Preparation for the flood season

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA9TN6m2AQg

Ffishing on the Mekong river in Phnom Penh

A man pulls a fishing net from the Mekong river in Phnom Penh April 21, 2012. Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Saturday, Tokyo will provide 600 billion yen ($7.35 billion) in official development aid to Mekong region countries in three years from April 2013, to help improve the region's infrastructure and boost the area's economy. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Cambodia to restrict fishing in Mekong River to save endangered dolphins

March 1, 2012

PHNOM PENH (Kyodo) -- Cambodia has decided in principle to regulate fishing in a large stretch of the Mekong River in order to conserve endangered dolphins, a government official said Wednesday.

Touch Seang Tana, chairman of Cambodia's Commission for Conservation and Development of the Mekong River Dolphin Ecotourism Zone, told reporters a new sub-decree on protection of the dolphins has just been finalized and is expected to soon be approved by the Cabinet meeting.

He said the sub-decree covers a 180-kilometer stretch of the Mekong River -- from the border with Laos through Cambodia's two northeastern provinces of Stung Treng and Kratie -- considered to be a key dolphin habitat in need of protection.

Where's Samdach Hun Xen when illegal sand dredging is still taking place on the Mekong River? នៅឯណា សម្តាចម៏ ហ៊ុនសែន?

Dear All,

The government said that there will be no more sand dredging, but the local authority allows it to continue. This is a 24-hr operation, 7-day a week.

These pictures were taken behind Wat Prek Leap on the Mekong River on 02 February 2012, just a short drive from Phnom Penh City.

Khmer Guardian

Map shoring the location on the Mekong River where the illegal sand dredging is still taking place

Sand dredging boat - Photo taken on 02 February 2012

Sand dredging boat - Photo taken on 02 February 2012

China Spends 158 mln USD Protecting Major Riverheads

2012-01-22
Xinhua

China injected 1 billion yuan (158.4 million U.S. dollars) in 2011 to protect the natural environment of northwestern Sanjiangyuan, the headwaters of China's three major rivers.

The money was spent on afforestation projects and recovery of degraded grasslands in the area, Li Xiaonan, vice director of the Qinghai Sanjiangyuan Office, told Xinhua.

Sanjiangyuan, with an area of 150,000 square kilometers, is the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang rivers. The Lancang is also known as the Mekong, which originates from China and flows through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The regional ecology significantly deteriorated in recent years due to global warming and excessive herding, before the government initiated a 7.5-billion-yuan program, which included the resettlement of 50,000 Tibetan herders in 2005.

Kratie fears loss of dolphin

An Irrawaddy dolphin surfaces for air while swimming in the Mekong River in Kratie province. (Photo Supplied)

Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Brennan Stark
The Phnom Penh Post

Kampi, in Kratie province, is just one of countless Cambodian fishing villages that calls the Mekong River home.

About 130 families make up the tiny community of subsistence farmers and fishermen, 230 kilometres north of the Kingdom’s capital.

Kampi also boasts one of Cambodia’s most unusual eco-tourism draws.

Thousands of tourists arrive in Kampi and several neighbouring villages each year to catch a glimpse of the portly, slate-blue creatures known as Irrawaddy dolphins.

Mekong Battle Delayed

Photo Credit: Preetam Rai

December 31, 2011
By Tom Fawthrop
The Diplomat

The announcement that a decision over whether to proceed with the controversial Xayaburi dam has been delayed has been welcomed by NGOs. But will Laos push ahead anyway?

The turbulent waters of the Mekong River have been witness to much strife. From the Vietnam War to the conflict in Cambodia in the 1980s, the citizens of the Mekong have been divided by war, ideology and Cold War diplomacy. And now, an energy-hungry region that has witnessed a boom in hydropower projects has spawned a new conflict – one that could again divide the Mekong sub-region.

It isn’t meant to be like this. After all, the Mekong River Commission (the MRC), which was established in 1995, was meant to unite the four member states in cooperative management of the river through dialogue and negotiation. The MRC was itself the successor to the Mekong Committee and the Interim Mekong Committee.

