Should dams be built on the Mekong or its tributaries?
The Mekong Descent Foundation makes no case or statement on whether hydropower or other forms of large dams are positive or negative forms of development. Just as each river system possesses unique ecological cycles, so too each dam project possesses unique attributes, impacts and benefits that must be assessed on a case by case basis before judgments can be passed on the projects merit.
In cases where:
Impartial and detailed international standard environmental impact assessments are carried out to provide the basic data required to assess the pros and cons of a given project.
Where public access to all information about the project including impartial analysis of the pros and cons is provided and actively distributed to all concerned parties so that they may develop informed opinions.
Where public participation in the decision making processes is a matter of standard practice.
Where legal frameworks are put in place to allow just representation of all concerned parties and where those frameworks possess the ability to veto a project if adequate public consensus is reached.
Where strong legal mechanisms protect the human rights and resource rights of the public against unmitigated exploitation and violation.
The Mekong Descent Foundation maintains the stance that interference or condemnation of dam projects by outside sources is unwarranted and that the peoples and parties directly associated with the river and the project in question should be the ones who should be left to pass judgment. However if any or all of the key criteria discussed above are not adhered to, then dam projects have the potential to become purveyors of great injustices against the river dependent peoples and their environments. In such cases the international community must get involved in an attempt to defend the human rights and resource rights of vulnerable people from exploitation.
