ASIA: Mekong Leaders Set up Biodiversity Corridors Pushed by China

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Antoaneta Bezlova

KUNMING, China, Jul 5 2005 (IPS) - Deflecting criticism that economic integration in the Mekong region is being pursued at the expense of the environment, ecosystems and local livelihoods, leaders of the six Mekong countries endorsed Tuesday the creation of Asia’s first set of biodiversity corridors for wild species movement and preservation.

But under the banner of environmental diplomacy, the two-day summit in this south-western Chinese city took one more step towards speeding up economic integration through agreements for power trading, facilitation of cross-border trade and a regional information highway among Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

“The creation of biodiversity corridors would be the legacy of this summit,” asserted Rajat Nag, director general of the Mekong Department at the Asian Development Bank (AsDB). “It is a sign of recognition by everyone that you can’t have sustainable development without environmental protection. Every leader at this summit spoke about the environment.”

The bank has spearheaded the development of the Mekong region since 1992, through economic cooperation in what it calls the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

But in the 13 years that have passed, concerns have been raised about how the pace of fast economic integration in the region is abolishing valuable swathes of wildlife and quickly encroaching on unique local communities.

Large areas of the region’s forests have already been demolished to make way for dams and roads.

Among the most notorious of the bank’s projects has been the plan to create a regional power grid that would lay the groundwork for hydropower development.

Informally termed the Mekong Power Grid, it provides for power from some of the most controversial dam projects in China, Burma and Laos to be transmitted to the grid and on to the energy-hungry cities of Thailand and Vietnam.

“The fact that at this meeting Mekong leaders signed the agreement for hydropower trading means that what was once a loose commercial initiative of individual governments has now been pushed forward to become more institutionalised and official,” observed Yu Xiaogang, director of the non-governmental group Green Watershed in Kunming.

“We welcome the biodiversity corridors project. But if the hydropower plan is not coordinated with that, then the new conservation project is just a scrap of paper,” he said.

The Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative (BCCI) aims to select nine areas in the Mekong region, known for their biodiversity importance and vulnerability, and to set up conservation corridors that would restore connections between the existing national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

The six Mekong countries are home to some of the most important and also endangered biodiversity in the world, such as the Asian elephant, Douc langurs, Tonkin snub-nosed monkey and the Indochinese tiger.

“Unless action is taken and soon, it is probable that the Mekong region will lose more than 50 percent of its remaining land and water habitats over the next century,” said Jin Liqun, vice president of the AsDB. “A third of the habitats could be lost over the next few decades alone.”

The BCCI plan was initiated by China some 18 months ago, and the Chinese government took an active role in putting the agreement in place by hosting a meeting of the Mekong countries’ environmental ministers in Shanghai in May.

Some experts see China’s pro-active stance on the biodiversity initiative as a counter-offensive to fend off criticism that its voracious appetite for energy at home and its inexorable expansion of trade in South-east Asia are altering the face of the region.

“It is a sign that China is taking its responsibility as a big regional country seriously,” argued Shen Jiru, a research fellow with the Institute for World Economy and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “The Chinese government knows that a happy and wealthy neighbour is a peaceful neighbour.”

China been a target of criticism by civil and environmental groups in lower Mekong countries for its upstream development of dams, and expansion of navigation routes on the Mekong to pursue more trade in South-east Asia.

Thus far, environmental activists and fishermen in Thailand have scored a victory by blocking the pursuit of further phases of a joint project between China, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos to make it possible for bigger vessels to use the Mekong.

Only about 10 percent of the first phase of the channel clearing, mostly by blasting and removing rapids and shoals, has been completed, while the second and third phases have been suspended.

But China’s plans to build a cascade of dams on the upper Mekong are difficult to shelve because of the country’s voracious appetite for energy.

The government started building large dams on the upper Mekong, or Lancang as it is known in China, in the mid-1980s. Plans are afoot for the construction of eight dams. Two of them, Manwan and Dachaoshan, have already been completed while work on a third one, the Xiaowan, is in progress.

A recurring complaint among downstream Mekong communities has been that since the two Chinese dams went into operation, water level and temperatures have fluctuated widely, threatening the river environment and diminishing fish catch.

China has been blamed for building the dams without consultation and consideration of its neighbours’ interests.

The scope of worries by countries downstream has presented Chinese leaders with the unpleasant prospect of conflict in a region it regards as its strategic backyard – and one that it had spent a long time cultivating ties with.

It came as no surprise then that top Chinese leaders and foreign ministry officials at the Mekong summit emphasised China’s resolve to be a ôtrue and good neighbour, partner and friend”.

“This is a solemn pledge and unswerving long-term policy of the Chinese government,” Premier Wen Jiabao said at the opening ceremony of the Second Mekong summit on Tuesday.

“We are extremely clear about the consensus on protecting the environment in the region,” Wang Xiaolong from the Chinese Foreign Ministry told the media at a press briefing at the end of the summit. “We will develop the resources of the Mekong river in a way that is consistent with the wishes of our neighbours.”

During the summit, the Chinese government issued a state report explaining Beijing’s stance on participation in the Mekong cooperation, one that also stressed ôChina’s decision to thoroughly consider the interests and benefits of all countries downstream in developing the water resources”.

“It is only moral that China takes responsibility for its actions when it goes in search of more energy and more trade outside of its borders,” commented Shi Lihong, vice secretary of the newly-founded non-government China Rivers Network. “Little, if anything at all, has been said by Chinese media about the impact of China’s upstream dams or the river clearances on the lives of local people.”

No discussion of China’s plans to dam the mainstream Mekong took place during the Kunming summit as the six leaders talked about tapping into water resources of the region.

“The existence of very rich hydropower is a unique strength of the region and leaders agreed to make full use of it,” the foreign ministry’s Wang Xiaolong said.

Four documents were signed during the summit – the first set of initial agreements to standardise and accelerate border crossings as a way of facilitating trade; a memorandum of understanding for the future regional power trade operating agreement and a similar memorandum on planning and construction of regional information superhighway network.

Another memorandum was signed between the countries on prevention and control of transboundary animal diseases.

Among the four signed documents, the set of annexes and protocols on cross-border transport is the one bound to have most immediate impact on regional integration.

Officials have agreed to speed up crossings along major highways from an average of three hours, and sometimes more than a day, to no more than 30 minutes for commercial vehicles and five minutes for passenger vehicles.

The five selected border passes selected for this scheme are in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. (END/IPS/AP/MKG/DV/EN/AB/JS/MMM/05)

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