MORE NEWS BRIEFS

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BANGKOK—A campaign seeking to stop the clearing of reefs along the Mekong, as well as the ecological and social damages from it, was launched by activists in early May, but this won't be easy task.

"In terms of its environmental, social and cultural aspects, clearing reefs from the Mekong River for navigation and tourism is inappropriate," said SEARIN director Chainarong Sretthachau.

In June last year, Thailand, China, Burma and Laos agreed to make the Mekong open to commercial navigation. They agreed to widen the navigable stream of the Mekong step by step so vessels of up to 500 tonne capacity could travel smoothly along a 540km section from Simao, a Chinese port in Yunnan, to Luang Prabang, the former capital of Laos.

Chavalit Withayanont, of the Fisheries Department, said blasting the reefs would destroy the spawning sites of native fish, especially the giant catfish, which live and lay eggs only in the Mekong. Up to 200 kinds of fish were said to feed and spawn in the area. Waves spilling from large vessels would increase erosion of the river banks, he added.

Thai environmentalists, however, seem destined to a lone crusade unless they can get their Chinese, Lao and Burmese counterparts to help them get their message across. The money being made available by the Chinese government for the reef clearance -- partly to show its three partners it does not wish to burden them with the costs -- will also prove a deterrence to pressure to resist the project.

This leaves those in Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong districts, who rely on the river as a life source, as potentially the most powerful force in stopping the project. Their support could be vital to environmentalists trying to place the issue on the national agenda.

However, the early arrival of the monsoon season this year gives the environmentalists more time to manoeuvre because, as a Chinese diplomat pointed out, work cannot go ahead to clear reefs along the water course between Thailand and Laos while the rains swell the river. (The Bangkok Post)


China Shares Data with Mekong River Commission

PHNOM PENH—The Chinese government signed a historic agreement on March… to provide information on Mekong river flow and water levels to the four downstream countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam -- members of the Mekong River Commission.

Under the accord, the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources in Beijing will provide data on river levels to the MRC Secretariat in Phnom Penh by computer link-up every 24 hours. The information will come from water measuring stations located in Yunnan province at Yunjinghong and Man'an on the Upper Mekong, called the Lancang River in China.

A Joint Working Group will also be set up comprising officials from the Mekong River Commission and China, for data-sharing in time for the flood season of 2002.

The MRC manages a network of hydrological monitoring stations on the Lower Mekong. During the flood season, the Mekong River Commission broadcasts daily flood forecasts.