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Mekong ‘water war’ threatens
communities
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Chiang Rai, Thailand, Sept. 6 (IPS) — Increasing fault-lines
between countries that share the Mekong River are worrying environmentalists
who warn that there is a grave possibility of a “water war”
erupting in the region.
The emerging tension is most palpable among communities, in countries
along the lower end of this mighty body of water, who depend on the
river for their diet and livelihood. The warning was given by environmentalists
during a seminar here in Chiang Rai, a northern Thai city located a
short distance from the river.
Among the exhibits they held up to make their case were the rush to
build dams in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan; the noticeable
drop in the fish population in Cambodia and parts of the Mekong that
flows past Thailand; and the damage to the river’s eco-system due
to irregular fluctuation of water-levels during the annual dry season.
The Laotian government’s desperate need for foreign exchange through
its nascent tourism industry has also been affected, since boats often
used to carry tourists have been unable to ply along the Mekong near
the ancient city of Luang Prabang during the dry season due to a drop
in the river’s water level.
To compound this, Thailand and China have recently struck a deal that
will literally amount to pouring oil on flames — to transport petroleum
from Thailand to southern China in ships not built to perform the role
of oil tankers.
“It will be a disaster if these ships get damaged or sink in the
Mekong,” Chainarong Srettachau, director of the Thai chapter of
the South-east Asia Rivers Network (SEARIN), told IPS.
“If there is an oil spill, it will spread fast down stream and
we will not be able to contain it like they do in the ocean,” he
said, adding that such mid-river accidents have happened to ships transporting
goods along this waterway, such as fruits and electronic products.
China’s presence as the source of these potential conflicts emerges
from the Asian giant’s hunger for energy to drive the engine of
its skyrocketing economy, which is one of the best performers in the
world.
The plans to build a cascade of dams across the Mekong River are pivotal
in Beijing’s plans for economic growth.
“There has been a stampede to develop the river for hydropower,”
John Dore, a researcher at the Chiang Mai University’s Mekong Water
Governance Network, told the seminar attended by journalists from the
Mekong Subregion.
They include the plans to build eight dams in Yunnan, two of which,
the Manwan and Dachaoshan, have been completed, while the Xiaowan and
Jinghong are under construction. The Xiaowan will be the tallest, standing
at a towering 1,000 feet.
Once the Chinese dams are completed, those who stand to lose out “include
millions of people downstream — mostly beyond the Chinese border
— reliant on fishing and river bank farming,” states a background
paper distributed by Dore at the seminar.
The 3030-mile-long Mekong River begins its journey in the Tibetan plateau,
snakes through China’s Yunnan province, and proceeds downwards
along a path touching Burma, past Laos and Thailand and through Cambodia
till it flows out into the South China Sea in southern Vietnam.
The Mekong region covers over 2.3 million square miles and is home to
240 million people. Of that number, some 60 million people depend on
the river for food, water and transport.
The significance of fish for these people is reflected in its abundance,
since the annual fish yield in the lower basin tops 1.75 million tons,
which is 20 percent of all fish caught from the inland waters of the
world.
Plans to develop the Mekong Subregion were launched in 1992 by the Asian
Development Bank (AsDB), a Manila-based international financial institution,
with the aim of promoting development, trade and cooperation within
the six countries in the area.
To secure physical integration, the AsDB promoted the building of stronger
transportation, communication and power networks, while economic integration
was encouraged through trade and free-market policies.
The vision these policies promoted were in stark contrast to the image
the world had of the Mekong during the US government’s invasion
of Indo- China from early 1960 through the early 1970s. Then, the mighty
Mekong served as the backdrop to the Washington’s Vietnam War.
But now, 12 years after the AsDB sought to convert the Mekong into a
zone for mega development plans, a conflict of a different kind is steadily
spiraling to the surface.
“The conflict over resource use will be a challenge in the future,”
Jaseem Ahmed of the AsDB told the seminar. “We have begun to work
informally with leaders (to address potential conflicts). We are not
in a position to isolate countries.”
Apichai Sunchindah, a UN official, cautioned against downstream countries
taking China to task for fueling the rising tide of tension. “I
don’t think ganging up on China will work,” he said.
“The Mekong River is an international river and there are international
norms and international values to consider,” he added. “We
need to talk to China.”
