Government ignores protest against Mae Wong dam
The dam in Mae Wong National Park will be built, despite the attack on 13.260 rai of untouched forest area.
'A forest can be planted, animals can be bred, but I prefer Thai people. If there is another flood, there will be no Thai people left," Minister Plodprasop Sursaswadi defended the construction of the dam.
Today, environmental activists arrive in Bangkok after a 338-kilometre hike. They oppose the construction because it is at the expense of the environment and ecology. The construction not only floods 13.260 rai of forest area, but also poses a threat to the tigers that live there.
Last week, the Seub Nakhasatien foundation and twenty-five environmental groups filed a petition with the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP), which decides on the environmental impact assessment. Opponents say the report is incomplete: it lacks information about the ecological systems and possible impacts on plants and wildlife.
Minister Plodprasop, who has received a letter from fifty supporters, says he opts for the lives and safety of Thais. He admits that forest is being destroyed, but 'I am going to create three times as much forest. I will ask all opponents to help with that. I find money and space for it. Before I built the dam, I reconstructed the forest.'
Western Forest Complex
Mae Wong National Park encompasses 900 square kilometers of pristine forest. It is part of the Western Forest Complex, the largest remaining forest area in Southeast Asia, as well as Thailand's first UNESCO cultural heritage, the Thung Yai-Huay Kha Khaeng Game Reserves.
Mae Wong is an important forest where endangered species are safe. A recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the World Wildlife Fund (using cameras) shows that the tiger population in Thung Yai-Huay Kha Khaeng is increasing and that the animals are migrating to buffer parks, including Mae Wong.
The plan to build a dam in the park was shelved by the current government after the 2011 floods. According to the government, the dam prevents the Central Plains from flooding and the water from the reservoir can be used to irrigate 300.000 rai of farmland.
(Source: Bangkok Post, September 21, supplemented with archive material)
Photos: Opponents of the Mae Wong dam on their way from Ayutthaya to the Nature and Agricultural Education Center in Pathum Thani.