature of the dam. Destructive for the ecosystem and for the millions of people who live in the delta.
Yes, that dams destroy the entire ecosystem, they can just check with almost all dams that have been built in the world. Despite the beautiful proposals, it is one of the most environmentally unfriendly ways of producing energy.
Those Thais don't care, just saw how they are now cleaning up those mountains of waste... it is just thrown everywhere along the road and then set on fire, sand over it and that's it. Also next to the moobaans. Everything goes in, garbage bags and everything that can be thrown away. Preferably in a ditch or something because then it will be gone immediately. It won't matter that you regret it during the rainy season.
Even more destructive than the construction of the Xayaburi dam is China's water hunger.
Read: China, the terrible water monster on: http://www.dickvanderlugt.nl/?page_id=9362