International Rivers
December 16, 2014
The Mekong River is the mother of all rivers, providing life-sustaining resources to millions of people. However the future of the Mekong River and her people are in jeopardy.
The Mekong River is the mother of all rivers, providing life-sustaining resources to millions of people. However the future of the Mekong River and her people are in jeopardy.
The government of Laos plans to build the Don Sahong Dam – the second dam proposed for construction on the Lower Mekong mainstream – on the main pathway in the Mekong that allows for year-round fish migration. If built, the Don Sahong Dam will entirely block the Hou Sahong Channel – endangering fish migration throughout the region with far-reaching consequences for food and livelihood security in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.
The site of the Don Sahong Dam is a unique section of the Mekong River, home to one of the last remaining populations of critically endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins as well as the iconic Khone Phapheng waterfalls, and near an internationally protected Ramsar site in downstream Cambodia. Lives in this area and throughout the Mekong are intricately entwined with the river, which provides an identity and rich history, as well as a source of income and food security.
Since September 2013, the government of Laos has been working hard to push the Don Sahong Dam forward, beginning construction before consultation with neighboring governments and without sufficient studies to measure the transboundary impacts of the project. Mitigation measures put forward by the developer are unproven to work.
Cambodia and Vietnam have expressed strong concerns about the potential impacts of the Don Sahong Dam and called for a 10-year moratorium on all dam building in the Mekong. All four governments are expected to meet in January 2015, at the end of a six-month regional consultation process, to decide the future of the Don Sahong Dam.
It is a critical time to make our voices heard: We need to call on Mekong leaders to stop gambling with the lives of their people and future of the vital resources provided by the Mekong River.
