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| Cambodia Fisheries personnel release a Mekong giant catfish. The 5-foot (1.5-meter) megafish weighed nearly 100 pounds (50 kilograms). (Photograph by Chor Sokunthea, DCS/DY/Reuters) |
Livelihoods and dozens of aquatic species at risk, according to those opposed to the Xayaburi dam.
March 25, 2011
Ker Than
for National Geographic News
A meeting between four Southeast Asian countries this week could determine whether construction of the first of up to a dozen controversial dams on the Mekong River can proceed.
The dams are designed to generate electricity for the region, but environmentalists fear they will disrupt the Mekong’s delicate freshwater ecology—which supports the endangered giant Mekong catfish and dozens of other critical species—and threaten local communities who rely on the river for food and jobs.
“We believe the Mekong River dams should not be built,” said Ame Trandem, a campaigner for the environmental group International Rivers.
The Xayaburi Dam in northern Laos is the first of 11 proposed dams planned for construction on the lower Mekong River. Nine dams are planned for Laos, and two others are slated for Cambodia.
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