Plans for the second dam across the lower Mekong River continue to put Laos on a collision course with its neighbors and environmentalists who fear a damning frenzy would sabotage the livelihoods, fish species and farmland of around 60 million people.
Read more →After Typhoon Hagupit hit the Philippines last week, attention was once again drawn to the South-East Southeast Asian region. Yet, while the Philippines has an active role in the climate talks given its vulnerability and frequent impassioned pleas to spur climate action, other South-East Asian countries have been less vocal at this year’s climate talks.
Typhoon Hagupit Batters Philippines. (Photo: nbcnews.com)
At a press conference on Monday, Costa Rica announced that the Philippines will assume presidency of the Climate Vulnerable Forum in January 2015. The Climate Vulnerable Forum brings together 20 countries vulnerable to the effects of climate change to facilitate South-South cooperation. Many countries have also drawn attention to the plight of the Philippines to argue for a loss and damage mechanism. Extending his sympathies to the Philippines, the representative of St. Lucia argued adaptation can only go so far and that financing of a loss and damage mechanism was necessary.
While other South-East Asian countries are equally or more vulnerable to climate change compared to the Philippines, their presence is weak in Lima. According to the Notre Dame adaptation index which measures the vulnerability and readiness of countries, Cambodia, Laos, Timor-Leste and Myanmar have a lower adaptive capacity. Yet, unlike the Philippines which sent 30 negotiators, countries like Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia simply do not have the capacity to bring personnel to represent their interests across concurrent negotiations. According to Hla Maung Thien, deputy director-general of the ministry of environment, there are only five representatives in the Myanmar delegation at the climate talks this year, spread thin over least developed countries meetings and discussions on loss and damage. The delegation was not at the past two climate talks due to a “failure of communication.”
This underrepresentation extends to civil society presence within the negotiations too. There are six Singaporean youth from ECO Singapore here engaging with advocacy, however, most other South-East Asian youth are part of official government delegations. There is no known civil society presence from Myanmar and Laos. Nguyen Viet Dung from PanNature, an environmental NGO told The Verb that very few environmental organisations in Vietnam engage on a policy level domestically, let alone internationally.
Do South-East Asian countries band together then to exert greater influence at negotiations? The short answer is no.
Unlike countries within a region that organise at the climate talks such as the Independent Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean, there is no such South-East Asian bloc. While the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam have traditionally been associated to the Like Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs) bloc, the Philippines have reportedly left the bloc for the Climate Vulnerable Forum, which also consists of two countries from South-East Asia, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
Singapore is in a unique position. Classified as a non-annex one country, Singapore’s historical total contribution to global emissions is minimal and it has low alternative energy potential. Singapore has rapidly developed since 1992 and now boasts of a GDP per capita of $55,000, invoking pressures from other parties to contribute to the Green Climate Fund as Korea has done or to mitigate alongside developed countries of similar standards of living. With this dynamic, Singapore sees its role as a mediator between developed countries and developing countries and is a major proponent of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), which allow for countries to put forward their best efforts in good faith, recognising “each other’s respective and unique national circumstances.”
While South-East Asian countries do not collectively exert influence at the climate talks, there are ongoing regional efforts that especially focus on adaptation. In early November this year, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), issued a Joint Statement on Climate Change. According to the statement, ASEAN is supportive of including adaptation in the INDCs and emphasised fast capitalisation of funding for priority adaptation projects.
However, most adaptation projects occur outside of ASEAN on a bilateral or multilateral basis with donor countries and UN agencies. In July 2014, theGovernment of Myanmar signed an agreement with UNEP and UN-Habitat to implement a programme that seeks to enhance Myanmar’s climate resiliency.
Vast differences in capacities to effectively contribute to negotiations exist among Southeast Asia countries. Asequity emerges as a key contentionleading up to the Paris Agreement, countries just have to look around to realize that the countries most disproportionately affected by climate change are not the ones in the driving seat making the decisions for the future. Even among developing countries.
Laos has officially announced its plan to develop the Don Sahong hydropower project on the Mekong River, and this project will be seriously affect Vietnam’s agriculture and aquatic resources in the Mekong Delta region, experts have warned.
Read more →On the occasion of the Mekong River Commission’s Regional Public Consultation on the Don Sahong Dam, on December 12, 2014, the Save the Mekong Coalition reiterates our call for the cancellation of the Don Sahong Dam and the protection of the Mekong River. The Don Sahong Dam poses an unacceptable risk to regional fisheries and food security, placing the future of the Mekong River and her people in jeopardy.
Read more →Hanoi, December 5th, 2014 – People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature), in cooperation with Institute Essential Service Reform (IESR), organized a half-day workshop on “Launching the regional framework on EI governance”.
Read more →Residents of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta have raised objections to the Don Sahong hydropower dam that Laos plans to build on the Mekong River’s main stream. The objections came in late November after the Hanoi-based Green Innovation and Development Center, the Center for Biodiversity and Development at Vietnam Rivers Network, and local authorities finished a nearly two-week survey in communes in Can Tho and the five provinces of Ca Mau, Soc Trang, An Giang, Kien Giang, Vinh Long.
Read more →A workshop was held in Hanoi on November 27 to seek to perfect a legal system to protect the environment as well as legitimate rights and interests of the community. Co-organised by the the People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature) and the Justice Initiative Facilitation Fund (JIFF), the event brought together more than 100 delegates from State management agencies, the central justice agency, research institutions and non-governmental organisations.
Read more →Minimising the adverse impacts of development projects on the environment and natural resources is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed urgently, experts said at a workshop in Hanoi on November 14.
Read more →Bangkok, Thailand – The Save the Mekong coalition (StM) supports the Network of Thai People in the Eight Provinces of the Mekong Basin (the Network) filing an injunction today in the Thai Administrative Court calling for a suspension of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the Xayaburi Dam, the first dam being built on the Lower Mekong River.
Read more →Vietnamese environmentalists say the hydropower race unfolding on the lower Mekong River will destroy the delta’s downstream economy. Experts at a Tuesday conference in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang called the dams “bombs” looming over millions of people, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported.
Read more →
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Vietnam, riparian neighbors exert pressure on Laos over second Mekong dam
Where is South-East Asia?
Lao Hydro Dam to Seriously Affect Vietnam’s Mekong Delta
Stop Gambling with Our Future: The Save the Mekong Coalition Calls for the Cancellation of Don Sahong Dam