Civil Society’s Reflection of Past and Present Hydropower Development in the

3S Rivers Basin Paves Concern Over Future Development Plans

May 31 – June 2, 2010

Today’s event, the 1st Transboundary River Basin Meeting, Sekong, Sesan and Srepok
River Basins (3S Basins), marks a significant move towards improved dialogue,
coordination and collaboration among various stakeholders from the 3S Basins in
Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam. While we welcome this meeting by the Mekong River
Commission and Asian Development Bank’s 3S Project, we respectfully call on all of its
participants to reflect on the past and present lessons learned in the 3S Rivers Basin as
discussions of visions for the basin’s future thirty-years and the preparation of a Road Map
take place.

The 3S Rivers Basin is an important tributary and watershed of the Mekong River
supporting nearly 3.5 million people in Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam, many of which are
ethnic minorities and depend on the three rivers and the area’s rich natural resources for
survival. These three rivers are governed under the regional multilateral treaty, the 1995
Mekong Agreement, in which Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam have agreed to
cooperate together, in order to ensure the sustainable development, utilization, management,
and conservation of the water and related resources of the Mekong River Basin.

Over the last decade, the development and construction of hydropower dams on these rivers
in Viet Nam and Laos has been the source of worry and concern as downstream
communities have suffered large-scale environmental, economic and social impacts due to
the construction and operation of these dams. There are approximately nine dams currently
in operation in the 3S Rivers, with an additional seven under construction and eleven in
planning stages. Although effort has been made to regulate water flows through the
construction of dams including Sesan 4A, the development of these dams, beginning with
Viet Nam’s 720 MW Yali Falls dam on the Sesan River in 1993, has changed the rivers’
flows and quality, thus resulting in the loss of lives and property and an increase in poverty,
disease, and food insecurity for riparian communities due to the degradation of the
environment.

Despite the severity of the transboundary impacts and the efforts of local communities and
civil society organizations to document the impacts and raise their concerns to local and
regional authorities, donors and developers, the countries’ have failed to adhere to its
regional and international responsibilities as outlined in the 1995 Mekong Agreement and
various international human rights and environmental agreements the countries’ are
signatories to, as the past and present impacts of the dams remain unresolved in terms of the
prevention, mitigation and compensation of harmful impacts. Under the Agreement,
State(s) should “make every effort to avoid, minimize and mitigate harmful effects that
might occur to the environment…from the development and use of the Mekong River Basin
water resources” (Article 7) and must “address and resolve all issues, differences and
disputes in an amicable and timely manner by peaceful means” when a project causes
substantial damage to one or more riparian State (Article 8).

Additionally, while the case of Yali Falls dam has highlighted the urgent need for greater
accountability and transparency among stakeholders and the need for improved public
participation within a project’s decision-making processes, further dams on the 3S Rivers
continue to be planned and developed in a non-transparent manner without adequate
consideration for downstream impacts. Until remedy is given to the communities who have
suffered the adverse impacts of the dams, past commitments given by the dam developer,
the Electricity of Viet Nam, are delivered, and there are institutional mechanisms
established to ensure compliance of the 1995 Mekong Agreement along with conflict
resolution, among others, within the MRC, we fear future development in the 3S Rivers
Basin will continue following this unsustainable and avoidable path.

For these reasons mentioned above, we kindly offer the following recommendations to all
authorities, institutions, donors and private sector working in the 3S rivers basin:

1. All countries should publically acknowledge the past and present problems of
hydropower development in the 3S rivers basin and publically renew their
commitment to upholding and adhering to the 1995 Mekong Agreement;

2. The construction and planning processes of all hydropower projects in the 3S rivers
basin should be halted until past, present and future impacts of hydropower
development are adequately mitigated and fair compensation is provided to all
affected communities;

3. Establish mechanisms for improved transparency and wide and meaningful public
participation in all development planning processes, including the establishment of a
legal framework that requires all project documents to be accessible to the public
and necessitates “free, prior and informed consent” of local communities as a
requirement for project approval. Special consideration should be given to ensure
that all documents are available in local languages and are provided at least 30
working days prior to a meeting or consultation.

4. The Mekong River Basin, as the 3S Rivers governance body, along with the
countries of Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam should identify and commit to following
a set of internationally recognized “best practice” standards in all future hydropower
projects. The Strategic Priorities and Policy Principles established by the World
Commission on Dams are internationally recognized as the most comprehensive
 “best practice” standards given its extensive multi-stakeholder review process and
assessment of more than 1,000 dams in 79 countries.

5. Ensure a thorough and participatory transboundary baseline assessment is carried

out prior to all project considerations and that a full Environmental and Social
Impact Assessment is carried out in a “best practice” manner, which considers cross-
border and cumulative impacts.

6. Projects should only go forward after a transparent, participatory and comprehensive

assessment of all available options. These assessments should be the responsibility
of the State and should carefully assess and integrate social, environmental and
economic factors. Priority should be given to projects that ensure affected
communities are the direct beneficiaries of the project, with equitable benefit sharing
mechanisms in place.

7. All future 3S Transboundary River Basin meetings should have wider community
representation, as local communities should be seen as the priority stakeholder.

We thank you for your time and consideration of the concerns addressed above. We look
forward to improved and strengthened coordination and collaboration among all
stakeholders in order to ensure the sustainable development of the 3S Rivers basin.

This statement is signed and endorsed by the following organisations: