Thailand’s gold panners blame Mekong dams in China, Laos as fortune dries up

[webfact]

Hieng Chantarasee, a 70-year-old gold panner in Loei province of Thailand, a few kilometres downstream from the proposed Sanakham dam in Laos. Photo: Vijitra Duangdee

 

● ‘I used to find pieces of gold the size of a tamarind seed,’ says Rodjana Thepwong, 64. ‘Now there are only tiny amounts’

● It is not only gold that is disappearing. Activists say the diets, livelihoods and environment of 60 million people have been jeopardised by the dams, and that effects are getting starker

 

Vijitra Duangdee

 

Under a peeling sun, two Thai  grandmothers pan for gold along the Mekong River, sifting both through its muddy shale banks and their own memories of happier times for a waterway which has been changed forever by upstream hydropower dams.

 

By the time the Mekong reaches them in Loei, on the Thai-Laos border, the water has already been strained through a dozen dams – 11 of them in China  and one in Laos.

.

The dams, say locals and experts, have decimated fish habitats and changed the natural seasonal flow of the water, and even its colour.

 

Full story: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3134668/thailands-gold-panners-blame-mekong-dams-china-laos-fortune

 

-- © Copyright South China Morning Post 2021-05-26

 

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[RichardColeman]

 

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

It is not only gold that is disappearing. Activists say the diets, livelihoods and environment of 60 million people have been jeopardised by the dams, and that effects are getting starker

Yet they welcome the people stealing their water, giving them covid, destroying their economy and selling them a cure for a disease they let escape. 

 

Last thing I'd do if a guest wrecked my house is invite them back in. 

[damen]

35 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

 

Yet they welcome the people stealing their water, giving them covid, destroying their economy and selling them a cure for a disease they let escape. 

 

Last thing I'd do if a guest wrecked my house is invite them back in. 

So what can Thailand do? Have war with China? Haha

 

even the great USA or EU cannot do anything to China except bowing down. 
 

From what I see, a very sensible choice would be seeking friendship with everyone. 

[ukrules]

Yep, China is 'tightening the screws' and applying more pressure.....

[Somtamnication]

They are blaming the wind. Gold, and particularly alluvial gold, has already been deposited millions of years ago. Panning these rivers or creeks for gold that has been there for millions of years. They don't arrive daily! Next!

[Penicillin]

2 hours ago, damen said:

So what can Thailand do? Have war with China? Haha

 

even the great USA or EU cannot do anything to China except bowing down. 
 

From what I see, a very sensible choice would be seeking friendship with everyone. 

Well done!  Neville Chamberlain himself couldn’t have said it better. 

[mtls2005]

Half-expecting anutin to send them out to pan for vaccines.

[Ventenio]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

● ‘I used to find pieces of gold the size of a tamarind seed,’ says Rodjana Thepwong, 64. ‘Now there are only tiny amounts’

● It is not only gold that is disappearing. Activists say the diets, livelihoods and environment of 60 million people have been jeopardised by the dams, and that effects are getting starker

 

If I'm a gold digger....no, wait.....gold miner at the age of 64, it better be for fun.  finding gold 50-years ago doesn't mean there's an endless supply.....

 

60 million people affected........

 

this number is way to big to get your head around.  falangs have zero power over the chinese.

 

easier to get mad for 100-years over the one bad falang who doesn't wear their mask!!!!!!!!!

 

60 million......and we do nothing!!!!!!!  and we take their vac.....lol

 

we are the dumbest species..........100 million posts on one guy who is on overstay..... ZERO on trying to help 60 million people......

 

don't worry TVF members, I'm on it

 

after my 20-baht noodle soup

[canopy]

 

46 minutes ago, Ventenio said:

60 million......and we do nothing!!!!!!!

 

Back in the 50's the mekong commission decided to exploit the mekong resources including damming it all up. China was not allowed to be part of the commission--it was a decision by SE nations for the benefit of the of SE asian nations. The US fully backed the plan as they saw it as a way to stave off communism in poor nations and everyone was happy. Now that China has their hand in the cookie jar the US suddenly flip flopped their position and has taken the environmental high ground and are dead set against anything china does and making big waves. It's fun to watch the US propaganda machine in motion because they have gotten the common man to flip flop in turn with US foreign policy so perfectly that these new environmentalists only care what china is doing and nothing of the hundreds of new dams being built in SE Asia on the mekong and its tributaries. These "environmentalists" condemn dams in china a thousand kilometers away on environmental grounds, but downstream in their own countries not a peep. Laos's new mega dam being plopped just 2KM up from the thai border will devastate Thailand, the environment, and the poor people living along it.

