“Dams on the Lower Mekong will likely reduce the productivity of the region's agriculture and aquaculture industries, particularly in Cambodia and Laos.”
Tracy A. Farrell
From Tracy A. Farrell, for CNN
December 19, 2012
Editor's note: Tracy A.
Farrell is the Senior Technical Director of the Greater Mekong Program and
Director of the Freshwater Initiative for Conservation International. Farrell
served as Dean for the School for Field Studies and was also a Visiting
Professor/Instructor for Virginia Tech's Department of Forestry.
(CNN) -- Last month the
Cambodian government announced their plans to build a dam on one of the Mekong
River's most important tributaries, the 3-S River Basin, in 2014. This was
declared just five days before the government of Laos held their ceremony to
launch the construction of the controversial Xayaburi dam, the first dam to be
built on the lower Mekong River.
Conservation
International along with other conservation groups working in the region are
extremely concerned by this move and have requested a delay on this decision to
allow time for research to better understand the trade-offs between power
generation and the dam's impacts, and the opportunity to offer sustainable
alternatives for Cambodia's economy.
In Cambodia today only
about 5% of infrastructure projects go through the Ministry of Environment's
Environmental Impact Assessment process, and when they are completed, they
often do not include detailed studies of the full range of environmental
impacts.
“The biodiversity underpinning the ecosystem productivity and life that has thrived for thousands of years is in danger.”
Tracy A. Farrell
Such considerations are
crucial for the Greater Mekong region's development pathway and will ensure
that these countries are protecting yet utilizing their natural assets for the
benefit of their people, their economy and the environment.
The 3-S River Basin
(Sekong, Sesan and SrePok Rivers), borders Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and
supports 20% of the Mekong River water flows, ensuring food and water security
for millions of people living in the basin. It also contains some of the
region's most unique and rare biodiversity including yellow cheeked gibbons and
Asian arowana (dragon fish), among many other endangered and charismatic species.
Principally our concern
is for the people who rely on the water flows of the lower Mekong River for
their food, health, income and other essential livelihood securities. This
includes the people who live in the 3-S River Basin, the 1.1 million people
that depend on the Tonle Sap and another 60 million people living on the Mekong
Delta.
Our economic concern is
that dams on the Lower Mekong will likely reduce the productivity of the
region's agriculture and aquaculture industries, particularly in Cambodia and
Laos, and plunge them back into even more severe poverty then they currently suffer.
A recent assessment of
the 42 dams proposed for the river basin found that they are likely to produce
substantial changes to the natural fluctuation in the seasonal flow. This would
have severe impacts on the natural delivery of nutrients and other critical
aspects that are required for agricultural and fisheries productivity.
In Cambodia fish provide
85% of the population's protein needs and an essential source of fat. Right now
the Cambodian per capita in-take of fats is the lowest in Southeast Asia and
the most essential of these, the omega-3 fats which come from fish, are the
least available. If there was a reduction in fish populations, nutrition and
health will decline on a national scale and further deepen Cambodia's current
situation of severe poverty.
The biodiversity
underpinning the ecosystem productivity and life that has thrived for thousands
of years is in danger. Of all the various impacts on the horizon as a result of
this development, the most serious is the potential for major changes to the
migration patterns of fish. A recent environmental impact assessment of the
Lower Sesan 2 dam concluded that the impacts on fish populations will be very
severe.
As approximately 66% of
the Mekong fish species are migratory their passage will be blocked by the dam
in its current design which will seriously reduce the reproduction rate and
overall fish populations downstream will be reduced.
If this traditional
migration is hindered it could lead to a serious decline in fish reproduction
which will unbalance the delicate food chain on which this ecosystem depends.
This has already happened in other dam developments globally, due to lack of
adequate planning and understanding of the dams effects.
Before the construction
of the Pak Moon dam in Ubon Ratchathani province, Thailand, the waterway
contained over 250 species of fish. This plummeted over 80% when the dam began
operation, and a decade later, through extensive government investment to restock
the river, the species number is still less than half the original amount. More
than 20,000 people have been affected by this loss of fish. This dam was
anticipated to have a production capacity of 136 megawatts, but it can barely
generate 20 megawatts during high-demand months.
Conservation
International support the development of electricity generation for domestic
consumption and export as these are critical components of development for
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. We believe that the Greater Mekong region has the
potential to become a world leader by pursuing an innovative, low carbon, green
development pathway that will foster economic growth and create opportunities
for its people, while conserving the natural environment.
However, this region
needs integrated hydro-power development and conservation planning so that the
trade-offs between energy production and other ecosystem services, particularly
those vital for the survival of the people that depend on them, are better
understood before such dams are developed.
A delay will allow for
the delivery of decision support tools that can explain how different
scenarios, such as variances in the dam location, design and operation will
influence their impacts. Careful consideration must be made now of the potential
impacts of this, and other dams being considered for the 3-S River Basin, to
avoid serious losses and to form a positive solution for the people of the
lower Mekong, their energy needs and the environment on which they depend.
The opinions expressed in
this commentary are solely those of Tracy A. Farrell
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