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DAM-L LS: Joern Kristensen on Mekong navigation agreement (fwd)
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Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 09:41:02 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: LS: Joern Kristensen on Mekong navigation agreement
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http://www.iht.com/articles/27737.htm
(International Herald Tribune, Tuesday, July 31, 2001)
. . . The Mekong Can Become Many Rivers in One
Joern Kristensen
PHNOM PENH From high in Tibet the Mekong River flows for
more than 4,300 kilometers through China, Burma, Laos,
Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before reaching the sea. One of
the world's great rivers, it it is a major supplier of food and water
for millions.
Over the past 30 years, the population of the Lower Mekong
Basin, encompassing Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, has
doubled. By 2025 the population is expected to reach more than
100 million. The pressure on natural resources will increase
dramatically, as will the demand for additional food, water and
energy.
Six years ago, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam signed a
landmark agreement recognizing "that the Mekong River Basin and
the related natural resources and environment are natural assets of
immense value."
The four countries decided to cooperate in all fields of
development and management of the river basin and its resources.
This year, the 1995 Agreement on Cooperation for the
Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin, which has
the status of an international treaty, is facing its first serious test,
with the announcement of the four-nation agreement on
commercial navigation on the river between China, Laos, Burma
and Thailand. The agreement would open a major shipping route
from Simao in China's Yunnan Province to Thailand, via Burma
and Laos.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, France, the colonial power
in Indochina, believed control of Mekong navigation was the key
to riches. Falling water levels in the dry season, various shoals and
rapids, and the mighty Khone Falls in southern Laos all conspired
to defeat this dream, which the recent navigation agreement
revives.
A new river trade route through the underdeveloped region of
Laos, Burma and northeastern Thailand could have obvious
benefits for the people of that region, creating much larger markets
than they have been able to reach.
But it could also mean that further downstream small producers
could be hurt if they have to compete with imports from China.
Moreover, river work that would be required for such a new
shipping route, such as removing shoals and rapids and dredging
the riverbed, could affect the reproduction of fish, as well as create
changes in the downstream water flow.
Three-quarters of the population of the Lower Mekong Basin,
mainly farmers and fishermen, earn their living from the river. That
is why it is so important to take fully into consideration how a new
river trade route will affect their livelihoods. For that, the policies,
standards and knowledge that have been developed through
hard-won international agreements are indispensable.
The risk of one sector benefiting at the expense of others is real. It
is critical that universally accepted planning and resource-sharing
arrangements be adhered to, and be seen to be fair by all parties,
if the Mekong is to be managed in a sustainable way to cater for
the area's growing population.
It is time for all parties to sit down with the six countries that share
the river and work out rules for sound management. Participants
should include the Asian Development Bank, the UN Economic
and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Mekong
River Commission, the World Bank, the UN Development
Program, bilateral donor agencies and civil society groups. The
Association of South East Asian Nations could lend its weight.
The challenge is to find ways to manage development of the
Mekong so that the benefits are shared equally and harm to the
environment is minimized.
The writer, chief executive of the Mekong River Commission,
contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.
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