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| Traditional Lao village life is threatened by proposed dams across the Mekong River. [Image Credit: Thomas Raynaud] |
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| A few of the 850-plus species of Mekong fish, many of them unique to the river [Image Credit: Thomas Raynaud] |
Hydropower might help the region but risks loss of biodiversity and a way of life
January 10, 2011
By Rachel Nuwer
ScienceLine.org
The sleepy Lao village of Ban Hat exists today much as it has for decades. Village children dart amongst their families’ fishing boats, laughing as they splash one another with the muddy water of the Mekong River. Life is defined by the ebb and flow of the Mekong, which ushers in fish for families and nutrients for crops and pools in flooding cycles essential for rice production.
This source of subsistence could soon be threatened, however: The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) recently took steps to begin construction on the first of 12 proposed hydropower dams on the Mekong. While these projects could bring much-needed revenue to Laos and its neighboring Southeast Asian countries, they would irrevocably alter the characteristics of the river, impacting everything from fishes to flooding. And the dams’ most significant costs would be shouldered by those who can least afford it, some experts say — especially poor villagers in small riverside communities like Ban Hat.
Laos’ proposal to build a dam in Sayaburi Province, in the middle stretch of the Mekong, has provoked a lengthy debate. Viraphonh Viravong, director of the Lao Department of Electricity, believes the project will bring many benefits to his country, although he admits a serious risk is posed to fisheries. Researchers’ concerns extend beyond fisheries, however. The dams “will have profound . . . negative consequences for people, agriculture, fisheries, and riverine ecology,” said Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute research associate Tyson Roberts who has studied Mekong fishes for over 40 years. “For reasons I have not quite fathomed, engineers are often ignorant when it comes to ecological impacts of hydrodams,” he said.
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This source of subsistence could soon be threatened, however: The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) recently took steps to begin construction on the first of 12 proposed hydropower dams on the Mekong. While these projects could bring much-needed revenue to Laos and its neighboring Southeast Asian countries, they would irrevocably alter the characteristics of the river, impacting everything from fishes to flooding. And the dams’ most significant costs would be shouldered by those who can least afford it, some experts say — especially poor villagers in small riverside communities like Ban Hat.
Laos’ proposal to build a dam in Sayaburi Province, in the middle stretch of the Mekong, has provoked a lengthy debate. Viraphonh Viravong, director of the Lao Department of Electricity, believes the project will bring many benefits to his country, although he admits a serious risk is posed to fisheries. Researchers’ concerns extend beyond fisheries, however. The dams “will have profound . . . negative consequences for people, agriculture, fisheries, and riverine ecology,” said Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute research associate Tyson Roberts who has studied Mekong fishes for over 40 years. “For reasons I have not quite fathomed, engineers are often ignorant when it comes to ecological impacts of hydrodams,” he said.
Please click here to read more...
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