Procedures agreed upon for Mekong River projects notification

PHNOM PENH, Nov 26, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam have agreed on specific procedures to notify each other of any Mekong River projects undertaken in their own countries which may have impact on the neighbors, a press release from Mekong River Commission (MRC) said Tuesday.
The agreement was signed off on Nov. 12 in Ho Chi Minh city at the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Mekong River Council, the ruling body of the MRC.
Under the agreement, a six-month time was required for consultation between the countries affected, before a proposed development can begin.
The agreement, known as the Preliminary Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement, refers specifically to "inter- and intra-basin diversions" of Mekong water. These could involve any kind of water retention and diversion for the purposes of electricity generation, irrigation and
flood management.
Cambodian Minister of Public Works and Transport Khy Tainglim commended the efforts of all concerned in working towards the agreement as part of their "good faith effort" in negotiating rules for water utilization. He noted that the MRC "is moving to a higher phase of its development and is involved in more complex undertakings."
The agreement marks the second step in the series of rules on water utilization that the countries have been committed to developing since 1999, said the press release.

Download full text of the Agreement in pdf format: http://www.mrcmekong.org/pdf/Preliminary.pdf

China, Thailand to jointly build hydropower station in Yunnan.

Chinese and Thai experts have completed a joint feasibility study related to the joint construction of a large hydropower station at Jinghong in the lower reaches of Lancang River in southwest China Yunnan Province. Reports based on the feasibility study have been submitted to concerned departments for approval, with recommendations expected by the end of this year. If approved, construction of the hydropower station, jointly funded by China and Thailand, will begin early next year. The plant will begin generating power in 2004 and the final construction of the project will be completed in 2005. The hydropower station will be linked to the nearest grid and provide power to Thailand. Experts in the power industry note that the Jinghong Hydropower Station will be the first project to provide power to a foreign country. The Jinghong station, one of several large power stations in the lower reaches of the Lancang River, will have generating capacity of 1.5 million kw for short-term development. The plant will be built at an estimated eight billion yuan ($963 million), and will generate 7.34 billion kw/hours of electricity annually. Long-term development calls for the station, located some 400 km from the Thai cities of Chiang Mai and Bangkok, to have a generating capacity of 3.2 million kw in the second year of operation. Experts say that countries in the Lancang-Mekong River Valley, including China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam, have focused extensive attention on the construction of a large transregional power grid. Construction of the Jinghong station, which is completely in line with China's intent to encourage various forms of investment in power development over the next few years, will play a pioneering and exemplary role in cooperation related to power development in the region. Both the Chinese and Thai governments have exhibited great interest in constructing the station. Chinese Premier Li Peng expressed his support for the Sino-Thai cooperation. Li visited Yunnan in May 1996 on a fact-finding tour and listened to a report on construction of the power station. Thai Prime Minister Chavalit and senior Chinese leaders also discussed construction of the hydropower station during the former's official visit to China in last April. The fact that Yunnan is blessed with abundant hydropower resources combined with the fact that Thailand faces constantly increasing demand for power required for economic development but lacks energy resources provides a perfect scenarios for cooperative power development between the two countries. Since the early 1990s, the two sides have engaged in extensive negotiations concerning issues related to cooperating in the construction of the hydropower station. The feasibility study for the Jinghong station was funded by the Sino-Thai Jinghong Hydropower Station Consulting Co, a company jointly funded by the Yunnan Provincial Power Administration and MDX Group Company of Thailand. The project represents the first time China has allowed a foreign company to participate in preliminary planning for the construction of a major power station. The consulting company, which has registered capital of $500,000, was established especially for related work, and the Yunnan Provincial Power Administration holds 52 per cent of the shares. Power departments in both China and Thailand have conducted extensive discussions and debates concerning power transmission routes. The two sides have reached a consensus and are preparing to issue a special report in the near future. Construction of Jinghong Hydropower Station will greatly improve China's policies concerning the introduction of foreign investment for power development. However, the country's existing regulations lack power development policies related to the use of foreign funds to construct large hydropower stations linked to power grids in foreign countries.

PUBLIC RIGHT-TO-KNOW UNDERMINED IN NEW POLLUTION TREATY< style='margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt'>

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH INTERNATIONAL

Press Release: PUBLIC RIGHT-TO-KNOW UNDERMINED IN NEW POLLUTION TREATY

Amsterdam, 21st November, 2002 -- Negotiations on a new international reaty to increase the public's right-to-know on sources of pollution enter the final stages with a United Nations meeting in Geneva next week.