The Mekong : A Threatened River

Fishing boats plying the Mekong River, which starts in China and wends through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The river and associated tributaries have played a central role in the life of people living in Southeast Asia for thousands of years. Now the river's ecosystem and a way of life are threatened by a proposal to construct a massive dam in Laos. (All Photos: Zeb Hogan, University of Nevada at Reno)

Khmer children toting their catfish catch in Cambodia. Local peoples along the Mekong have developed ingenious ways of catching fish, and most of these methods are adapted to a specific site, flow and time of year.

The Mekong’s largest migratory fishes, like the seven-striped barb (shown here), the Mekong giant catfish, the river catfish and the “salmon” catfish, are also the most highly threatened. Without further study, it is likely that mainstream dams will drive at least one if not all of these species to extinction, conservationists say.

The Khone Falls in southern Laos, near the Cambodian border. The Khone has the greatest volume of all the world’s waterfalls, and fishermen risk their lives to catch fish there. Construction of a dam upstream would block the falls’ biggest channel.

Fishermen drying their catch near the Tonle Sap River, which connects to the Mekong. The fish of the Mekong River basin provide most of the protein for the estimated 60 million people living within the basin.

Fish carvings at the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia reflect the centrality of fish to the nation’s culture. Excavations near Angkor Wat have turned up bones from at least 16 fish families, including the giant barb, Mekong giant catfish and giant sheatfish.

The Tonle Sap River meets the Mekong. Decisions reached on constructing dams along the mainstream Mekong will determine whether the connectivity of the rivers remains intact and fisheries remain bountiful.

A Khmer girl near the Tonle Sap River in Cambodia holds a small, highly migratory mud carp. The mud carp is nicknamed "money fish" in Cambodia because people use it during the fishing season to barter for other goods like salt.

Xayaburi in hot water

Mekong dam project is halted, feared doomed

14/12/2011
Bangkok Post

Concerns are mounting that the US$3.7-billion Xayaburi Dam cannot proceed after the four-member Mekong River Commission delayed the project pending further environmental study.

Analysts said the decision at last week's MRC meeting disappointed the Thai market and raised concerns about the outlook of Ch. Karnchang (CK), Thailand's No. 3 construction company by value and the project's developer.

In a joint statement released after the meeting, the commission said Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand would ask the Japanese government and other international partners to help assess the impact of planned hydropower dams on the Mekong.

Mighty Mekong Gets a Reprieve: Destructive Xayaburi Dam Delayed

12/ 8/11
Peter Bosshard
Policy Director, International Rivers
The Huffington Post

In a crucial decision for the people and ecosystems of the Mekong River Basin, the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam have just agreed to delay the Xayaburi Dam, the first of eleven dams proposed for the Mekong River. They agreed to first commission further studies on the impacts of the proposed Mekong mainstream dams. This brings a much-needed reprieve to the threatened river, which has so far not been dammed south of the Chinese border. The Mekong boasts the world's largest inland fisheries, and forms the heart and soul of mainland Southeast Asia.

Te Navuth, secretary general of the Cambodian National Mekong Committee told reporters: "When the four member countries agreed to conduct a further study, this meant the construction would not start until we have a clear result." No timetable for the delay was announced. Japan and other international donors will be asked to assist in conducting the studies.

Mekong countries delay Laos dam decision

December 9, 2011
AFP

Energy-starved Laos has failed to win approval from its South-East Asian neighbours for a proposed hydropower dam on the Mekong River that faces fierce opposition from conservationists.

Ministers from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos postponed a decision on the $US3.8 billion ($A3.7 billion) Xayaburi dam after meeting in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap on Thursday, saying more research was needed into the likely effects of such projects.

"There is a need for further study on the sustainable development and management of the Mekong River including impact from mainstream hydropower development projects," they said in a statement.

The decision was welcomed by activists who warn that the vast 1260 megawatt dam in Laos, the first of 11 planned for the mainstream lower Mekong, could spell disaster for the roughly 60 million people who depend on the waterway.

Xayaburi dam fight stepped up

Protesters ask for public hearing on the impacts

8/12/2011
Mongkol Bangprapa
Bangkok Post

Xayaburi dam protesters in eight provinces plan to petition the Administrative Court to revoke a Thai-Laos contract on joint usage of electricity produced by the dam on the Mekong River.

