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| Photo: The World Wildlife Fund is calling for work on a Mekong River dam to be stopped, saying it will pave the way for other dams to be built. (ABC News) |
Audio: The WWF's Sarah Bladen speaks to Connect Asia (ABC News)
16 Jan 2013
Australia Network News
The World Wildlife Fund is calling for work on a dam on the Mekong River in Laos to be stopped, saying it will pave the way for other dams to be built on the river.
The call comes as ministers from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand meet in Laos to decide on 11 dams proposed for the Mekong.
60 million people currently rely on the river for their livelihood.
Despite the ministers' decision in November to delay building the Xayaburi dam in Laos pending further environmental impact studies, Laos went ahead with the $3.5 billion project.
World Wildlife Fund communications director, Sarah Bladen, says work on the Xayaburi dam should be halted.
"We would still call for that dam not to be developed further," she told Radio Australia's Connect Asia.
"If it is then there will be profound impacts, it will open the floodgates for ten other dam developments which would effectively carve up one of the last great free flowing rivers in the world."
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