Viet Ecology Foundation

LAOS PDR BREAKS GROUND FOR XAYABURI DAM A TRAGIC DAY FOR THE MEKONG RIVER AND MEKONG DELTA

On Wednesday, November 7, 2012, Rewat Suwanakitti, the Deputy Director of the Xayaburi hydroelectric dam project, announced that the ground breaking ceremony for the building of the dam has been conducted because: “The Lao authorities told us that we could begin construction.” One day prior [Tuesday Nov. 6, 2012] the Prime Minister of Laos, Thongsing Thammavong, confirmed with the Wall Street Journal that the project was suspended pending further study.

LỄ ĐỘNG THỔ ĐẬP XAYABURI MỘT NGÀY ẢM ĐẠM TRÊN SÔNG MEKONG VÀ ĐBSCL
Thứ Tư ngày 7 tháng 11, 2012, Rewat Suwanakitti, Phó Giám Đốc dự án công trình thủy điện Xayaburi cho biết Lào đã làm lễ động thổ để khởi công xây con đập thủy điện Xayaburi. “ Chánh quyền Lào bảo chúng tôi có thể bắt đầu xây dựng công trình.” Trước đó một ngày [thứ Ba 6/11/12], Thủ tướng Lào Thongsing Thammavong đã lại nói với phóng viên Wall Street Journal rằng dự án đang tạm ngưng để chờ thêm khảo sát.

SÁNG KIẾN HẠ LƯU MEKONG 2020 VÀ MỘT HỌC VIỆN MEKONG TRÊN ĐẤT LÀO
“Như một phần của ‘Sáng Kiến Cam Kết An Ninh Á Châu Thái Bình Dương’, chúng ta tiến tới “Sáng Kiến Hạ Lưu Mekong 2020”. Như tên gọi, đó là viễn-kiến-nhiều-năm để Hoa Kỳ có thể trợ giúp mỗi đối tác cũng như toàn thể nhằm xây dựng một lưu vực trù phú.” Hillary Clinton

THE LOWER MEKONG INITIATIVE 2020 AND A MEKONG INSTITUTE IN LAOS PDR
As part of our Asia Pacific Security Engagement Initiative, we are launching LMI 2020. As the name implies, it is a multiyear vision for how the United States can help each of our partners together as well as individually to build a more prosperous region through each of the LMI pillars. Hillary Clinton<br> We think the Lower Mekong Initiative 2020 has great potential, but it can only be successful if we have the full participation of all the partners, because we need your ideas and we need your very constructive and candid dialogue with us. Hillary Clinton

THE MEKONG BASIN A CHALLENGING NEIGHBORHOOD FOR THE U.S
“The United States is back in South East Asia. President Obama and I believe that this region is vital to global process, peace and prosperity and we are fully engaged with our ASEAN partners on the wide range of challenges confronting us.” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ASEAN Summit 07/ 28/ 2009.

STOP ANOTHER HUNGARIAN ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE IN CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF VIETNAM

Let’s protect the safety and livelihood of 14 million people living in the Central Highlands and Dong Nai river basin of Vietnam

The Viet Ecology Foundation has launched an online petition for concerned world citizens to join Professor Nguyen Hue Chi, the co-founder of the Bauxite Vietnam website and several thousands of Vietnamese citizens, scholars, scientists, and environmentalists to call for the Government of Vietnam to stop the mining projects in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/40122.html

The Central Highlands of Vietnam is known to have 5.4 billion tons of bauxite reserve base or the world’s third largest; if the extraction project is not stopped, its total caustic mud generated would reach 90 million cubic meters. This caustic mud would be stored in reservoirs at an altitude hundreds of meters above sea level, subjected to 2.5 meter annual rain fall, flash floods and over 14 million basin residents.

Vietnamese scholars and scientists believe the $15.6 Billion Mining Project in Central Highlands of Vietnam is economically, technically and environmentally unsound; it does not include all social and long term environmental costs and does not address the transportation system. In addition, the World Intangible Cultural Heritage Gong Culture of the Central Highlands of Vietnam, the traditional and sustainable agriculture of the Dong Nai river basin people would be gravely endangered by this project.

For more information please contact Long Pham (949) 309-7767 Email: longpp@vietecology.org

PETITION

www.gopetition.com/online/30896.html

We the undersigned wholeheartedly support the Chinese scientists and scholars’ petition and wish to join them in putting forward this petition again for the Chinese people overseas, the concerned Southeast Asian people living downstream of the Yunnan seismic faults and giant dams, the concerned world citizens on behalf of the millions people and their descendants - that the Chinese should set up a joint investigation team, which would include experts and scholars who have done long-term research in this field of study, to carry out the following tasks as soon as possible:

Re-examine the seismic intensity originally set for each of all large-scale hydro dams in the southwest of China;

Re-examine the risks posed by the cascades of dams and reservoirs to the downstream areas in the event of earthquakes;

Conduct further studies to determine the risk that reservoirs could induce seismic activity (RIS) in geologically unstable regions;

Make public the results of the re-examination and information generated;

Prepare special emergency plan for the regions, where hydro dams have already been built, based on the conclusions obtained by the joint investigation team; and, at the same time, make necessary adjustments to official plans to massively and intensively develop southwest China’s water resources and construct cascades of hydro dams throughout rivers in southwest China in keeping with the principles of planning and environmental assessment.

Temporarily suspend the approval of big hydro dams in geologically unstable areas in southwest China before carrying out all the above tasks.