Calling themselves the "people network" in the Mekong basin, the group took to the streets after the Mekong River Commission (MRC) began a three-day meeting in Cambodia yesterday to discuss the controversial project.

The network said it disagreed with what it claimed was a "non-publicised" cabinet resolution in June that allowed the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand to sign a contract with Vientiane on electricity usage because the project has yet to go through a complete public hearing process in Thailand.

Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam mull controversial river dam

December 8, 2011

PHNOM PEHN (Kyodo) -- A closed-door meeting on a controversial plan to build a dam on the Mekong River in Laos began Wednesday with participation from officials and experts of that country and its downstream neighbors Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The preparatory meeting in Siem Reap on the proposed Xayaburi mainstream hydropower development project in northern Laos will be followed by a plenary session Thursday involving water resource and environment ministers of the four countries.

Both meetings on the proposed 1,260-megawatt dam, which would be constructed at a cost of $3.5 billion to generate power for consumption in Thailand and Laos, are being organized in Cambodia's northern province of Siem Reap by the Mekong River Commission Secretariat.

Mekong nations meet on controversial Laos dam

PHNOM PENH, December 8, 2011 (AFP) - Energy-starved Laos sought the green light from Southeast Asian neighbours on Thursday for a proposed hydropower dam on the Mekong River that faces fierce opposition from conservationists.

The landlocked nation held high-level talks with Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam -- the three other members of the Mekong River Commission -- in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap to discuss the $3.8 billion Xayaburi project.

Activists warn that the vast 1,260 megawatt dam in Laos, the first of 11 planned for the mainstream lower Mekong, could spell disaster for the roughly 60 million people who depend on the waterway.

Xayaburi Dam and the Fate of the Mekong

December 6, 2011
By Andrew Howley
National Geographic

Representatives of the nations around the Mekong River are meeting this week to make a decision regarding the construction of a large new dam that would have varied and substantial effects throughout the region (read the backstory in this NG News article from March 2011).

National Geographic Emerging Explorer Zeb Hogan has worked extensively in the region, studying the river’s largest fish as a way of understanding the health of the freshwater system as a whole (see photos of the megafish threatened by the dams). Here he discusses the possible impacts of the proposed Xayaburi Dam and the importance of this week’s decision.

What are pros and cons of the proposed Xayaburi Dam?

Laos has said that it wants to be the “Battery of Asia” and has plans for approximately 55 dams to produce hydropower to export to neighboring countries. This hydropower comes at a cost however. While dams will produce electricity that will provide much needed income for Laos, mainstream Mekong dams can impair ecosystem services worth billions of dollars a year.

Decision looms on first Mekong mainstream dam

December 6, 2011

(AP) BANGKOK — Impoverished Laos is poised to erect the first dam across the Mekong River's mainstream as it pursues its goal of being Asia's battery despite intense opposition from downstream countries and environmental groups.

In what has become Southeast Asia's biggest environmental battle, opponents say the dam in central Laos would open the door for a building spree of many as 10 others on the Mekong in Laos and Cambodia, degrading its fragile ecology and affecting the livelihoods of millions of residents.

A regional river management forum is expected Thursday to approve, reject or postpone a decision on the $3.5 billion Xayaburi dam during a meeting in Cambodia of four Southeast Asian nations through which the mighty, 3,000-mile-long (4,900-kilometer-long) river flows.

However, there are signs that Laos is prepared to go ahead with the project with or without the Mekong River Commission's approval — since the decisions are not legally binding — raising questions about the effectiveness of a 15-year project to jointly manage the river.

One dam thing after another

Though the Mekong is in peril, riparian governments seem oddly insouciant

Nov 12th 2011
The Economist

So it is puzzling that Cambodia, though it has expressed reservations about Xayaburi, is not up in arms about it. This is a country, after all, that this year risked all-out war with Thailand in a petty spat over a bit of disputed borderland. There are a number of possible explanations. One is that two of the 11 planned downstream dams are in Cambodia itself. Another is that China supports dams and is a generous benefactor to the elected but dictatorial government of Hun Sen, the prime minister. A third is that Cambodia, like Laos, is riven with corruption. A tiny percentage of a billion-dollar project can buy a lot of acquiescence in poor countries.

