Chinese dams are causing serious problems on River Mekong

[ASEAN NOW News]

Beijing [China], July 14 (ANI): China's construction of large hydropower dams along the River Mekong is starting to cause serious problems downriver, leaving the region dry.

 

Xiaowan Dam

 

This is having devastating impacts on water availability and the fertile soil that feeds hundreds of millions of people in Southeast Asia.

 

People living along the river and even those dependent on its water are now staring at survival.

 

Future Dams

 

The gravity of the problem can be gauged from the fact that Laos, which has a poor rating for transparency and accountability, has planned to build 140 dams on the Mekong and its tributaries with financial assistance from China.

 

River Mekong that originates in the Tibetan plateau and flows through six countries is home to the world's largest inland fishery and supports the livelihoods of over 60 million people in poor countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

 

China has built as many as eleven giant dams in the mountainous region of the upper Mekong to meet its energy needs.

 

Moreover, it has plans to widen the river and build hundreds of dams in the Lower Mekong River and its tributaries as a part of the Belt Road Initiative (BRI).

 

Owing to China's haphazard construction activities in the upper Mekong, the regions in the lower basin area are witnessing droughts as well as the destruction of fishery and agriculture activities.

 

Now, the further construction activities under BRI, which include altering Mekong's flow, are going to have serious negative environmental impacts that will destroy millions of livelihoods in poor South Asian countries.

 

A 2018 report by Mekong River Commission, an inter-governmental river basin organisation, said the dam construction activities will have a negative impact on the ecology and health and livelihood of poor people living along the River Mekong.

 

"Hydropower projects reduce wet-season flows and increase dry-season flows under normal operations (except for climate extremes). This increases irrigation potential, reduces flood damage, provides drought relief, but has negative impacts on river ecosystems, sustainability and food security associated with fisheries," warned the report.

 

Not just river beds but villages along the river were demolished to make a way for giant Chinese-constructed dams.

 

In 2019, the water level in the Mekong River had dropped to its lowest level in a century. This had impacted fish supplies, rice plantation and overall health of the ecosystem around the river badly.

 

As dams were constructed without any checks, the Mekong region was leading toward "ecological peril," accelerated by climate change, which may cause the river to die soon, said Brian Eyler, Director of the Southeast Asia program at the Stimson Centre.

 

China's dam in the upper Mekong region has led to a decrease in water levels in the lower river basin, causing droughts.

 

This has impacted Vietnam significantly, forcing people to travel a long distance to get water for daily use.

 

The construction of the Nuozhadu dam by China has led the Mekong River to change its natural course, leading to a "severe lack of water in the lower Mekong", showed satellite data from 1992-2019.

 

The South-East Asian countries are too weak to demand China to stop blocking water. They continue to face the ill- effects of Chinese dam constructions.

 

In Cambodia, the fishery and rice cultivation have been impacted as hydroelectric dams caused a reduction in the supply of fish and nutrients.

 

In Thailand, the army had to be called in to assist people who were affected by droughts, fueled by the Xayaburi dam on the Mekong.

 

Moreover, the Beijing government has plans to widen the Mekong by detonating explosives to blast rocks and sandbars to create a passage for large 500-ton Chinese riverboats.

 

Environmentalists blamed China for giving primacy to economic interests brought about by hydroelectricity, rather than acknowledging the adverse impacts on the Mekong River and communities in the lower flow. 

 

[mfd101]

If all the down-river countries united and spoke with one very loud voice, including before the relevant international bodies (International Court,  UN Security Council ... ), the Chinese would have to take notice. Even they are becoming sensitive to their increasing unpopularity worldwide because of their exploitative behaviours.

[simon43]

15 hours ago, mfd101 said:

If all the down-river countries united and spoke with one very loud voice, including before the relevant international bodies (International Court,  UN Security Council ... ), the Chinese would have to take notice. Even they are becoming sensitive to their increasing unpopularity worldwide because of their exploitative behaviours.

The UN Security Council would be vetoed by China, which sits on that council.

 

China is not a member of the International Court.

 

Next!

[mfd101]

16 minutes ago, simon43 said:

The UN Security Council would be vetoed by China, which sits on that council.

 

China is not a member of the International Court.

 

Next!

As we see with the International Court decision on the South China Sea, such continuing bad publicity for the Chinese does not go unnoticed, whether by the Chinese or others. It stiffens the resolve of both the weak countries in the neighborhood and the great 'n powerful opposed to Chinese expansionism.

 

Even Xi has recently been reigning in his wolf warrior diplomats. Every little helps.