Mekong River Under Threat

It is believed by critics that the north and north east regions of Thailand have always been affected by dry climate. To do away with this difficult situation, Thailand has come up with no less than eight water diversion projects in the past 20 years, out of which at least two have affected the neighboring countries of Burma and Laos.

This time the Thai plans are expected to threaten one of the world’s largest and longest rivers Mekong, which runs through China’s Yunnan province, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Apparently, the Royal government has revived controversial plans to divert water from tributaries of the Mekong River to help agricultural production in the drought affected north east of the kingdom. This water diversion is not for small scale farmers but is to support the large scale farms too.

According to Dr Philip Hirsch from the Australian Mekong Resource Centre, the government’s rush to revive the projects is a political ploy. It is just a way of securing votes of northeastern Thailand by promising to green the region. Certainly some of those concerns from downstream countries about the impact of diversion of water on dry salinity in the delta area and particularly on the availability of irrigation water in the delta area and on the flow situation in the dry season are matters of grave concern.

The Mekong River Commission or the MRC is the body tasked with managing development along the river, and no project can proceed without an environmental assessment and neighbouring government approvals.