Lancang (Mekong) River / External Reports

This paper describes the impacts of the Upper Mekong dams and Mekong navigation channel on the Mekong River hydrology and ecology and the livelihoods of communities living in Northern Thailand.

This paper was submitted by villagers affected by the Manwan Dam to the UN Symposium on Hydropower and Sustainable Development held in Beijing in October 2004. According to the paper, it has been 18 years since the start of construction of the Manwan Dam, yet the living conditions of the resettled people have not yet improved. The government promised affected people that ‘When Manwan Dam generates hydropower resettled people will achieve a rich standard of living". However, the situation of today is that the living tandards are lower than their level before the construction of the dam. In 2004, the Yunnan Provincial Department of Auditing found that RMB 5.46 Million of funds meant for resettlement were abused by the local government. This is because the resettled people do not have the ‘four rights’ in the resettlement process: the right to be informed; the right to participate; the right to make decisions; and, the right to supervise/monitor.

Promoting Regional Watershed Governance and Distributive Justice for Downstream Burmese Communities

This paper examines some of the current obstacles to watershed governance and distributive justice for the diverse ethnic communities in eastern Burma that rely upon the Lancang/Mekong and Nu/Salween Rivers for their economic livelihoods and cultural survival. More than two dozen largescale dams are planned for these two river systems. Nearly all of them will be built and/or financed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), although other non-state actors are also centrally involved. The paper outlines some of the key forces driving the PRC to construct new dams in Yunnan despite mounting evidence that such projects will undermine rather than enhance human security and sustainable development in the region.

Update on China's energy industry reforms and the Nu, Lancang and Jinsha hydropower dams

The purpose of this research paper is to provide a brief update on what is happening in Yunnan – looking at the Nu, Lancang and Jinsha rivers – and then situate this within the wider context of China’s changing political economy. There are two key messages this report seeks to deliver. First, there is a need for China to revisit the energy policy, including the hydropower component, in the light of the new direction signalled by the New and Scientific Development Concept announced in 2003 by China’s new political leadership, and reinforced by President Hu Jintao at the 10th National People’s Congress (NPC) meeting in March 2004. Second, there is a need to overhaul energy development governance processes including: option formulation, debate, evaluation, negotiation and monitoring. The approval and impact assessment processes are two key areas requiring strengthening.

This paper critically analyses one of Southeast Asia's gravest social and environmental challenges, the damming and dredging of the Mekong River system. This Paper delves into the conflict in the Mekong between countries' desire for hydroelectric power to satisfy soaring demand and the Mekong's fragile ecosystem and role as a primary food source. 

This paper outlines the findings of a social impact assessment conducted for people displaced by the Manwan Dam, the first dam to be built on the Upper Mekong. The SIA findings led the Yunnan Provincial government to allocate an additional $9.7 million in funds to resolve the problems facing the resettlers.

China intends to develop Lancang or Mekong mainstream hydropower in Yunnan and make the Mekong mainstream navigable from Yunnan to the South China Sea, a distance of some 2,500 kilometers. This poses unprecedented environmental and social problems for the downstream countries Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Severe ecological deterioration of the Mekong River is a foregone conclusion if this plan proceeds. And of course the impacts will not be limited to the river. The downstream countries will be forced to undertake exhausting and largely futile efforts to protect themselves and make up for the damage to their agriculture, fisheries, forests, and way of life.