In the Mekong Basin, an ‘unnecessary’ dam poses an outsized threat

Mongabay Series: Mekong dams

https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/in-the-mekong-basin-an-unnecessary-dam-poses-an-outsized-threat/

30/12/2022

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bRPR_aZo29Q1xqd85s7njf9S2QoIFVGu/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=106381647024774111691&rtpof=true&sd=true

A dam being built in Laos near the border with Cambodia imperils downstream communities and the Mekong ecosystem as a whole, experts and affected community members say.

The Sekong A dam will close off the Sekong River by the end of this year, restricting its water flow, blocking vital sediment from reaching the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, and cutting off migration routes for a range of fish species.

Experts say the energy to be generated by the dam — 86 megawatts — doesn’t justify the negative impacts, calling it “an absolutely unnecessary project.”

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn is a fellow.

SIEM PANG, Cambodia — “I remember seeing a buffalo, its head tied to a floating barrel, drifting down the river,” says Pheng Sisuwath, gesturing to the Sekong River from his stilt house in Cambodia’s northeastern province of Stung Treng.