CLIMATE change threatens the Mekong river, continental South-East Asia’s lifeblood, at both source and mouth. As glaciers shrink in the Tibetan Himalayas from where the river springs, so will the snow melt that helps to feed it; as sea levels rise, salination will worsen in the Mekong delta in Vietnam at the far end of its 5,000km (3,200-mile) length. Yet it is what is planned in between—no fewer than 19 dams on the mainstream, in addition to dozens on its tributaries—that is terrifying ecologists. The flows of fertile sediment that have for centuries sustained farmers along the Mekong’s banks will diminish. Species of fish that have provided livelihoods and protein for millions of people (some 60m live in the lower Mekong basin) are unlikely to survive the obstacles to their migrations.

Four dams have already been built and another is under construction on the northern half of the river in China, which is hungry for its hydroelectric potential. China argues that its full “cascade” of eight dams, to be completed within a couple of decades, will enable it to help avert the dreadful wet-season flooding to which the region is prone—this year, of course, above all. Yet downstream countries—Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam—are nervous about the control over them this will give China. Of more immediate concern is the Laotian government’s determination to build the first mainstream dam south of China, at a place called Xayaburi. It is already building roads to the site, despite calls for a delay from Vietnam, supported by the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernmental body grouping together the four lower-basin countries.

Mekong nations to meet on controversial Laos dam

By Suy Se

PHNOM PENH, December 6, 2011 (AFP) - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam hold high-level talks on Thursday to decide whether to approve a controversial proposed dam on the Mekong River fiercely opposed by environmentalists.

The $3.8 billion Xayaburi project in Laos is the first of 11 dams planned for the mainstream lower Mekong, and activists warn that a green light could spell disaster for the roughly 60 million people who depend on the waterway.

Thailand, which has agreed to purchase some 95 percent of the electricity generated by the dam, has already indicated it will not oppose the project at this week's environment ministers' meeting in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap.

But Vietnam and Cambodia, wary of the dam's impact on their farm and fishing industries, have expressed strong concern and are calling for more studies on the impact of the vast 1,260 megawatt dam before it is allowed to go ahead.

Save the Mekong coalition urges cancellation of Lao dam project

Dec 6, 2011
DPA

Bangkok - Opponents of the 3.8-billion-dollar Xayaburi dam on Tuesday urged the Mekong River Commission to cancel the project at their meeting this week, to ensure healthy fisheries for the region and avoid cross-border conflict.

Save the Mekong, a coalition of 39 civil society groups and non-government organizations, sent a letter to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Council on the eve of their three-day meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia, at which the fate of the dam is to be decided.

The letter coincided with an advertisement campaign launched by the group in newspapers in Thailand and Cambodia that called on the prime ministers of those countries and of Laos and Vietnam to oppose the controversial hydropower project.

Dams of destruction threaten Mekong

The Mekong River at the site of the planned Xayaburi hydropower project in Laos. Experts say the dam will wreak havoc on the ecology of the entire Lower Mekong region.

6/12/2011
Kirk Herbertson
Bangkok Post

This week a decision will be made in Siem Reap, Cambodia, that could shape the future of the mighty Mekong River and fundamentally alter the lives of 60 million people.

The governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam will meet tomorrow and Thursday near the ancient temple of Angkor Wat, to discuss the controversial Xayaburi Dam in Laos, which threatens to become the first dam on the Lower Mekong River. Under a 1995 treaty, the four governments must reach a consensus before any project can be built on the Lower Mekong.

If Xayaburi is approved, it could open the floodgates for 10 more dams to be built on the river. If all the projects are built, an estimated 55% of the Lower Mekong would be turned into a stagnant reservoir. The world's largest inland fishery would be decimated by giant walls that prevent millions of fish from migrating to their breeding grounds. Farmers would lose access to the nutrients that the river carries down from its upper reaches, and millions of people would lose access to the fish that are an essential source of protein in their diets.