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Huge dam projects threatens the Mekong river (Xayaburi Dam)

This is via Dam Construction Is Set to Destroy the 'Mother of all Rivers' | | AlterNet

Quote:

Next week, the governments of Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam will meet to decide whether to approve the first-ever dam planned for the lower Mekong mainstream, the Xayaburi Dam.
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The Mekong River - known locally as the "Mother of all Rivers" - is the world's largest inland fishery
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To harm the fishery is to harm the food security of the region's poor.
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a series of 11 dams on the Mekong mainstream. These impenetrable walls would block the migration of fish and profoundly disrupt the river ecology, sounding a death knell for the Mekong's productive fisheries.
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The scientific consensus is against building Xayaburi Dam. Fisheries scientists unanimously agree that the dam's impacts on fisheries cannot be mitigated. Even though the dam builders have promised to install a fish ladder to allow for fish migration, the Mekong River Commission's own experts agree that this ladder will be ineffective and that there is no technology in existence to sufficiently mitigate the dam's impacts.

To say it in local engrish: "same same!" - It is the same story over and over again. blocking rivers, killing the fish, cutting off the nutrients to lowland farmers and the livelyhood of fishermen along the river. The dams then produce electricity for factories like aluminum smelters or sawmills or other mining operations (I do not know what the plan is in this case) and the people who cannot feed themselves because there are no fish and the farmlands go bad then have to make a living by providing cheap labor for these factories.

The same **** is happening again and again. Assuan, Belomonte and now Xayaburi...

There is a "take action" button in the article, maybe it helps, but maybe someone can refer to some more promising action than emailing the officials. Are there any groups that fight against this and need some momentum?

Also, spread the word...

Greetings,
AuroraHuge dam projects threatens the Mekong river (Xayaburi Dam)

International Rivers fights against the dams:

Xayaburi
Xayaburi | International Rivers

Quote:

The Xayaburi dam, if built, will block critical fish migration routes to the Mekong’s upper stretches as far upstream as Chiang Saen in northern Thailand that is an important spawning ground for the critically endangered Mekong Giant Catfish. The dam would destroy the river’s complex local ecosystems that serve as important fish habitats for local and migratory species. The dam would also disrupt sediment and nutrient cycles in the Mekong River, which has already been partially affected by the Upper Mekong dams in China.

:(

I will do what I can...

Sigh - and while we're at it:

Patagonia Chilena ¡Sin Represas!
Decision on HidroAysén Pushed Back Until April 2011 | International Rivers

Quote:

In the next days, the Chilean government will decide the fate of HidroAysén and Patagonia.

Majestic snow-capped mountains overlook the Baker River in Patagonia, Chile.

This US$7 billion project would include five dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers and a 2,300-km-long transmission line with the world's longest clearcut through national parks and protected areas.

For the third time, HidroAysén has submitted their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for approval. The Chilean government must now decide whether or not to approve the project. This decision will be the culmination of a two and a half year process in which the company has repeatedly failed to assess the project’s real environmental impacts and all versions of the EIA have contained serious flaws and omissions.

An international coalition of citizens and NGOs has been at the forefront of the effort to uncover the truth about this destructive and unnecessary project, and the tide has turned. Chileans don't want HidroAysén.

Peak oil is coming closer and people start to drop their superficial environmentalism, it seems :(

... and the last one (Patagonia/Chile) got approved against the advice and protest of environmentalists and indigenous people (who were in turn teargassed):

In Patagonia, controversial dam project gets environmental OK

Quote:

A $7 billion dam project in Chile’s Patagonia that would dam two of the world’ last remaining wild rivers gained environmental approval from the Chilean government late Monday, despite protests and a growing wave of opposition.

Police used tear gas and water cannons on demonstrators outside a city building in Coyhaique, where 11 of 12 members of the Committee on Environmental Assessment of Region XI approved the controversial project for HidroAysén. As the country’s mining industry clamors for more energy, powerful groups have their sights set on pristine Patagonia

:,(

EDIT: And this is what comes afterwards the legal appeals and letters to the governors have failed to incite a shred of sanity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WzBKwuLJ7c
Look at the beautiful rivers in the video and listen to what they talk about how they want to destroy them for copper smelters and economic growth.

It sems that Laos does not give a dam about what petiotioners and even oter governments say, they do not want to keep the agreement to thoroughly assess the impacts of the dam - they just want to go ahead with it and start. I am sure, there will be petitions coming up soon in english - look out for them and post them here if you want - I'd appreciate it. Here is one from Germany, dated last Friday (in german): https://www.regenwald.org/aktion/789/sos-fur-den-mekong - as of yet it has 10000 signatures.

Signed it :D Feels great to be able to sign a German petition without using a translator.