 

Edited May 26, 2021 by canopy

[Ventenio]

34 minutes ago, canopy said:

 

 

Back in the 50's the mekong commission decided to exploit the mekong resources including damming it all up. China was not allowed to be part of the commission--it was a decision by SE nations for the benefit of the of SE asian nations. The US fully backed the plan as they saw it as a way to stave off communism in poor nations and everyone was happy. Now that China has their hand in the cookie jar the US suddenly flip flopped their position and has taken the environmental high ground and are dead set against anything china does and making big waves. It's fun to watch the US propaganda machine in motion because they have gotten the common man to flip flop in turn with US foreign policy so perfectly that these new environmentalists only care what china is doing and nothing of the hundreds of new dams being built in SE Asia on the mekong and its tributaries. These "environmentalists" condemn dams in china a thousand kilometers away on environmental grounds, but downstream in their own countries not a peep. Laos's new mega dam being plopped just 2KM up from the thai border will devastate Thailand, the environment, and the poor people living along it.

 

At the time, it was the largest single development project the United Nations had undertaken. No international river body had ever attempted to take on such encompassing responsibilities for financing, management and maintenance of water resources. The Mekong was considered one of the world’s greatest untamed rivers and riparian countries were keen to explore the potential for hydropower, irrigation and flood control development in order to capitalise on the river’s economic potential.

 

China didn't join the join the UN until later..."not allowed"?  maybe, but maybe they didn't want to join...... maybe for other reasons?  China in the 50's.....maybe....lots of stuff going on there...

 

--------------

 

 

the report found that there would be a 35-40 percent reduction in fish biomass by 2020. Moreover, the report warned that hydropower development through 2040 will eliminate migratory fish in large parts of the Mekong. No Mekong migratory fish species will be able to survive in the reservoirs of dams planned by 2020 and 2040.

Given that the MRC fisheries department has reported the value of the Mekong fisheries — the largest freshwater fisheries in the world — at $11 billion in wild-capture fish (excluding fish farms) for the MRC countries alone, observers might reasonably expect deep concern about the dire prospect of fish extinction.

However, three of the four member states — Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia — surprisingly declined to endorse this landmark document based on five years of research

 

the dam in Laos does seem o b

[Sticky Rice Balls]

4 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

 

Yet they welcome the people stealing their water, giving them covid, destroying their economy and selling them a cure for a disease they let escape. 

 

Last thing I'd do if a guest wrecked my house is invite them back in. 

the lesson is repeated until it is learned.......

[Pedrogaz]

5 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

 

Yet they welcome the people stealing their water, giving them covid, destroying their economy and selling them a cure for a disease they let escape. 

 

Last thing I'd do if a guest wrecked my house is invite them back in. 

Better than napalm on your kids and bombs on civilians

[Ventenio]

8 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

Better than napalm on your kids and bombs on civilians

wasn't done in fun.....there was a civil war, France was doing stuff in the 50's.....Communism was the word of the day......and it was war.  WW1 used some really horrible chemicals........

 

last month Israel was killing kids...now, Myramar killing kids as they extermination of muslims....China has kids in camps.....

 

let's get back to 2021......

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, ukrules said:

Yep, China is 'tightening the screws' and applying more pressure.....

Chinas world domination plan coming to fruition... years in the planning.

[NeoDinosaw]

9 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

They are blaming the wind. Gold, and particularly alluvial gold, has already been deposited millions of years ago. Panning these rivers or creeks for gold that has been there for millions of years. They don't arrive daily! Next!

The alluvium in the Mekong is gradually moving down-stream to build deltas into the South China Sea. Mixed in with the clays and silts are particles of gold.  They are not deposited millions of years ago as a finite resource; they are constantly replenished.  When I travelled up and down the Mekong in the 1990's there were always a few panners on what they assumed was Thai territory. Missed from most maps is the fact that, because Laos owns ALL the islands in the Mekong, the border appears to take out a small chunk of Thailand because it is continuously an island.  This is here that the gold settles-out when the velocity of the Mekong flow drops around the island.