Dr Hawkins offered this response to WWF press release on the Don Sahong Project in February 2014.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has provoked a global torrent of criticism aimed at stopping development of the proposed Don Sahong Hydropower Project. WWF has said: ???The Lao Government???s decision to forge ahead with the Don Sahong hydropower plant in southern Laos, located just 1 km upstream of the core habitat for Mekong dolphins, could precipitate the extinction of the species from the Mekong River.??? The same group labelled theproject???s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) ???a recipe for disaster.??? The Vientiane Times asked Dr Peter Hawkins, the project???s senior environmental manager to respond.

News media around the world keep repeating the WWF???s irresponsible claim that the Don Sahong Hydropower Project will lead to the extinction of the Irrawaddy dolphin. Critics inspired by WWF also assert the project would obstruct dry-season fish migration through the Khone Falls region. They exaggerate.

The WWF estimates there were 85 Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong in 2010. An isolated group — perhaps as few as six dolphins — lives downstream of the project site while the rest live hundreds of kilometres downstream. The two groups do not mix. WWF claims that construction of the Don Sahong dam will almost certainly cause the disappearance of the dolphins immediately downstream, ???due to excavation activities and increased boat traffic.???

Both the project???s EIA and Engineering Status reports clearly state that underwater blasting will not be permitted below the downstream cofferdam in order to protect the dolphin population. The EIA also describes the new road and bridge that will link the site to the mainland. Now under construction, these improvements will give people of Sahong and Sadam islands direct access to the mainland and significantly reduce boat traffic near the dolphin habitat.

The well-documented, real risks to dolphin survival in the Mekong are disturbance from tourism activity; use of gill nets and other fishing activity; and the unexplained high mortality rate of calves and juveniles.

The proposed project is not as reckless as WWF campaigners imagine and their negative thinking does not help Laos make it more sustainable.

Despite what the naysayers say, we are convinced that construction of a power plant at Don Sahong will bring tangible benefits to the people of Laos.

Hydropower experts consider Don Sahong to be a low-impact project. The location on the 5-km-long Sahong Channel is an excellent dam site by most environmental criteria.

Reservoir volume is tiny compared to every other major hydropower project in the Mekong Basin. The head pond would flood only 200 hectares.

Changes in water quality and sediment transport downstream will be minimal. That???s important because these processes have caused environmental and social impacts elsewhere. Only 14 households need be relocated to a new village less than 2 kilometres away.

The project???s energy density (efficiency of hydro power energy production) is higher than any other existing or planned hydropower project in the Mekong Basin.

The project sits atop a ???natural dam??? called Khone Falls where more than 30 natural channels spill over to lower ground.

This unique location brings lower construction costs, as water will be diverted into existing channels during dam construction, avoiding costly excavation.

Falls and rapids in the area form a natural barrier to upstream fish migration in the dry season. Some species simply cannot pass. Activists argue that it is not possible to build fishways, fish ladders or fish lifts to handle the number and the variety of fish that cross Khone Falls each year.

The Don Sahong project agrees. We have no plans to build fishways, fish ladders or fish lifts.

Because the Sahong Channel is favoured by many species for dry season migration, we are increasing the flow and removing obstructions in adjacent channels to replicate the physical conditions in Hou Sahong.

We have improved upstream migration pathways in each dry season since 2011. All the while we have been rigorously monitoring fish passage through multiple channels to establish the baseline condition. Establishment of benchmarks is essential in order to assess the effectiveness of mitigation measures and compare them with the predevelopment situation.

It is well known that management of the Mekong fisheries is poor and that catches in the area of Laos bordering Cambodia have been declining for decades.

Our ultimate aim is to increase the success rate of migrating fish passage across the Khone Falls. Our immediate objective is to work with the Lao Government, and Cambodia if possible, to improve fisheries management by preventing over-exploitation of migrating fish.

We do not accept the activists??? claim that it is impossible to mitigate the project???s impact on fish migration. On the contrary, after careful analysis, our team is confident we can actually improve the rate of fish passage across Khone Falls.

We will continue to explain our plans, methods and study results. We welcome constructive criticism.
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Dr Peter Hawkins is the Vientiane-based Senior Environmental Manager for Mega First Corporation Berhad, which is developing the Don Sahong Hydropower Project.