once the costs for compensation of the land and financial damages to individuals are calculated having in mind the cost of construction of the damns, many of the skeems of hydroelectric energy in the Mekong won’t be successful. Last year, the World Bank, an organization that has support the building of dams, and the World Union of Conservation gave an important study of two years of the economic, ecologic, and social impacts of 45,000 big dams around the world. Although they recognized that the dams had done an important contribution to the development of these countries, the report also stated that in many cases an unacceptable and unnecessary price has been paid by displaced communities and by the natural environment. The experts estimate that more than 100,000 in China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam have been obligated to leave their houses because of the dams.The report was particularly critic in the Pack Moon damn in Thailand. This dam has prevented the free migration of fish around the river and because of this from 265 species of fish that used to live in the river 96 species are left and the majority without commercial value. As a consequence fishing has gone down by an 80%. As a result most of the fishermen have moved to Bangkok in look for lower jobs. The study stated that if the Moon project was to be evaluated for construction today it wouldn’t be accepted. Thanks to this it is believed that constructions of dams in Thailand wont be accepted for now. A director from Terra, an environmental group, says that this dams are only a threat to the Mekong river.As the Mekong River, many rivers around the world are being strangle by dams. Although they may seem as useful constructions to improve the economic development of countries, in the end the negative effects from them bring more cost than gains. Countries should make deeper studies of the impacts of dams in their ecosystem before jumping into there construction. With...
