China plans 13 dams on Salween Activists fear adverse impact downstream

Thursday 18 December 2003 Bangkok Post, Kultida Samabuddhi Yuthana Praiwan More than 80 environmental, human rights and ethnic groups in Thailand andBurma have called on China to consult countries downstream of the Salweenriver before going ahead with its plan to build 13 large hydro-power dams. The dams, planned for the upper part of the river in China's Yunnanprovince, would severely damage the ecosystem and livelihood of people inThailand and Burma, who depended on the 2,800km-long river for fishing andfarming, they said. The groups handed a protest letter to the Chinese embassy in Bangkok onTuesday. The Salween, called Nu Jiang by the Chinese, originates high in theTibetan mountains. It flows through Yunnan into Burma and forms part of Thailand'snorthern border with Burma before emptying into the Andaman sea. It isSoutheast Asia's second largest river after the Mekong. “Before making decisions on any dam projects, there should be consensusamong the riparian countries on the terms of environmental and socialimpact assessments,'' the groups said in their protest letter. “China is going to exploit the Salween, which is the last free-flowinginternational river in the region, like they already did to the Mekongriver,'' said Chainarong Sretthachau, director of the Chiang Mai-basedSoutheast Asia Rivers Network. “The downstream Mekong countries, including Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, andCambodia, have already suffered from the impacts of Chinese dams upstream.For example, a 60% decrease in fish stock, river bank erosions and severewater fluctuations. “Downstream people do not want such damage to be repeated on the Salweenriver. That's why we are calling on the Chinese government to suspend theproject immediately,'' he said. Mr Chainarong said the dams would block fresh supplies of nutrients andfish species, which were vital resources for downstream fishing and forfertilising large areas of cultivated land. An environmental impact assessment was done only in China despite the factthe dams would affect the environment and livelihood of people in Thailandand Burma, he said. Mr Chainarong quoted the Yunnan Daily newspaper as reporting that the 13dams would have a combined capacity of 21,320 megawatts, and that theywere expected to be completed in 20 years. Surapol Pattani, director of the Water Resources Department's policy andplanning office, professed no knowledge of the Chinese plan. However, he said there was nothing the people downstream could do sincethe dams would be located in Chinese territory. China, Burma and Thailand have no agreement on the utilisation of thistransboundary river, thus allowing each of them free use of the river. Mr Surapol also believed the dams could be beneficial to both Thailand andBurma “because they would slow down floodwater in the wet season and easedrought in the dry season when the dams release water for electricitygeneration.'' Thailand and Burma also plan to jointly build hydro-power dams along partsof the Salween river they share. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand has proposed building twodams, with the capacity to generate 4,540 megawatts and 792 megawattsrespectively. Their construction would put at least 20,000 rai of primeforest in Thailand's Salween national park under water. http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/18Dec2003_news05.html

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