The challenge facing Greater Mekong nations is clear - they must sustain economic growth while simultaneously ensuring the Mekong and its ecosystems remain healthy.
A wave of developments
Dam construction in Lao PDR.
Finding a balance on hydropower
The Greater Mekong is one of the fastest growing regions in the world and its demand for energy particularly from China, Thailand and Vietnam is increasing.
Hydropower electricity production is seen as a means for economic growth for Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, who have vast water resources and ready markets both domestically and in neighbouring countries.
The benefits of hydropower, electricity and poverty alleviation, are not without costs. Hydropower dams fundamentally alter the river ecosystem, often with negative impacts to livelihoods and biodiversity.
Today, the people of the Mekong have a unique opportunity to harness this vast natural resource to achieve their socio-economic and development goals. But to realize this future, the environmental health of the Mekong River must be protected and region’s unsustainable development trends must be changed.
By the end of 2008, 11 Memorandums of Understanding were signed for the construction of hydropower dams on the lower sections of the Mekong River mainstream. With this signing, the clock is ticking as each of these dams goes through the procedures for approval.
WWF believes current knowledge is not sufficient to fully measure the economic and environmental implications of mainstream dam construction.
Each year, a large and diverse fish migration to spawning grounds takes place along the lower Mekong River. Up to 70% of commercial fish are long distance migratory species. If this fish migration is blocked by large infrastructure such as a hydropower dam, fish will not be able to reach spawning grounds. If this happens, fish populations will fall and some species may vanish, and the region’s fisheries industry, integral to the livelihoods of 60 million people, may collapse.
In other parts of the world, fish ladders and other engineering techniques have been employed to aid the migration of fish. These kinds of innovations are not suitable for the lower Mekong River because its fish migration is too large and its fish species are too diverse.
Likewise while yield from aquaculture is increasing, this cannot replace the wild fishery—most rural people breed fish for income, not for food. There are no ready alternatives to the river as a source of food security and livelihoods.
Fisheries are not the only reason why the lower Mekong River should remain free-flowing. As a free-flowing river, unimpeded by large infrastructure, the Mekong has a natural resilience against the impacts of climate change, particularly in the Mekong River delta.
The delta is home 17 million people and is one of the major rice producing areas of the region, generating up to 90% of Vietnam's rice exports. Forecast climate change impacts to the area include sea level rise, saline intrusion and more severe storms that erode the coastline.
Lower Mekong River mainstream dams, if built, will block the sediment that builds the delta and the nutrients that feed its immense productivity. Reduction of sediment trapped by dams would decrease the delta's capacity to replenish itself, therefore making it more vulnerable to sea level rise, saline intrusion and coastal erosion.
The benefits of hydropower, electricity and poverty alleviation, are not without costs. Hydropower dams fundamentally alter the river ecosystem, often with negative impacts to livelihoods and biodiversity.
Today, the people of the Mekong have a unique opportunity to harness this vast natural resource to achieve their socio-economic and development goals. But to realize this future, the environmental health of the Mekong River must be protected and region’s unsustainable development trends must be changed.
What’s the situation?
By the end of 2008, 11 Memorandums of Understanding were signed for the construction of hydropower dams on the lower sections of the Mekong River mainstream. With this signing, the clock is ticking as each of these dams goes through the procedures for approval.
WWF believes current knowledge is not sufficient to fully measure the economic and environmental implications of mainstream dam construction.
Impacting fisheries and livelihoods
Each year, a large and diverse fish migration to spawning grounds takes place along the lower Mekong River. Up to 70% of commercial fish are long distance migratory species. If this fish migration is blocked by large infrastructure such as a hydropower dam, fish will not be able to reach spawning grounds. If this happens, fish populations will fall and some species may vanish, and the region’s fisheries industry, integral to the livelihoods of 60 million people, may collapse.
In other parts of the world, fish ladders and other engineering techniques have been employed to aid the migration of fish. These kinds of innovations are not suitable for the lower Mekong River because its fish migration is too large and its fish species are too diverse.
Likewise while yield from aquaculture is increasing, this cannot replace the wild fishery—most rural people breed fish for income, not for food. There are no ready alternatives to the river as a source of food security and livelihoods.
Based on current technology, no dam can handle such a large and diverse fish migration as occurs in the lower Mekong River.
Increased vulnerability to climate change
Fisheries are not the only reason why the lower Mekong River should remain free-flowing. As a free-flowing river, unimpeded by large infrastructure, the Mekong has a natural resilience against the impacts of climate change, particularly in the Mekong River delta.
The delta is home 17 million people and is one of the major rice producing areas of the region, generating up to 90% of Vietnam's rice exports. Forecast climate change impacts to the area include sea level rise, saline intrusion and more severe storms that erode the coastline.
Lower Mekong River mainstream dams, if built, will block the sediment that builds the delta and the nutrients that feed its immense productivity. Reduction of sediment trapped by dams would decrease the delta's capacity to replenish itself, therefore making it more vulnerable to sea level rise, saline intrusion and coastal erosion.
What is the alternative?
Dams planned for the Mekong River basin.
Contact
Marc Goichot
Sustainable Infrastructure Advisor
WWF Greater Mekong Programme
Email: marc.goichot@wwfgreatermekong.org
Sustainable Infrastructure Advisor
WWF Greater Mekong Programme
Email: marc.goichot@wwfgreatermekong.org
WWF supports a 10 year delay in the approval of lower Mekong River mainstream dams to fully consider the costs and benefits of their construction and operation.
