A euphemistically named agreement for
the "sustainable development of the Mekong river
basin" has generated a storm
of controversy. The rum-
blings were heard almost as
soon as the accord was
signed between the so-called
Lower Mekong countries -
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia
and Vietnam - in the Ist
week of April at Chiang Rai
in northern Thailand.
Non- governmental organisations (NGOS), holding a
parallel meeting at Chiang
Rai, immediately sought a
review. Phisit Na Phatthalung, secretary general of
the World -Wide Fund for
Nature (WWF) insisted that
the pact should be aimed at
sustaining the Mekong
rather than exploiting it for
Gulf of Thailand
development - under what
he called the "hidden agendas" of funding agencies like
the Asian Development
Bank. A key concern is the
Joss of the veto powers of the
downstream Indochina states regarding diversions of
water from the mainstream
and its tributaries.
Vietnamese environmentalists too, are apprehensive that the dam will reduce
the flow of fresh water into
the estuary in Vietnam very
quickly... "We will lose
everything, including the
sustainable economic development that supports the
livelihood of the poor people
in the Mekong Delta," maintains Le Dien Duc, an expert
on wetlands at Hanoi
University's Centre for
Natural Resources Management and Environmental
Studies.
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