02 12 2009 : :
Media Advisory: National Mekong Committee urged to take people-centered role on Mekong mainstream dams
[2.12.09]
Yesterday (1st December), on the final day of the Mekong River
Commission’s (MRC) call for public submissions to its Strategic
Environmental Assessment on the Mekong mainstream dams, the Save the
Mekong Coalition sent a letter to the Chairpersons of the National
Mekong Committees (NMCs) of Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam,
urging for a strong and trusted consultative process at the national
and local level on development options for the river, which guarantees
the participation of all riparian communities who would be affected by
the eleven dams proposed on the lower Mekong mainstream.
The
letter, copied to the MRC Secretariat and its donors, presents to the
NMC Chairpersons the 23,110 signature “Save the Mekong” postcard
petition, gathered by civil society groups in the Mekong region and
around the world since March 2009. The “Save the Mekong” postcard
petition was sent to the Prime Ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand
and Vietnam on 19th October 2009, requesting all the Prime Ministers,
as well as the NMC Chairpersons and international donors, to listen to
the voice of the Mekong People and keep the Mekong flowing freely of
dams, while also considering more sustainable ways to meet the region’s
electricity needs that avoid creating cross-border impacts and
disputes.
“Mekong mainstream dams threaten serious social and
environmental impacts, and to undermine regional food security, economy
and existing efforts to alleviate poverty and meet Millennium
Development Goals” the letter states.
Additionally, the letter
to the NMCs emphasizes the absence of strong national and local level
processes as a barrier to the MRC’s assessment, by stating that “the
MRC Secretariat has failed to listen and respond to peoples’ requests
and kept the assessment process on Mekong mainstream dams separate from
the actual realities on the ground.”
The letter requests that
the Chairpersons of the NMCs, as the ministerial-level members of the
MRC, incorporate the 23,110 signatures and their individual requests
into processes initiated by their own governments and the MRC as they
deem appropriate, thus improving processes at both the national and
regional level on the mainstream dams. The coalition also asks them to
act as key catalysts in urging for the release of all reports to the
public regarding Mekong mainstream dams written by the MRC and project
developers, and finally, asks for the NMCs to facilitate full public
consultation with riparian communities in their own respective
countries on the Mekong River’s development and the proposed Mekong
mainstream dams.
Until now, reports prepared by the MRC on
the proposed Don Sahong dam, the mainstream dam at the most advanced
stage of development on the Mekong mainstream in Southern Laos, haven’t
been released to the public, despite requests for the last two years.
The Malaysian project developer, Mega First Corporation Berhad, has
also not released any project documents to the public.
The
Save the Mekong coalition is a network of non-government organizations,
community groups, academics, journalists, artists, fishers, farmers and
ordinary people from within the Mekong countries and internationally.
Download the letters sent to:
For more information, please contact:
Premrudee Daoroung, Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance (TERRA)
Tel. +66 (0) 81-4342334; email: premrudee@terraper.org ; www.terraper.org
Carl Middleton , International Rivers, Tel: +66 (0) 84-6815332;
email: carl@internationalrivers.org; www.internationalrivers.org
Download this media release as a .pdf file
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