Deutsche Welle, 30 Sep 2013
A year-long
campaign by environmentalists and conservationists against a planned dam inside
a national park in central Thailand has led the Thai Government to back down on
the plan.
Thai
government plans to build dams and reservoirs, including within national parks,
faced a major setback last week following a successful campaign by
conservationists to put a halt to a planned dam inside the Mae Wong national
park in central Thailand.
The
proposed 428-million-US-dollar dam to be built inside the park, located 370
kilometers north of Bangkok, was to be part of the government's $12 billion
flood management program after the disastrous 2011 floods that claimed 800
lives and cost $40 billion.
Ministers
adamant over project
 |
| WWF camera traps keep an eye on the park's wild cats; here it captured a marbled cat |
The Thai
cabinet approved the project in April 2012, with government ministers
determined to press ahead with the project despite protests by
environmentalists.
Deputy
Prime Minister and chair of the Water and Flood Management Commission (WFMC)
Plodprasop Suraswadi told local media the Mae Wong Dam's flood prevention value
outweighed any negative impacts on forestry and wildlife.
Plodprasop
said while he was open to suggestions about how to improve the project's
environmental impact assessment, he would not listen to people who tell him not
to build the dam.
A Royal
Irrigation Department survey stressed the dam's role to provide irrigation to
some 480 square kilometers of farmland, with the dam affecting only 19 of the
park's 894 square kilometers.
Part of
protected area
The park
has been protected under the 1961 National Park Act for 25 years with tens of
millions dollars ensuring the region is secure for wildlife. The Mae Wong is
part of the largest protected area network in mainland Southeast Asia known as
the Western Forest Complex, covering 17 protected areas of 18,000 square
kilometers. The park also provides a buffer for the nearby Huay Kha Khaeng
Wildlife Sanctuary.
Retired
meteorologist and scientist, Samith Dharmasaroja, - and a former government
adviser on water management issues - opposes the government's plans.
"I
don't agree with the government plan (to build the dam) because it is just
thick forest, for nature, wild animals, cattle and tigers and so on. We should
reserve that area, not the dam," Samith told DW.
Activists
march
 |
| Conservationists worry the project could endanger the regions tiger population, of which there are now less than 300 |
A simmering
campaign against the dam received a major boost when activist Sasin Chalermlap,
secretary general of the Seub Nakhasathien (Conservation) Foundation in early
September marched almost 400 kilometers to Bangkok from Nakhon Sawan province.
Sasin was
welcomed by up to 3,000 dam environmentalists and conservationists upon his arrival
after a 10-day march to central Bangkok, in a dramatic show of support that
unnerved government leaders.
He warned
that if the Royal Irrigation Department's environmental assessment report was
adopted, other forest areas would be threatened. "They are using this
(report) as the standard regulation and if it goes through, other dams will go
ahead and ... if this is the standard, the forests will all be lost,"
Sasin told DW.
Conservationists
also raised the issue that the dam could threaten vulnerable species in the
region, including the habitat for about one dozen wild Asian tigers. Thailand's
wild tiger population now stands at fewer than 300.
Tiger
conservation
Rungnapa
Phoomjampa, manager of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Thailand tiger
recovery program, says the region, which includes the Hway Kha Khaeng Tung Yai
Wildlife Sanctuary, "is like the heart of the conservation (area) of the
tiger."
"If we
want to increase the tiger population we have to increase the tiger habitat for
them as well," Rungnapa told DW.
In recent
years the WWF has set "camera traps" inside the park, capturing
images of tigers and their prey, including gaur, barking deer, and wild pig.
At the
Bangkok rally welcoming Sasin Chalermlap, supporter Mr. Utthiput, a lecturer at
Chulalongkorn University, says his prime concern lies with the impact the dam
would have on the tiger population.
"The
tiger population is getting larger and larger these days, so it's not worth it
to lose them, and to lose the other animals. The area is not supposed to be
destroyed, it's supposed to be preserved; it's like a lung of our world,"
he told DW.
Significant
victory for environmentalists
 |
| Hydropower dam projects in Asia have jeopardized the culture of local populations |
Mounting
public pressure has forced the government to retreat. Prime Minister Yingluck
Shinawatra put a halt to the Royal Irrigation Department's development proposal
and called on Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop to hold talks with the opponents
to the dam, including Sasin Chalermlap.
Anak
Pattanavibool, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Thailand, says
the government back-down marks an important moment for Thailand's conservation
movement, even if the project has not been cancelled and authorities seek
alternative sites outside the park.
"It's
quite significant. I think it's going to be ... I don't want to say victory,
but it's like we can get the people to feel that you don't need to have big
dams destroying parks anymore in Thailand," Anak told DW.
"So
that's the key message. In terms of the back down a little bit, I think it's
quite strong for the message of conservation."
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