The Mekong River is under threat. The governments of Cambodia, Laos and Thailand are planning eleven big hydropower dams on the Mekong River’s mainstream. If built, the dams would block major fish migrations and disrupt this vitally important river, placing at risk millions of people who depend upon the Mekong for their food security and income.
Read the letters sent delivering the 23,110 signature “Save the Mekong” petition to the Prime Ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam on 19 October 2009.
Save the Mekong coalition urges the Mekong governments to keep the Mekong flowing freely to save this critical source of food, income and life for present and future generations. Join us now to Save the Mekong!
In a bold outpouring of public concern for Southeast Asia’s Mekong River, more than 16,000 people from within the six-country Mekong region and around the world have signed a “Save the Mekong” petition urging governments to abandon plans for hydropower development along the river’s mainstream.
On June 18, representatives from the Save the Mekong coalition handed the petition to Thailand’s Prime Minister, H.E. Abhisit Vejjajiva, and asked him to work with regional leaders to protect the Mekong River and to pursue better ways to meet the region’s electricity needs.
Over the past two years, 11 big hydropower dams have been proposed for the Mekong River’s lower mainstream. These dams threaten migratory fish stocks, regional food security, and the livelihoods and incomes of millions of people.
Signed Save the Mekong postcard
The petition, signed by thousands of farmers and fishers, as well as the wider public, demonstrates the widespread public concern about these dams. Many people wrote personal messages for the region’s leaders on their postcards:
“I love my country. I don’t want to see some people destroy my home country for greed. So I would like to do my best to protect our Mekong!” wrote Sneampay from Laos.
The Save the Mekong coalition is a partnership of local and international groups, academics, journalists, artists, fishers, farmers and ordinary people – including International Rivers – that is working to protect the Mekong River, its resources and people’s livelihoods.
More information:
Further information about the Save the Mekong coalition is available in English and regional languages on the coalition’s website.
Mekong Under Threat Governments to Decide on First Mainstream Dam April 19 In September 2010, the Xayaburi Dam was the first of eleven proposed dams for the Lower Mekong River’s mainstream to be submitted for approval by the region’s governments through a… See More
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Catching fish in the Khone Falls area, Southern Lao. (Ian Baird)
The revival of plans to build a series of dams on the Mekong River’s mainstream in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand presents a serious threat to the river’s ecology and puts at risk the wellbeing of millions of people dependent on the river for food, income, transportation and a multitude of other needs.
Since the 1960s, several mega-schemes to dam the Lower Mekong River’s mainstream to generate electricity have been proposed. The most recent plan, prepared by the Mekong Secretariat in 1994, was shelved in part due to public outcry over the predicted impacts on the river’s fisheries and the large number of people who would be displaced or otherwise affected.
But now there are troubling signs that the tide is turning. Since mid-2006, the Governments of Cambodia, Laos and Thailand have granted approval to Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Russian and Chinese companies to investigate eleven mainstream hydropower dams. The projects are located at Pak Beng, Luang Prabang, Sayabouri, Pak Lay, and Sanakham in northern Laos; Pak Chom and Ban Koum on the Thai-Lao border; Lat Sua and Don Sahong in southern Laos; and Stung Treng and Sambor in Cambodia (see map). That these projects are once again being actively investigated is cause for alarm.
Already serious concerns have been raised by non-governmental organizations and scientists over the Don Sahong dam, which is at the most advanced stage of development. The project is located in the Khone Falls area of Laos one kilometer upstream of the Cambodian border and would block the area’s most important fish migration route, ultimately undermining fisheries-based livelihoods throughout the basin.
China’s dam construction on the Upper Mekong has already caused downstream impacts, especially along the Thai-Lao border where communities have suffered declining fisheries and changing water levels that have seriously affected their livelihoods. By changing the river’s hydrology, blocking fish migration and affecting the river’s ecology, the construction of dams on the Lower Mekong mainstream will have repercussions throughout the entire basin.
International Rivers is working with partners in the region and internationally to keep the Lower Mekong River’s mainstream flowing freely.
