Conservationists campaign against dam projects in Mekong River

UBON RATCHATHANI, March 14 (TNA) - Water conservationists in Thailand's northeastern Ubon Ratchathani province traveled at a distance of nearly 20 kilometers in the Mekong River on Thursday to campaign against hydropower dam projects in the river and asked countries in the Mekong River Basin to adhere to sustainable ways of power generation. The some 70 conservationists, traveling on 30 boats from a pier in Baan Tamui of the Huay Rai locality in Ubon Ratchathani's Khong Chiam district, carried banners with messages calling for an end to dam projects in the Mekong River. The conservationists' campaign responded to recent reports that Thailand and a neighboring country plan to build a hydropower dam in Baan Kum-Tamui of Khong Chiam, as local people fear that the project will cause flooding along the Mekong River, from Khong Chiam to Khemarat district in Ubon Ratchathani, and affect tourist destinations along the river banks. Wai Pongphim, head of the Network of Water Lovers in Ubon Ratchathani which organized the campaign, urged Thailand, China, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam to scrap all their dam projects in the Mekong River, to review impacts and to compensate for negative impacts of built dams, asking the countries to, instead, turn to sustainable power generation, namely solar power, by supporting local households and communities in generating electricity for their own consumption and reducing their dependence on power from high-risk sources. (TNA)