The People’s Party (PP) has called on the government to tackle arsenic contamination from foreign mining, spreading from northern rivers to the Mekong in the Northeast. It is urging immediate talks with China, Myanmar and Laos.

PP deputy spokesman and Chiang Mai MP Phattarapong Leelaphat posted on Facebook on Saturday, accusing authorities of ignoring the toxic contamination. Arsenic levels in Mekong River passing Loei, Bueng Kan, Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom provinces exceeded safety standards, yet officials withheld the information from the public, he said.

The pollution originates from neighbouring countries’ mining operations, but the government has failed to act. While contamination in northern rivers such as the Kok, Sai and Salween has long been known, the problem is now spreading to the Northeast, he added.

The post People’s Party warns of Mekong arsenic threat, calls for urgent regional talks first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

The government will use the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) meeting this week to seek cooperation from neighbouring countries to address the problem of call centre scam gangs.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said he had instructed Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa to raise the issue with participating countries and explore effective strategies for dealing with cross-border crime, including tackling call centre scams. The 9th MLC meeting is scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Chiang Mai.

Mr Maris stressed that regional cooperation is crucial to solving transnational crime, which includes the narcotics trade, human trafficking and fraud. He said the governments of Laos, China and India have placed importance on transnational crime and agreed to enhance cooperation to address these issues.

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Water holds special symbolic significance in Thai culture, from Loy Krathong to Songkran festivals. But as much as we respect the value of water, we must also recognise that failure to care for our water resources puts our lives and wellbeing at risk.

Over the last four decades we have transformed the natural landscape of Thailand. As the country has become rapidly urbanised and industrialised, we have filled much of the floodplains, wetlands and even canals to turn water into land, so that we can build and expand our towns, cities and industrial parks.

In doing so there has been very little consideration of the potential risks of such changes. Yet these risks are intensifying. It is often said that the effects of climate will be felt through water, and that our cities and urbanised areas will be on frontline in dealing with climate vulnerabilities of floods and droughts.

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As of last year, according to UN figures, there were nearly 80 unresolved cases of enforced disappearances in Thailand. Considering the country now has a law in place against enforced disappearances, in force since earlier in the year, how should we prevent and remedy these crimes?

Cases of enforced disappearances usually have three elements — the intent to deprive someone of their liberty (for example, by kidnapping); the involvement of state agents, or those who are under their authority; and the refusal to disclose the whereabout of the victim, whether dead or alive.

The task now is to search for victims of such crimes, and determine whether there were additional actions relating to the mistreatment of the victims which constitute a violation of the law and/or human rights. In Thailand, the main mechanism for dealing with enforced disappearances has been the UN Working Group of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, which is under the United Nation’s Human Rights Council in Geneva.

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NAKHON PHANOM: The level of the Mekong river is falling and water can now be drained more quickly out of thousands of rai of flooded rice fields, authorities in this northeastern border province said on Monday.

The river was receding by 10-20 centimetres per day. It was measured at 10.70 metres deep on Monday morning, 1.30m below the spilling point of 12m, Irrigation officials said.

Although the Mekong is falling,  water in three major tributaries –  the Nam Oon, Nam Songkhram and Huay Bang Ko rivers – was  20-30% higher than their normal capacities.

The provincial irrigation office was trying to drain as much water as possible out of nearly 10,000 rai of rice fields which have been flooded. It was initially estimated about 5,000 rai of the flooded rice crop would be  damaged.

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The worries and woes about the impacts of China’s dams along the Mekong River have been simmering since their construction more than two decades ago.

But there is one big difference today. Recorded data, such as that reported in the Mekong Dam Monitor online platform, describes — and confirms — that the way these dams are being operated is upsetting the river system’s natural balance and undercutting its life-sustaining rhythms such as the Mekong flood pulse.

The monitor’s data are used to issue early warnings to downstream communities about changes in river levels of half a metre or more due to releases from China’s dams, events that can lead to flooding.

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Southeast Asia needs to accelerate decarbonisation of its global value chains (GVCs) as the region could face up to a 30% loss of GDP annually by 2100 due to climate change, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). 

Speaking at a conference in Bali, ADB deputy director-general Winfried Wicklein said Asean is one of the most vulnerable regions in terms of the impact of climate change.

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Myanmar’s military junta is holding talks with three ethnic rebel groups on staging elections in areas they control, a rebel spokesman said on Friday, as the military prepares for polls the United States has said will be a “sham.”

The country has about 20 ethnic rebel armies that have fought each other and the military for decades over autonomy and control of the drugs trade and natural resources in its borderlands.

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Two major tributaries of the Mekong River have burst their banks, flooding about 4,000 rai of paddy fields in Sri Songkhram district of this northeastern province.

The water level of the Mekong in Nakhon Phanom on Saturday was about 8 metres, or 4m below the spill-over level of 12m. But water in the Nam Oun and Nam Songkhram rivers through Na Wa, Sri Songkhram and Tha Uthen districts has risen, particularly in Sri Songkhram, where the two tributaries meet before flowing into the Mekong.

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Thailand is home to over 6 million indigenous people. Yet many are outlawed, denied basic rights, and subject to many forms of oppression. This must change. 

According to the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, about 10% of the population belongs to 60 indigenous and ethnic groups that are scattered across the country.

While ethnic groups such as the Mon, Tai Dam and Tai Yuan in the river basins have long integrated into mainstream society, the tribespeople live on the margins of society and suffer poverty and hardship from ethnic discrimation.

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The post Indigenous rights bill languishes first appeared on Open Development Mekong.