Posted on August, 27 2014

In late June, the Lao Government submitted the much-criticised Don Sahong hydropower project to a formal process of prior consultation under the Mekong River Commission's (MRC) agreement for mainstream Mekong dams, after facing heavy pressure from MRC governments and civil society. The formal process for prior consultation will take at least six months to complete.

This formal process requires Laos to hold consultations with MRC member states Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, while conducting and sharing further trans-boundary studies on the project’s environmental and social impacts. This is to be completed before the next step: gaining MRC consensus on building the dam. 

Consultation must also go beyond governments to include other stakeholders, such as the under-represented voices and concerns of trans-boundary communities whose food security and livelihood depends on the Mekong River.

In September last year, Laos announced its decision to proceed with the Don Sahong dam, bypassing the MRC's formal processes of prior notification, consultation, and agreement on the project.

"Laos is now promising to do what they already signed up to under the Mekong agreement, and should have done months ago," said Marc Goichot, WWF-Greater Mekong's lead on sustainable hydropower. "Their decision to consult on the Don Sahong project, and share critical details about the project's impacts, comes after intense pressure from neighbouring countries. It is critical that pressure is maintained to ensure Laos delivers on their promise."

Yet, the consultation process has not been respected by dam developer Mega First, which has publicly expressed that preparatory construction is still continuing and that there are no plans to suspend construction, despite Lao government's promises.

"To be credible, after Laos' decision to submit Don Sahong for prior consultation under MRC agreement, any construction work, formal or informal, should already be suspended by now," said Chhith Sam Ath, WWF-Cambodia's Country Director. "We call on Mega First to stop any construction work and show credibility and responsibility by respecting the multilateral agreement between the MRC governments. Laos Government's commitment to suspension of any construction work is welcomed."

Since May, more than 200,000 people have joined WWF's petition to call on dam developer Mega First to reconsider the risks of this dam, and pull out of the project. The global and local community-level petitions have now come to a close.

"We thank the people around the world who signed the WWF's petition to stop the Don Sahong dam," added Goichot. "Mega First would do well to listen to the growing voices of opposition to this disastrous project and reconsider their engagement."

Work is in progress to determine the final number of voices speaking out against Don Sahong dam through the petitions, and to plan for a public handover of the signatures to Mega First's Executive Chairman, Mr Goh Nan Kioh, to whom the petition is addressed.

About the Don Sahong Dam
The Don Sahong dam threatens the Mekong's critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins and will block the only channel available for dry-season fish migration, putting the world's largest and most productive inland fishery at risk.

The Don Sahong dam is the second dam on the Lower Mekong mainstem, following the controversial Xayaburi dam that Laos has begun constructing despite opposition from neighbouring Cambodia and Vietnam.