MEKONG RIVER
Floods, soil erosion `worse than ever'
Villagers say release from dam to blame

Thirawat Khamthita

Erosion of the riverbank after the Mekong river breaches its banks is a common sight in Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong.
For years local people have witnessed the riverbank being washed away, but this year the damage left behind seems much greater. Water levels have receded, revealing a shocking sight.
Vast areas of land along 20-km stretch of the riverbank in Chiang Saen district from tambon Wiang to tambon Ban Saew and tambon Mae Ngern have been badly damaged. A 100-metre-long pier and ``scenic point'' have been torn to pieces by the influx of water.
Kampang Chantakul, chief of Ban Sobkham village, says the currents were stronger than ever this year and caused erosion in many areas. ``Those who live on the riverbank have to move away. We lose the land to floods every year.''
The bank had been reinforced to prevent erosion but it reinforcing the whole stretch was too expensive.``Reinforcement costs about 26 million baht a kilometre,'' he says. Mr Kampang said some villagers had heard that large cargo vessels upstream, especially in China, created ``big waves'' which damaged the bank.
Wisit Sitthisombat, Chiang Saen district chief, said erosion of the river bank was chronic and, given budget constraints, was hard to stop. ``We used rocks to reinforce the riverbank in several areas, otherwise there wouldn't have been any land left,'' he said.
Meanwhile, villagers in Chiang Khong's Ban Donti, Ban Pak-ing and Ban Huayluek say each village lost about 20 rai of land this year to floods and erosion. Jirasak Intayos, a local activist, said most of the land was farming land and the Lao side had also been affected. ``It has never been this serious. Erosion happens every year but not at this speed,'' he says.
Mr Jirasak said China's decision to release water from Manwan dam in Yunnan province to alleviate floods may have caused the river to breach its banks.
``Both China and Burma have cleared rocks from the river so there's nothing to slow down the water,'' he says.
Chainarong Setchue, director of the network for Southeast Asia's rivers, says the Manwan dam makes water levels in downstream countries fluctuate. ``The erosion of the riverbank is evidence that destruction of the ecosystem in upstream countries has impacts on the downstream countries,'' he said.
Bangkok Post. September 6, 2002.

Rough Waters
Cambodians fear the impact of a dam now being built. The
problem is, the dam is in Vietnam

By Richard Sine/PHNOM PENH

THE IMPOVERISHED FISHERMEN and farmers of Cambodia's wild northeast are all too familiar with the impact of Vietnam's Yali Falls dam, 70 kilometres up the Se San River from the Cambodian border. First, when major water releases from the dam began in 1996, water levels downstream started fluctuating strangely, killing fish and wildlife and
damaging riverfront farms. Then the water turned muddy, and villagers who drank it fell sick. Then came the flash floods, which were blamed for 32 deaths in 1999 and 2000, according to researchers.
Upwards of 50,000 villagers living near the river in Cambodia are suffering because of the dam, according to two joint studies conducted by environmental groups and the Cambodian government. A study on the Vietnam side of the border found similar problems.
So when Cambodian villagers heard that Vietnam was planning a smaller dam on the same river, 20 kilometres closer to
Cambodia, many were outraged. "One dam has caused enough problems," one man told a gathering of Cambodian officials and environmental activists in Stung Treng province in June, according to an aid worker who attended. "I have lost my rice fields, some of my animals, and there are less fish to catch in the river. Do they want us all to die?"
Vietnam's announcement in June that construction had begun surprised Cambodian officials who are still discussing with
Vietnam how to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the new dam, the Se San 3. "If we haven't started the EIA, why has Vietnam started to implement the project?" asks Sin Niny of the Cambodia National Mekong Committee, which is handling negotiations with Vietnam.
Why? "Vietnam wants to implement the project as soon as possible to meet our increased demand," says a Vietnamese
National Mekong Committee official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He says that Cambodia had been slow in
replying to Vietnam's proposals for an EIA, and argued that in any case the dam will lessen flooding and drought.
Indeed, Vietnamese officials are under considerable political pressure to build quickly. Mass protests shook Vietnam's rapidly growing Central Highlands last year, as ethnic minorities claimed they were victims of land theft and religious persecution. Vietnamese leaders have blamed foreign agents for stirring unrest, but also blame public dissatisfaction with slow development in the area.
The 720-megawatt, $273-million Se San 3 promises to supply electricity to about 3 million people in the Central Highlands, official Vietnamese media report. Vietnam would like to build six dams on the Se San and its tributaries;Cambodia has sought funding for two.
The environmental study for Yali Falls, conducted in the early 1990s, ignored downstream effects beyond a few kilometres of the dam site. A 1999 feasibility study on the Se San 3 by a Swedish firm, Sweco, did not cross into Cambodia. In late July, Vietnam ordered a study for a Se San 4 dam, a few kilometres from the Cambodian border.
Vietnam is well aware of the politics of dam-building, as itis already coping with the damming of the Mekong River upstream in China. Some see the fact that environmental impact studies are being planned as a sign of progress in
relations between two uneasy neighbours. Vietnam is paying for the studies, and the two countries are planning to conduct them jointly.
But given the lessons of the Yali dam, environmentalists expect the studies will make little difference. They are being started too late to have an impact on the new dam's design, says Wayne White, a natural resource economist who has done an independent review of the Se San 3 dam. And under its current design, the new dam will only "push the problems downstream," White said in an e-mail.
Sten Palmer, chief engineer of Sweco in Hanoi, said that while the Yali dam had negative impact, the damage has already been done. "We don't believe there will be any impact at all in Cambodia" from the Se San 3. "There will be no changes in the water discharge."
But environmentalists are sceptical about Vietnam's priorities. Using the second dam to lessen the impact, as the Vietnamese official suggests, would also reduce power output. "I don't think they're going to spend so much money on Se San 3 just to mitigate the effects of the Yali dam," says Gordon Paterson, a resource consultant based in Cambodia's northeast.
Vietnam Posts 'No Trespassing' Sign Vietnam's central city of Danang is desperately trying to lure foreign investors with tax breaks and land deals, but at least one new development project remains off-limits to foreigners. The Ministry of Defence has decided that only Vietnamese companies will be permitted to participate in building a tourism complex along the Son Tra peninsula, 15 kilometres northeast of Danang, which has long been closed to day-trippers due to its strategic military importance. The ministry approved the project in July after two years of lobbying by the local government, which sees lucrative tourism potential in forests brimming with monkeys and beaches rich with coral and other marine life. Mindful of Son Tra's two military bases and radar tower--which will remain in place--the Defence Ministry cites security
concerns in preferring domestic investors, according to Lam Quang Minh, vice-director of Danang's department of planning and investment. But foreign tourists will be welcome. Not surprisingly, the door remains open to military-owned
construction companies to bid on the project along with other local firms.
Far Eastern Economic Review. Issue cover-dated August 22, 2002