November 11-13, Mekong School students, alumni, and staff attended an international conference entitled Mekong Mainstream Dams: People's Voices across Borders at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The conference provided an opportunity for civil society and national and regional policy makers to exchange views and experiences on the problems of hydropower dams in the Mekong region, particularly those on the mainstream Mekong. Over 250 conference participants worked together to promote a greater role for civil society to develop alternatives to Mekong mainstream dams in meeting the region’s energy demands.
Mekong school students and alumni actively participated throughout the three day event. Thai student Thanasak and Lao student Nonglak presented findings from their recent field work at the site of the proposed Ban Koum Dam. Nonglak was the first researcher to successfully gain access to the politically sensitive area on the Lao side of the Mekong, and her report aroused much interest. Vietnamese student Ly Quoc Dang presented on changes in the Mekong Delta ecosystem that he’s observed since his childhood, and Cambodian student Piseth presented on the human rights situation in Cambodia. Chinese student Fu Tao presented his research findings on the ADB’s involvement in the Dachaoshan dam project on the mainstream Mekong, and alumni Zhang Chun Shan (China 2007) spoke on behalf of dam-affected communities on the upper Mekong. Zhang Chun Shan’s speech was particularly moving, and was featured on nightly news and in two Bangkok Post articles.
Read more:
