The Mekong River is Not for Sale

2015 International Day of Action for Rivers in Thailand

Sunrise on the Mekong River
Sunrise on the Mekong River

I woke early, eager to catch the sunrise on the Mekong River and keen to take advantage of the morning calm. As I walked down to the river, the sun hovered a few feet above the water casting an orange glow over the hazy sky and sending a bright charge of light onto the surface. Slowly the landscape before me came to life, the stillness of the river amplifying the distant sounds of boats approaching and announcements being made over a loudspeaker across the river in Laos.

It was against this backdrop that more than 500 people, some having travelled up to 17 hours by bus, gathered over the course of two days along the banks of the Mekong River in Chiang Khong in honor of the 2015 International Day of Action for Rivers. There were representatives from more than seven different river basins, including the Salween, Yom, Mae Chaem-Mae Ping, Ing, Chomphu and Mekong basins. On March 14th, these groups came together in solidarity with Mekong communities to declare that the Mekong River is not for sale.

As the culmination of the days' activities, about 40 representatives from these interconnected river basins stood under the blazing sun beside the Mekong and, with one voice, read aloud the “Chiang Khong Declaration,” which asserts the community’s right to manage their resources, lands, waters and forests, and declares their opposition to planned dams on the Mekong River, which threaten the “lifeline of the region”:

Reading of the Chiang Khong Declaration
Reading of the Chiang Khong Declaration

“We, the locals, the fisher folk, the boat drivers, the farmers, and the peasants, are people whose livelihoods have always been dependent upon natural resources from the Mekong. However, we have found that our Mother Mekong has been subjected to exploitation for almost 20 years since the construction of dams on China’s upper reach of the Mekong River,” they read. “We stand opposed to the construction of any dam on the Mekong, in China’s upper reach or in the lower reaches, since the dams will block the river, regardless of whose jurisdiction the dam is located in, and will impact the ecology of the river, fisheries, and all human beings across the borders.”

The powerful declaration was met with cheers and applause from the assembled crowd, who then gathered along the river bank, colorful flags waving, to welcome a parade of boats which looped up and down the river, displaying signs that read “The Mekong River is not for Sale.”

Cheering on a boat parade along the Mekong River in Chiang Khong
Cheering on a boat parade along the Mekong River in Chiang Khong

The impacts of dams on the Mekong River are already a reality for many of the communities in northern Thailand who have witnessed changes in the river’s water levels over the past few years and more dramatic irregular flows in recent months. Now in the middle of the dry season, the Mekong’s waters would normally be dropping, but at the beginning of March water levels nearly doubled, rising by more than a meter and flooding riverbank gardens just upstream of where the Day of Action for Rivers celebration took place. According to locals, since the first upstream dam, the Manwan Dam, in China’s Yunnan province began operations in 1996, more than 50 fish species have disappeared.

These existing impacts would be significantly compounded by proposed dams on the lower stretch of the Mekong mainstream, which threaten to irreversibly alter the river's ecology, fish migration and livelihoods in region. While there is already evidence of the trans-boundary impacts from these projects, regional governments and the Mekong River Commission have failed to take responsibility, and local communities continue to be excluded from decision-making processes that directly impact their lives.

One of the main messages which came out of the Day of Action for Rivers' discussions was the need for the government of Thailand to start seriously addressing the threats facing the Mekong, and take responsibility to protect the interests of their people living by the river. The same goes for other Mekong governments and the Mekong River Commission.

The Day of Action for Rivers gathering was filled with accounts and reminders of the rich history of resistance to ill-conceived dam projects in Thailand and internationally. During a morning panel discussion, one of the speakers noted that it has been increasingly more difficult to build dams in Thailand over the past 20 years due to public opposition. The last dam to be built in Thailand was the controversial Pak Mun Dam (completed in 1994), which continues to face significant opposition including an ongoing campaign to have the project decommissioned. For more than 25 years, communities have been resisting the construction of the Kaeng Suea Ten Dam on the Yom River in northern Thailand. The project has been proposed and abandoned three times due to public protest.

Groups in Thailand have expressed consistent and strong opposition to dams on the Mekong mainstream. In June 2014, Thailand's Supreme Administrative Court accepted a case filed by communities against the signing of the Power Purchase Agreement for the Xayaburi Dam, now under construction in northern Laos. This case could set an important precedent for Thailand's responsibility and obligations when investing in international projects, such as dams on the Mekong and Salween rivers.

Music along the Mekong
Music along the Mekong

A few days before the Day of Action for Rivers activities took place, a ceremony was held to celebrate the launch of a new school in Chiang Khong – the Mekong school for local knowledge – which aims to build awareness and understanding of local knowledge for the next generation, in order to preserve and grow the movement to protect the Mekong River. For me, the opening of this school and the intention behind it underlies the driving force behind the communities' fight to protect and preserve the Mekong – to protect it for future generations. The declaration at Chiang Khong also gives voice to this, as it began: “Today, we are here [...] to show our united effort to work for the children of the Mekong River.”

The Thai word for river – mea nam – translates to "mother of water." The Mekong River is a giver of life; a support system for the people who live along it, and the community of river defenders in Chiang Khong and throughout the country are its fierce family. This was never more evident than during 2015 Day of Action for Rivers, during the meals that we shared together, the dancing and the songs sung late into the night. I felt honored to share in these moments, and to be welcomed into this family.

Date: 
Tuesday, April 7, 2015