by Piyaporn Hawiset
8 May 2001
A new report dealing with Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong Sub-region paints a gloomy picture of ecosystems and ethnic minorities under threat from development. The report, released recently by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), divides the Greater Mekong Sub-region into five areas considered to be threatened both by hydro-electric plants and new roads. One of these areas is the Tonle Sap, one of the world's most unique river and lake systems. The Greater Mekong Sub-region includes the Upper Mekong, the Golden Quadrangle, the Central Greater Mekong, the Se San and Se Kong Basins and the area taking in Cambodia's Tonle Sap. The region, which takes in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand and China's southern province of Yunnan, has enormous potential to generate electricity.
Yunnan province has the greatest number of hydro power plants already established, followed by Burma, Laos and Vietnam. However there is much at risk in the region, and the plants could prove a threat to the area's natural diversity. The Upper Mekong area has rich, but increasingly degraded natural resources - the diversity of its forests and wildlife is challenged only by that of its ethnic minorities.
There are five dams currently operating, or nearing completion, in China's Yunnan province. They are the Manwan Dam (1,250 MW), completed in 1996; the Dachaoshan Dam (1,350 MW), to be finished early in 2002; the Xiaowan Dam, (4,200 MW), to be built in 2002; the Jinghong Dam, (1,500 MW), to be built in 2006; and the Nuozhadu Dam (5,000 MW), to be built in 2005. Panellists at a seminar called to discuss the report warned the dams could cause significant environmental and social impact, because they would impede the flow of the Mekong to downstream areas that currently support vast plantations. Biodiversity in the lower reaches also faced a major threat.
The second area facing major changes is the Golden Quadrangle. In that area it is not so much dam development as the construction of a super-highway expected to span from Chiang Rai to China's Kunming, via Burma and Laos. The area is highly regarded for the ethnic diversity of its indigenous peoples. However, they rely on increasingly degraded natural resources. While governments and the economic and political elites they support eagerly await the great economic benefits expected as a result of opening the area up, the risks posed to communities and ordinary people ill-prepared to handle rapid change are staggering. Not the least of these were drug abuse and prostitution, said the report.
The third area, the Central Greater Mekong, is home to some of the most untouched wilderness in Asia. As such it is highly vulnerable to ecological risks, and there are 29 hydro power plants either planned or already operating in the region, including Nam Theun and Nam Ngum in Laos. The area stretches from the Mekong plain across the Annamite Mountains, to the coastal plains of Vietnam.
The fourth area's main water sources are the Se San and Se Kong Rivers, which flow from Vietnam to Cambodia. Cambodian non-governmental organisations already have reported that the dams have caused widespread flooding and killed many fish species, thus destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
The last area the report discusses is the Tonle Sap lake and river system, the main body of which is adjacent to the Angkor Wat. The great lake is unique, the flow of water in the Tonle Sap at times reverses, depending on the Mekong's flow. Because of its uniqueness, the repercussions for the lake within the scope of an impeded flow in the Mekong, or its tributaries, are unknown.