Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Vietnam calls for more research on Mekong dam planned in Laos

19 Apr, 2011
Source: Monsters and Critics

Hanoi - The Vietnamese government has called for more research into the impact of a hydropower dam on the Mekong River before construction begins in Laos, local media reported Tuesday.

The river is important to the people along its banks, the Viet Nam News newspaper quoted Nguyen Phuong Nga, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as saying.

'Mekong nations need to work closely together to exploit and use the natural resources in a fair and proper manner in order to protect the environment,' she said.

She made the statement before the Mekong River Commission - consisting of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia - was scheduled to meet Tuesday in Vientiane to discuss the Xayaburi dam.

Even if Laos does not receive the regional committee's approval, it may proceed with the 3.5-billion-dollar dam on the lower Mekong River, which flows through the four counties. Most of the electricity it would produce would be exported to Thailand.

Both Vietnam and Cambodia oppose the dam. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) environmental group warned that the dam's environmental impact assessment was 'woefully inadequate and fell well below international standards for such studies.'

The WWF and 263 international non-governmental organizations have called for a 10-year moratorium on all lower Mekong dams until full assessments are made on their impacts.

Environmentalists said they fear that the construction of the Xayaburi dam would disrupt fish migrations in the lower Mekong, which would have devastating impacts on food supplies for millions of people.

China has already built four hydropower dams in Yunnan province on the upper Mekong, projects that have also been criticized by environmental groups and downstream governments.

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