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Cambodia raps Laos over Mekong dams
Bangkok Post (via DPA). 15 November 2007.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=123623
Siem Reap, Cambodia (dpa) - After facing the wrath of environmental
groups earlier this week, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) member
countries engaged in their own battles Thursday during a meeting of
the four-member body with donors and observers.
Although the meetings were closed to media, Cambodian delegates made
their frustration with what they called neighbouring Laos' lack of
transparency clear outside as tensions over six proposed hydro-
electric dams in a number of countries on the lower Mekong mounted.
Scientists said in May they feared Laos' proposed dams in particular
could destroy fish migration and spawning, decimating the catch people
in MRC member countries Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam rely on
and causing irreversible environmental damage.
"We sent an official letter to Laos months ago to voice our concern
and ask for an explanation, but so far we have received no answer,"
vice chairman of the Cambodian National Mekong Committee, Sin Niny,
told Deutche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Cambodian MRC representative Lim Kean Hor said the MRC was a
complicated organization which relied on cooperation from members and
donors - which include energy-hungry China - to reach consensus.
However, that cooperation may be fraying in some areas, he added.
"At the moment this is just an initiative by Laos. When they begin to
build them we will stop them," he said, saying the MRC needed
independent expert studies of environmental impact assessments.
The six dams across the Lower Mekong River are currently in the
planning stages, more than a decade after they were dismissed as too
costly and environmentally damaging, non-government organizations said
in a press conference in Bangkok earlier this week.
At least one is believed to be the project of a powerful Lao
politician's son, raising questions about whether the environment is
taking a backseat to money, one environmentalist said on condition of
anonymity, adding now was the time for the MRC to stand up.
"Since early 2006, Thai, Malaysian and Chinese companies have been
granted permission to conduct feasibility studies for six large
hydropower dams on the lower Mekong mainstream," they said in a press
statement.
China delegate Biao Ling Sheng, however, urged a balance of
development and conservation Thursday as that country announced
continued strong funding for the MRC. "We need sustainable
conservational development," he said.
In the end, however, the onus remained on the MRC to prove its role as
a strong, independent forum for member countries and other interested
parties to raise concerns which was transparent and had teeth, World
Conservation Union representative Kate Lazarus said.
"The role of local communities should be given a higher priority by
the MRC. There is some important information which is not being made
public by the MRC," the Laos-based representative said.
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