This petition addresses the continued damming of one of the largest, most ecologically diverse tropical rivers on Earth, the Mekong River of southeast Asia..
The governments of Cambodia, Thailand and Laos are planning an additional 11 large/mainstream dams on the already heavily dammed Mekong River.
The lives of thousands or potentially millions of fisherman, farmers and families will be irreversibly altered or destroyed by the construction of these dams and the subsequent flooding behind the dam and drying up of wildlife habitat in front of the dam.
Land, forests, farmlands and the disruption of the migration and breeding cycles of the numerous fish species which live in the Mekong River....which has species diversity levels second only to the Amazon.
60 million people live in the Mekong River basin and in one way or another depend on the Mekong River for their livelihoods.
The building and completion of these dams will push the already endangered Mekong River dolphin and giant river catfish closer to the brink of extinction.
Various electrical grid upgrades, alternative energy technologies and alternative hydropower technologies could stop this:
To learn more go to:
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/southeast-asia/mekong-mainstream-damshttp://www.internationalrivers.org/en/chinaand also:
http://www.savethemekong.org/
We the undersigned oppose the building of further dams on the Mekong River in light of the environmental and human costs/destruction to the people and wildlife who live and depend on the Mekong River system for their livelihood.