But environmentalists are warning that key chemicals and radioactive waste are likely to be excluded from the treaty, following lobbying from industry and the conservative positions taken by governments. Delegates are discussing the new protocol under the 1998 Aarhus "public participation" Convention, which will require participating countries to collect and publish information on quantities of pollutants released from certain industrial sources and probably from diffuse sources such as traffic. The meeting follows a two-year process involving countries from Europe, Central Asia, the US and Canada, as well as representatives from environmental NGOs, including Friends of the Earth, and representatives from the chemical industry (CEFIC). The information will be compiled in to "Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers" or "PRTRs". Such registers are already used in the UK and US and are believed to have helped drive down pollution levels and provided both the public and authorities with useful information. A number of key issues are still to be resolved, including which chemicals are to be listed, with suggestions that many chemicals linked to cancer should be excluded. Decisions are also still to be

made as to whether the disposal or storage of hazardous chemicals on-site should be included. The exact list of industries and activities covered is also still to be finalised, but countries are overwhelmingly opposed to the inclusion of nuclear facilities under the treaty. Environmentalists have pushed for a more ambitious treaty, whilst recognising that a comprehensive pollution register cannot be achieved in one single stage. But European Union countries have opposed the more ambitious elements proposed in the initial draft.

Friends of the Earth Pollution Researcher, Mary Taylor, speaking for the NGO coalition European ECO Forum, said : "The protocol should be a step forward for many countries, but the lack of ambition - particularly from the EU - is dismal. The public should have the right to know what chemicals are being discharged by companies and where they are being stored. Protecting certain sectors such as the nuclear industry from public scrutiny, or avoiding the inclusion of cancer-causing chemicals, is scandalous."

Hungry Cambodia at the Mercy of Climate Change

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, November 26, 2002 (ENS) - Cambodia, already one of the most disaster prone countries in Southeast Asia, is now going
through cycles of drought and flood due to global climate change, according to the Cambodian director for the United Nations World Food Programme. Some 670,000 Cambodians will need thousands of tons of food aid in the next five weeks because their crops have been wiped out, the agency said Monday. World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director Rebecca Hansen emphasized that these new food shortages must serve as a "wake up call" to the "startling weather patterns that have sabotaged the Cambodian rice crop of vulnerable farmers" in affected areas for the past three years. The WFP has identified 187 "priority communes" out of a total of 1,621 where there has been either too little or too much precipitation for the crops.
Instead of distributing straight food relief to the people in these areas, Hansen says the WFP is providing food for work. Over 1,700 metric tons of food is being distributed for disaster mitigation projects such as reservoir rehabilitation, community ponds, dikes, and dams for irrigation purposes. This food will benefit an estimated 56,000 people in 116 villages in eight of the most affected provinces. Hansen says next year the WFP will support community rice banks and rainwater reservoirs. "It is vital to build these defenses against food shortages in the future," she said. "To ignore the threat of climate change is to gamble with people's lives."
Cambodia has the typical Southeast Asian annual flood season starting in August when torrential rains fill rivers to overflowing. Rohan Kay of the International Red Cross wrote in September 2001 that rural Cambodians traditionally view the annual floods is a blessing, not a curse. "Without such waters carrying nutrient rich silt over their fields, farmers would harvest few crops. But last year, the floods were worse than normal. Cambodia weathered three floods, not the usual one," Kay wrote. In 2000, the Mekong Delta countries, including Cambodia, experienced the worst floods in 70 years. Eighty percent of Cambodia's rice harvest was destroyed in 2000 with only half replanted in time before the rains ended. The damage from the 2000 floods was still being dealt with when the 2001 floods arrived. "Hundreds of thousands of people have had insufficient time to get back on their feet after being knocked down by last year's floods," said Seija Tyrninoksa, head of the International Red Cross Cambodia delegation. When last year's floods hit, the WFP provided emergency food aid to some 95,000 people who lost their homes or rice crops. In 2001 and again this year, the country has been parched by severe drought before the floods came. In some areas of the country two planting seasons in a row were lost. Now the World Food Programme, through the UN Disaster Management team, is collaborating with the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to purchase local rice, fish and vegetable oil and deliver it to more than 10,000 hungry families. About 6,500 metric tons of food aid will be required, Hansen said. A new study by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies shows that the number of people in the Pacific Rim region affected by natural disasters increased by 65 times over the past 30 years. The study quotes scientists who predict that the El Nino warming ocean phenomenon will give rise to even more cyclones and droughts around the Pacific Rim this coming year.