Study says China-backed dam would destroy Mekong
17 May 2018
- A Chinese-backed plan for Cambodia to build the Mekong River's biggest dam would destroy fisheries that feed millions and worsen tensions with Vietnam, the downstream country with most to lose from dams on the waterway, according to a three-year study commissioned by the Cambodian government.

The report, posted this month on the website of the U.S.-based organization that conducted the study, said the Sambor dam would "generate large power benefits to Cambodia, but at the probable cost of the destruction of the Mekong fishery, and the certain enmity of Vietnam."

It said the dam designed by China Southern Power Grid Co. would have a 620 square kilometer (239 square mile) reservoir and dwarf the biggest dam currently being built on the Mekong, the Xayaburi dam in Laos, which was bitterly opposed by environmentalists for years.

The experts at the Natural Heritage Institute who authored the report, submitted to the Cambodian government late last year, recommended it defer the project while studying "better" alternatives such as using solar power to augment existing hydroelectric dams.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-05-china-bac ... g.html#jCp

The experts at the Natural Heritage Institute who authored the report, submitted to the Cambodian government late last year, recommended it defer the project while studying "better" alternatives such as using solar power to augment existing hydroelectric dams.

So an American "Natural Heritage Institute" is arguing against a project that the Chinese would be in charge.
I'm guessing the Natural Heritage Institute has some made in USA solar cells to sell Cambodia.

I was in Kratie recently and as Tom reports there is an increase in the number of dolphins for the first time in many years. A chap I met even saw a baby one on his kayak trip. The Chinese are going to build dozens of dams in Lao, the river is indeed doomed.
Dams were once seen as clean and green but history shows that they are very destructive especially to fish stocks. Solar and wind power is now cheap and easy, dams are expensive and slow to construct.
American Steve should do some more reading.

Dams were once seen as clean and green but history shows that they are very destructive especially to fish stocks. Solar and wind power is now cheap and easy, dams are expensive and slow to construct.
American Steve should do some more reading.

Any energy source has its advantages and disadvantages. Solar and wind are both unreliable and require large amounts of land (or sea like in Germany) because they both are not very concentrated energy sources. Solar cells are clean and green but the technology used to fabricate them is very polluting, a fact that is hardly ever mentioned. Windmills decimate both environment and wildlife.

There is no silver bullet when it comes to alternative energy sources and the decision to build a hydroelectric power station, install acres and acres of solar panels or thousands of windmills depends on the site and the needs of the country.

I understand the appeal of dolphins because I saw a documentary about Japanese fishermen and their love of dolphin meat. They killed a mommy dolphin and the little baby dolphin tried to get away and they killed that too. It was heart breaking but the Japanese like their dolphin. What can you do?

BUT
the Vietnamese are gong to be really pissed off

That's the real issue; the environmental part is just a lot of chatter.

AmericanSteve wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 12:35 pm

BUT
the Vietnamese are gong to be really pissed off

That's the real issue; the environmental part is just a lot of chatter.

Well, you can see their point. The neighbors higher up the Mekong, China and Laos, will get the benefits of the dams, while there will be a strong environmental impact on Cambodia and Vietnam - less fish, too much seawater in the delta for the rice production etc.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... h2YvZd2HOa

05/22/2018, 16.26
New Chinese dam on the Mekong to have devastating environmental consequences
by Peter Hung
With an investment of almost US$ 5 billion, China is set to build the Sambor dam in Cambodia. According to experts, it will have a very negative impact on the natural environment and on the Cambodians and Vietnamese living in the Mekong Delta. The great river provides food security to about 60 million people living in the settlements along its course.

Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) – Vietnamese communities living along the banks of the Mekong River are very concerned about the destructive impact of a new Sino-Cambodian dam on the region's ecosystem.

Once completed, the Sambor Dam will be the largest hydroelectric power station on the Mekong River. The latter flows for about 4,350 kilometres and is the second river basin in the world for biodiversity after the Amazon.

The Mekong provides food security to about 60 million people living in settlements along its course, which runs from the Tibetan plateau through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea.

In the north, China controls the flow of the Mekong waters and has already built eight dams in the upper section of the river and is investing in more than half of the 11 dams planned further south.

Chinese companies have invested billions of dollars but have not carried out environmental and social impact assessments.

China has compensated its Southeast Asian neighbours with investments and low-interest loans, which have enabled state firms and agencies in Thailand, Vietnam and Laos to benefit from new hydroelectric projects.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/New-Chin ... 43955.html
Maps: DAPnews

I foresee a deal:

SCS dispute vs. dams deal

Not difficult to predict how this will go

I guess with all those dams on the Mekong they have given up the idea of super size container ships going all the way up to the upper reaches of the river.