To the Friends of the Mekong & VN 2020 Mekong Group If the
Xayaburi Dam’s construction cannot be postponed for at least a
decade, it would be the first domino to fall and open the door
for the building of a host of dams downstream. Their immediate,
devastating and long lasting impacts on the entire ecosystem of
the Mekong and Mekong Delta will not be easily THE HISTORY OF
DAMS DOWNSTREAM THE MEKONG Since the 1940’s, the potentials for
hydroelectric production of the Mekong have attracted the
intense attention of American dam builders. In the midst of the
cold war, in 1957, the Mekong River Committee was established
under the auspices of the United Nations. It maintained a
permanent office in Bangkok and consisted of four member
nations: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. At that early
stage, the Committee had adopted a comprehensive development
plan to improve the lives of all the inhabitants in the Basin
including the building of a series of hydroelectric dams
downstream the river. Even though half of the