Brazil moving toward biodiesel
By Mario Osava
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept. 1 (IPS)— The results of a
trial in which two cars drove over 60,000 miles on a fuel containing
30 percent biodiesel have provided the latest arguments in favour of
the alternative fuel in Brazil.
The trial results reported Aug. 3 in Brasilia showed that cars maintain
a normal level of performance using B30 — a blend consisting of
30 percent biodiesel and 70 percent petroleum-based diesel fuel, while
significantly reducing pollution.
The validation study, carried out by the University of Sao Paulo Laboratory
for the Development of Clean Technologies (LADETEL) in association with
Peugeot Citroen, began in September 2003.
The French car-maker lent two vehicles free of charge for the biodiesel
trial (a 206 and a Xsara Picasso), and provided logistical support.
The researchers found that exhaust emissions and greenhouse gases (which
cause global warming) were reduced 16 percent on average, said the head
of LADETEL, Miguel Dabdoub.
Using B30, the cars’ performance was similar to that of vehicles
run on traditional fuels, and they consumed just one percent more fuel.
The biodiesel used in the trial was produced with soybean oil, of which
Brazil is one of the world’s leading producers. But research is
also being carried out in the country utilizing a wide range of other
vegetable oils, like castor, palm, sunflower, peanut and cottonseed
oil.
Projects developing biodiesel from different kinds of oils are currently
being conducted in 21 of Brazil’s 27 states. Some of the initiatives
recycle used vegetable oil from restaurants and the grease extracted
from sewers. Many native fruits, especially from the Amazon jungle,
also provide raw materials.
Biodiesel is currently more expensive than petroleum-based diesel, but
the higher cost is compensated by the environmental benefits, Dabdoub
argued.
In addition, he said, large-scale production and the possibility of
taking advantage of local sources and inputs will further reduce the
cost.
Brazil can also draw on the experience of its 30-year-old fuel alcohol
program, which was launched after the 1973 oil crisis.
Fuel alcohol or ethanol produced with sugar cane has replaced a large
part of the petrol consumed in this country of 178 million. Nearly 20
percent of the cars in Brazil run exclusively on ethanol.
In addition, all of the petrol consumed in the country consists of 20
to 25 percent fuel alcohol, which saves on oil imports and reduces air
pollution and smog.
Brazil produces around 4.25 billion gallons of ethanol — half of
the total global production — of which 3.8 billion gallons are
consumed domestically. Exports are expected to rise fourfold by the
end of next year.
In November, the leftist government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
plans to authorize sales of B2, a diesel blend containing an additive
of two percent biodiesel, to be increased to five percent within the
short-term.
Minister of Science and Technology Eduardo Campos said the B2 biodiesel
program will differ significantly from the government’s ethanol
(Proalcohol) program.
He said the new initiative will be carried out with a “strategic
vision” that will seek to avoid problems that Proalcohol has run
into, while generating “social inclusion,” including employment
in rural areas.
Proalcohol emerged in response to an emergency: the sudden skyrocketing
of international oil prices. Brazil imports over 80 percent of the petroleum
and by-products consumed domestically.
Proalcohol required heavy government subsidies, and the expansion of
sugar cane cultivation caused serious environmental and social problems
in the countryside.
In addition, insufficient production in the early 1990s led to shortages
and a lack of confidence in the new fuel, with demand for cars running
exclusively on fuel alcohol dropping practically to zero.
But the manufacturing of “dual fuel” cars, which can run on
either petrol or ethanol, or a blend of the two in any proportion, is
swiftly restoring the credibility of the government’s Proalcohol
program.
The B2 fuel that the government will authorie in November will require
an additional 370,000 acres of oilseeds, which will generate a source
of income for 30,000 families of small farmers, said Minister of Agrarian
Development Miguel Rossetto.
Biodiesel is leading to the promotion of the cultivation of castor beans
and other crops in semiarid lands in the northeast, Brazil’s poorest
region.
Projects involving family farms in small rural communities are spreading
in the region, opening up possibilities of reducing poverty and curbing
the rural exodus to urban slums.
The Brazilian Company of Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA), a government
network of 40 research centers, has carried out studies to help promote
the expansion of castor bean cultivation.
Biodiesel based on castor oil will not only serve as fuel, but will
also be used to generate electricity in isolated rural communities,
at least in the northeastern state of Ceará.
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