Nakhon Sawan Mae Wong Dam would flood tiger habitat: activists

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ENVIRONMENT
Dam would flood tiger habitat : activists
Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation



NAKHON SAWAN: -- A group of prominent environmental activists will kick off a protest today against the Nakhon Sawan Mae Wong Dam project, calling on the government to scrap the plan.

They said the dam project would inundate more than 13,000 rai of forest areas in Mae Wong National Park, affecting the balance of wildlife, including tigers.

A group led by Seub Nakhasathien Foundation's secretary-general Sasin Chalermlarp, will hand the petition to the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP)'s panel of environmental experts.

It will request they stop conducting a environmental and health impact assessment (EHIA) report on the proposed dam.

The Mae Wong Dam project was initiated by the Royal Irrigation Department (RID) 30 years ago and is now part of the government's Bt350-billion water-management and flood-prevention scheme.

The dam is aimed at resolving flood and drought problems in areas, which deliver water to 291,900 rai of irrigated areas in Nakhon Sawan, Kamphaeng Phet and Uthai Thani.

RID submitted the EHIA report for ONEP's deliberation several times without success, as it did not include information about proper measures to mitigate the impact of the project on the flora and fauna in the area.

In a bid to protest over the dam plan, Sasin and other environmental activists will start walking from Bangkok to the dam construction site located in Nakhon Sawan province's Mae Wong National Park. They will also tear up the EHIA report, page by page, during their protest trip. Sasin said he protested about the dam project because it would affect thousands of rai in the country's western forest complex, such as Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, a world natural heritage site, and the Kamphaeng Phet's Klong Lan National Park.

According to the study by three environmental agencies - the National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation Department, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the WorldWide Fund - these areas are important habitat for wild tigers.

He also found the dam would not protect the local area and Chao Phraya river basin from flooding as it could retain only 258 million cubic metres of water.

Sasin said there were irregularities in the EHIA deliberative process. The government had changed membership of the environmental expert panel who studied the project's EHIA report several times to speed up the approval process.

ONEP secretary-general Santi Boonprakub said his agency would submit the EHIA report for consideration by the National Environmental Board and Independent Commission on Environment and Health to seek additional recommendations on the project before getting the final Cabinet approval.


-- The Nation 2013-09-09

[lee b]

Get the tigers away from that then !!!

[Dibbler]

The Mae Wong dam project is not really about supplying anyone with water or preventing flooding. As with almost every other large dam project in Thailand, it's primarily an opportunity to log a pristine forest and extract the commercially valuable timber legally when commercial harvest of timber from forest reserves has been banned since 1989. The beneficiaries of this "legal" harvest will likely include politicians all the way down the food chain to local OBT. Local people, wildlife and forests come last in the lineup of beneficiaries.

[hellodolly]

Get the tigers away from that then !!!

Start another Tiger show. Or perhaps move them into the parliament building. Or find some rice farmers who would like to have them.

The Mae Wong dam project is not really about supplying anyone with water or preventing flooding. As with almost every other large dam project in Thailand, it's primarily an opportunity to log a pristine forest and extract the commercially valuable timber legally when commercial harvest of timber from forest reserves has been banned since 1989. The beneficiaries of this "legal" harvest will likely include politicians all the way down the food chain to local OBT. Local people, wildlife and forests come last in the lineup of beneficiaries.

Correct it is all about money. I am talking the money that will go into the pockets of the Politicians and their friends. The environment and animals are meaningless to them. Also the people living there and supporting them selves with the products from the area. Move them and turn them into fishermen?

[billd766]

How many of the people here and all of the activists actually live in the area or have even visited the place>

I can put my hand up because I live next to the Mae Wong and Klong Lan National park. It is just the other side of my back fence.

Go down the river from Mae Wong towards Lat Yao and Nakhon Sawan and ask how many times in ten years they get flooded out?

It will be 7 or 8 out of every 10 years.

The water supply for some of the villages comes from Mae Wong and 6 years out of 10 there isn't ANY household water supply for weeks at a time.

This year we had NO water for 12 weeks and it had to be trucked in by the local fire engine on a daily basis.

The area affected is about 20 sq km and the Mae Wong national park has 894 sq km. The tigers and their food supply will move away from the dam area.

Klong Lan national park is 420 sq km and the dam on my side needs about 4 or 5 sq km of farming land.

[Dibbler]

How many of the people here and all of the activists actually live in the area or have even visited the place>

I can put my hand up because I live next to the Mae Wong and Klong Lan National park. It is just the other side of my back fence.

Go down the river from Mae Wong towards Lat Yao and Nakhon Sawan and ask how many times in ten years they get flooded out?

It will be 7 or 8 out of every 10 years.

The water supply for some of the villages comes from Mae Wong and 6 years out of 10 there isn't ANY household water supply for weeks at a time.

This year we had NO water for 12 weeks and it had to be trucked in by the local fire engine on a daily basis.

The area affected is about 20 sq km and the Mae Wong national park has 894 sq km. The tigers and their food supply will move away from the dam area.

Klong Lan national park is 420 sq km and the dam on my side needs about 4 or 5 sq km of farming land.

If you've chosen to enjoy life with nature in the backyard, buy a rainwater tank, dig your own mini-dam on your property, and/or dig a well for your own consumption during the warmer months. Or consider moving to a place that has year-round water for human consumption such as the nearest larger town or village, and leave the forests of Mae Wong to the tigers and forests, and for visitors to recreate (and then leave), as the national park was originally designated for? Why insist upon more human encroachment on natural forests? There's less than a fifth of the country with any native forests in this country due to rampant destruction, poor (human) landuse planning and law-breaking.

[billd766]

How many of the people here and all of the activists actually live in the area or have even visited the place>

I can put my hand up because I live next to the Mae Wong and Klong Lan National park. It is just the other side of my back fence.

Go down the river from Mae Wong towards Lat Yao and Nakhon Sawan and ask how many times in ten years they get flooded out?

It will be 7 or 8 out of every 10 years.

The water supply for some of the villages comes from Mae Wong and 6 years out of 10 there isn't ANY household water supply for weeks at a time.

This year we had NO water for 12 weeks and it had to be trucked in by the local fire engine on a daily basis.

The area affected is about 20 sq km and the Mae Wong national park has 894 sq km. The tigers and their food supply will move away from the dam area.

Klong Lan national park is 420 sq km and the dam on my side needs about 4 or 5 sq km of farming land.

If you've chosen to enjoy life with nature in the backyard, buy a rainwater tank, dig your own mini-dam on your property, and/or dig a well for your own consumption during the warmer months. Or consider moving to a place that has year-round water for human consumption such as the nearest larger town or village, and leave the forests of Mae Wong to the tigers and forests, and for visitors to recreate (and then leave), as the national park was originally designated for? Why insist upon more human encroachment on natural forests? There's less than a fifth of the country with any native forests in this country due to rampant destruction, poor (human) landuse planning and law-breaking.

I suppose that you live in a big city and don't worry or even think where the water comes from or goes to.

There is a fishpond on the property of about 500,000 litres but strangely enough when it doesn't rain for 3 or 4 months it dries up.

We have two x 3,000 litre fresh water tanks for drinking only.

We are about 15 metres ABOVE the klong which is about 300 metres away and THAT has dried up twice in the 9 years we have been here.

Dig a well? Sure if you have the money and know of a team who can drill through granite.

Why SHOULD I have to move elsewhere? I am sure that the other few hundred people in the village wont.

Have you SEEN the damage that visitors do to the forest land?