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Scientists for the Mekong

Scientists for the MekongJuly 25, 2017 2:57pm

Finally, some fantastic news from Thailand...(?) Maybe the Mekong Villagers may have a chance to protect their Rights to Water & Food security?
"The National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) has endorsed a plan to create an environmental court overseeing cases involving pollution and its impact on the public.
Sayumporn Limthai, a member of the reform committee and former member of the now-defunct National Reform Council, said the court, which will specialise in environmental issues, should be set up to handle...

Creating the court will help standardise the judicial process in environmental cases and put it on par with international practices, advocates say. It will also help provide fairness to all sides, particularly...

Mr Sarumporn said the court, which would fall under the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice (COJ), would oversee civil, criminal and administrative cases in accordance with the "polluter pays" principle,...

Environmental cases are currently split into three camps, with civil cases handled by the Civil Court, criminal cases overseen by the COJ, and administrative cases supervised by the Administrative Court.

One potential problem is a paucity of experts on environmental matters in the Civil Court and the COJ. The result, analysts say, is that private firms are more likely to win their cases. By contrast, the Administrative Court, which deals with cases against the state, and which has more experts on pollution cases, often orders the state to pay the public high compensation."

Specialist 'environmental court' gets NRSA backing

The National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) has endorsed a plan to create an environmental court overseeing cases involving pollution and its impact on the public.

bangkokpost.com

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Scientists for the Mekong published a note.July 25, 2017 10:27am

China’s “Economic Aid” in SE Asia

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Scientists for the MekongJuly 25, 2017 9:02am

“China’s use of economic aid to placate angry neighbors is still seen as effective in allowing it to consolidate its controversial claims in the South China Sea, but it is also showing early signs of wearing thin a year after an international court rejected Beijing's legal basis for maritime claims that have put it at odds with much of Southeast Asia.

China hopes its engagement with Southeast Asian nations will make bigger countries, such as India and Japan, see China positively rather than as a country that flouts world court decisions, said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington. Otherwise, she said, its international leadership image will suffer.

“They care because, although their economic strength is so massive and they can coerce any country that does not agree with China, they also understand that this doesn’t mean that other countries respect them for it or they genuinely accept China’s leadership for it,” Sun said.

But some experts warn of increasingly obvious flaws in the Chinese formula of aid in exchange for other countries keeping quiet about their own claims to the sea that's prized for fisheries, fossil fuel reserves and shipping lanes.

“After the ruling last year by the arbitral tribunal, China does not have any legitimate claim over that area,” Le said. “China insists that it’s still a disputed area and it believes that Vietnam is violating a common understanding between the leaderships of the two countries.”

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Scientists for the MekongJuly 25, 2017 7:23am

The "Cambodian Villagers’ LS2 Dam Resistance” continues even as the rising waters in the Lower Sesan2 Dam reservoir continue rising… Two villages remain to be evacuated & the people relocated: Kbal Romeas & Srae Kor. Police are preventing journalists and people from other communities from entering Kbal Romeas. Srae Kor Village will be flooded by Friday and the remaining people have to get out, says Cambodian (Stung Treng Government) officials. We thank NGO Mother Nature for spreading the news and being at the site.

“Provincial authorities deployed police and Military Police officials outside Kbal Romeas village in Stung Treng’s Sesan district yesterday to prevent outsiders from entering villages threatened by flooding from the Lower Sesan II dam.

The police blockade came into force Sunday, when authorities detained and questioned 24 members of an indigenous network from Mondulkiri province at the provincial police station.
Vaing Samrith, an ethnic Phnong who works as a translator, said that 20 police and Military Police officers stopped him and a foreign photographer near the Kroobey Chrom pagoda as they tried to reach Kbal Romeas village yesterday morning.

The photographer corroborated the story but asked to remain anonymous. Samrith said that he and his colleague were forced to erase photos they took of the officers. After around 40 minutes, Samrith decided to turn back.

Meng Heng, of the environmental NGO Mother Nature, said three more foreign journalists were stopped by police yesterday for about 30 minutes. A video Heng posted on Facebook shows police stopping a crowd of people – including the three foreigners – along a dirt road.

Romeas residents and environmental activists from Mother Nature finally escorted the journalists past the police officials. Journalists seen in the video could not be reached as of press time.
Kbal Romeas community representative Dam Samnang said that he expects around 300 people from across Cambodia to gather in his village today for a series of events, including a press conference, traditional prayers and the construction of floating homes for locals in anticipation of flooding following the closure of one of the dam’s gates.

So far, he said, only 100 people, mostly members of ethnic minority groups from neighbouring provinces, have arrived, due to police interference.
Cambodian Indigenous Youth Association President Ngach Samin criticised police efforts to prevent outsiders from accessing Kbal Romeas and Srekor, pointing to Article 40 of the Cambodian Constitution, which protects citizens’ freedom of movement.
Provincial Hall spokesman Men Kong said police were only trying to prevent outsiders from entering the villages for their own good as rising waters caused by the closure of the dam’s doors threatens both Srekor and Kbal Romeas with flooding.
Yesterday, provincial authorities released a statement saying that Srekor village will flood on Friday and called on the village’s remaining inhabitants to abandon their homes.”
Contact authors: Phak Seangly and Martin de Bourmont

Officials stop outsiders travelling to Sesan dam

Provincial authorities deployed police and Military Police officials outside Kbal Romeas village in Stung Treng’s Sesan district yesterday to prevent outsiders from entering villages threatened by flooding from the Lower Sesan II dam.

phnompenhpost.com

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Scientists for the MekongJuly 24, 2017 6:06pm

"By Monday, the Sesan River had risen 3 meters since the 400 megawatt dam’s closure on Saturday, provincial government spokesman Men Kong said.

As the $800 million Lower Sesan II dam closed for initial testing, groups of about 20 military police and police from across the province were sent to Sesan district’s Srekor and Kbal Romeas villages to rescue holdouts, Mr. Kong said.

“The water level of the Sesan River stood at 61 meters today, but the Srekor and Kbal Romeas villages have not yet flooded,” Mr. Kong said on Monday.

“We are not worried because our provincial authorities have already prepared forces and fast boats to rescue the people to the safe hills when they get flooded in the next few days,” he said.

The remaining families, largely from indigenous ethnic minorities, have refused to move to the hill relocation site, reluctant to give up their ancestral lands and fearful of losing their traditional lifestyles and livelihoods.

Authorities estimated last week that the holdouts numbered about 120 families, while villagers said about 180 remained.

The rescue groups had emergency supplies including medicine and water, Mr. Kong said, although he did not know how many groups had been sent to each village.

Suth Thoeun, a villager set on remaining in Srekor village, said that while he was watching the water levels rise rapidly on the river, the rescuers were unlikely to be useful. Floods would only move his community if the village was entirely inundated, he said.

“They will leave only if the roofs of their homes are flooded,” he said."

Waters Rising in Sesan Dam Villages as Holdouts Sit Tight - The Cambodia Daily

Rescuers armed with speed boats and emergency supplies have been deployed to two Stung Treng province villages where residents remain despite expected flooding as the country’s largest hydropower dam undergoes testing.

cambodiadaily.com

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Scientists for the Mekong published a note.July 23, 2017 6:04pm

China’s Energy Hypocrisy

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