Foretelling the Mekong: Key Findings of the MRC’s Strategic Environmental Assessment on Mekong Mainstream Dams

With 11 large hydropower dams proposed to block the Lower Mekong River’s mainstream, the future of the river lies at a crossroads. To inform decision-making, in October 2010, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) published a Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) report that offers a critical appraisal of the dam plans. The report evaluates future economic benefits from power-generation against a wide-range of environmental costs and impacts to riverside communities and their local economies. As these dams threaten to irreversibly undermine the ecology of the Mekong River and will place at risk the livelihoods and food security of millions of people who depend upon the river’s resources, the main recommendation of the SEA report is that decisions on whether to proceed with the mainstream dams should be deferred for a period of ten years until further studies can be conducted to ensure that decision-makers are fully informed of the risks. With so much at stake, it is crucial that the Mekong region’s decision-makers endorse and adopt the SEA’s recommendations before it’s too late.URL:[http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/SEA%20Factsheet_Eng.pdf].