11 Apr 2007 - A deal signed
between Thailand and Myanmar would clear
the way for the first large-scale hydropower
plant on the Salween River in north-eastern
Myanmar. The project could displace and
negatively impact upon tens of thousands
of poor and marginalized people from ethnic
minorities in that country, warns WWF.
The Salween River is the longest undammed
waterway in south-east Asia, running for
2,800 kilometres. Of the seven large rivers
that arise on the Tibetan Plateau only the
Salween and the Bhramaputra remain free
flowing.
"The Salween is the only free-flowing
river linking the Himalayan glaciers to
the coastline of the Andaman Sea,"
says Robert Mather of WWF's Living Mekong
Programme.
"We are destroying the Salween before
we even know what we're losing. From what
little we do know about its large number
of endemic fish species and abundance of
freshwater turtles, we can conclude it is
likely to be globally exceptional."
Dam alternatives
WWF warns that this and other dams on the
Salween will stop natural sediment reaching
down to the coast.
"With no replenishment of sediment
on the coast of Myanmar and Thailand the
effects of sea-level changes are going to
be exacerbated as well as vulnerability
to tsunamis," adds Marc Goichot of
WWF's Living Mekong Programme.
WWF says that local communities wouldn't
benefit from this dam as the electricity
is primarily for export to Thailand. It
would be cheaper for Thailand to better
manage demand for power and invest in biomass
and wind power than to venture into more
hydropower development in neighbouring countries.
"It seems more reasonable for Thailand
to rely on its own reserves of natural gas
for energy security than to be dependent
on imports of electricity from a neighbouring
country with a high degree of political
uncertainty," says Kraisak Choonavan,
former Thai Senator and Head of the Foreign
Affairs Commission of the Thai Senate.
Free-flowing rivers
WWF recognizes the benefits of hydropower
and supports environmentally sound hydropower
projects. But as the long-term and cumulative
impacts of many dams cannot be adequately
gauged as yet, the global conservation organization
suggests that governments keep safe some
ecologically intact systems for the benefit
of current and future generations.
"As well as the destruction of wildlife
and livelihoods of people of the Salween,
river by river, the world is in danger of
losing one of the greatest natural phenomenons,"
says Jamie Pittock, Director of WWF's Global
Freshwater Programme.
"Wild rivers are home to significant
wildlife populations, including massive
fisheries, and sustain the livelihoods of
millions of people."
WWF calls on the world's governments to
recommit to the protection of the last free-flowing
rivers by bringing into force the UN Watercourses
Convention that would set the minimum standards
for the sustainable, cooperative and equitable
management of the world's 263 transboundary
rivers.
Lisa Hadeed, Communications Manager
