Mekong lower, fears
higher By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - The annual dry spell affecting the
Mekong River basin this year has brought into relief the
vulnerability of millions of rural people who depend on
the river for their livelihood when the waters dip to
unexpected lows. After all, as recent research has
pointed out, eight out of every 10 people who live in
the 800,000-square-kilometer lower reaches of the Mekong
River depend on water for their two primary occupations,
fishing and farming.
This season's receding
water level, noticed at three points through which
Southeast Asia's largest river flows - Chiang Saen in
Thailand, Vientiane in Laos and the Tonle Sap River in
Cambodia - has also become a cause for concern among
some of the region's water specialists.
"The
Mekong's water level in Vientiane is the lowest it has
ever been," said Robyn Johnston of the Phnom Penh-based
Mekong River Commission (MRC). "But the levels at Chiang
Saen are similar to the lows seen in 1992."
Reports in Thai media have also described
unusually dry stretches of the river at the border of
Thailand and Laos, saying that levels at some point were
at a 20-year low of 2.6 meters instead of the usual four
to five meters during the dry season. Fishermen at Ban
Haad Kham village in northeastern Thailand were quoted
as saying that the low - and fluctuating - water levels
have put their livelihoods at risk.
To prevent
the depleting water levels from worsening - consequently
drying up the food supply of people living in the Mekong
basin - an international research body unveiled a plan
here on Thursday to pursue studies aimed at producing
more food using less water. This research effort, under
the Challenge Program on Water and Food by the
Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research
(CGIAR), is also geared at striking a balance between
achieving food security and protecting the river's rich
biodiversity.
The Challenge Program is funding
eight projects focusing on agriculture productivity and
the efficiency of water use in the Mekong region, states
a background note by the MRC. They include designing
farming systems that will serve multiple purposes, such
as having a wide variety of crops being grown along with
other food sources and fish. Also earmarked is a study
to "develop improved technologies for rice-based
cropping systems, with the aim of increasing yield
without more water use".
To counter the high
salinity experienced by Vietnam, CGIAR has agreed to
fund a program that seeks to conceive rice varieties and
cultivate strategies that "can cope with high levels of
salinity".
The Mekong River basin project, which
is estimated to cost US$10 million, is part of a global
exercise focusing on nine major river basins, including
the Nile in Egypt and the Yellow River in China, being
spearheaded by CGIAR. "The Mekong is the least developed
of the nine river basins we are working on," said
Jonathan Woolley, the global program coordinator of the
Challenge Program.
The Mekong begins in the
Tibetan plateau and journeys across 4,880km, snaking
through southern China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and
Cambodia until it flows out from Vietnam into the South
China Sea.
In addition to being used for
agriculture and fishing, the river's waters have been
harnessed for domestic use and for the more
controversial dams being built to supply hydropower to
meet the energy needs of some countries.
Between
55 million and 60 million people live in the lower
Mekong region, states the MRC in a report, but adds
further that the population is expected to increase to
90 million by 2025. This trend itself, along with
environmental degradation, puts additional pressure on
the region in the form of food-security and water
conflicts and could even provoke a tussle between
farmers and fishermen, say MRC officials.
Despite being in such close proximity to this
abundant body of water, many people in Cambodia and Laos
still do not have access to safe water. "Fewer than 40
percent of the households have safe water or adequate
sanitation," the report adds.
Other social
indicators in the river basin are as disconcerting, such
as poverty affecting nearly 40 percent of the people
from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
For many,
fisheries remain a vital source of food and income, a
fact borne out by the estimated 1.75 million tonnes of
fish caught annually in the basin. This yield, valued at
$1.45 billion, amounts to about 20 percent of the annual
fish catch from inland waters.
"Most of the 12
million rural households in the LMB [lower Mekong basin]
fish as well as farm, and fish are the main source of
animal protein in most people's diets," according to the
report.
Agriculture, it points out, remains the
"most important" economic activity in the basin, with
rice being the main crop. "Overall, an estimated 75
percent of the LMB population earn their livelihood
through agriculture."
But in the plans that lie
ahead, the CGIAR's program will try to harness the
diverse rice varieties in the region produced by local
communities, rather than opting only for hybrid
varieties that come out of laboratories, Woolley told a
press conference here.
"But there will be no
specific exclusion of genetically modified rice
varieties. Every case will be studied," he added. "I
don't think you are going to see an increase in the
spread of GMOs [genetically modified organisms] in the
region."
Woolley's assurance comes at a time
when environmental and grassroots groups have been
critical of the move by agribusiness giants to push for
greater use of hybrid crops in the developing world.
The commitment to engage local communities in
the plans also marks a shift from the pattern common
across the region of governments paying little regard to
the people living on the riverbanks when it comes to
large national development projects.
"In all
Mekong region countries there are local systems,
functioning more or less well, to deal with allocation
and use [of water]," John Dore of the Mekong Region
Water Governance Network said in an interview. "As the
development decisions scale up, the degree to which
local views are factored into the decision-making varies
from state to state."
(Inter Press
Service)
Mar 12, 2004
Mekong Sunset A four-part ATol
special by James Borton (Aug, '02)
