Seven years ago, rice farmers in northeastern Thailand agreed to the dredging and widening of the Lampaniang River by 15m – allegedly to improve irrigation and mitigate monsoon flooding.
By signing government contracts, the farmers forfeited any right to compensation should anything go wrong, which it has. The river was widened to as much as 100m and activists say this has resulted in more severe droughts and floods, causing environmental degradation that has deprived farmers of land, livelihoods and traditional sources of food.
“We’ve lost an entire way of life,” said Wichian Srijannon, 54, as he waded through his flooded rice paddies, which were submerged for most of September. His harvest once netted US$3,000 a year, which supported his family of four. “This year, I probably won’t make any money at all because all my rice has died.”
Srijannon was wary of the dredging, and the only villager out of 300 who refused to sign the papers. Nonetheless, he has suffered with the others.
In desperation, many farmers have switched from rice to less lucrative sugar cane, which tolerates floods but requires pesticides and chemical fertilizer.
The combined impact of the chemicals and loss of land has destroyed the riverine habitat – traditionally the hunting, fishing and gathering grounds for many Thai villagers. In addition to widening the river, the project deepened it by 4.5m and the dredged dirt was piled on the banks, making the water inaccessible without a pump.
“Before, this area was healthy and fertile. We didn’t have to buy food, we could just catch fish from the river, but now there are no fish. Before we had vegetables and herbs growing along the river and could gather wood to cook, but now we don’t have anything. Now, we have to buy our food,” said Srijannon, who in 2006 co-founded the Lampaniang Conservation and Restoration Group (LCRG).
Suing for land lost
The $7.5 million project along the 150km stretch of the river in Nongbualamphu Province began in 2004, but after dredging 30km, it stalled in 2006 because funds ran out, according to the 2008 report by LCRG and another local NGO, the Peace and Human Rights Center of Northeast Thailand (PHRC).
The report estimates 4,000 villagers have been affected by the dredging. The government is now planning to resume the project.
Although farmers were told the dredging was to improve irrigation, the LCRG/PHRC report said it was also to supply water to the Ubonrat Dam in Khon Kaen for electricity generation for industrial centres.
With support from PHRC, 150 villagers who signed the contracts sued the government, and in at least 42 cases, the court ruled in their favour, compensating them for the land they lost.
Now, the farmers are spreading the word. “We’re talking to the people about how they can rehabilitate the river. We take them upstream and downstream and introduce them to other communities to share their experiences,” said activist Suwit Kularbwong, founder and coordinator of PHRC.
An official from the Royal Irrigation Department declined to comment, saying he was not authorized to speak to the media. Other department officials did not respond to repeated requests from IRIN for an interview.
More suffering ahead?
Infrastructure and development projects that encroach on and destroy farmland are not uncommon, Kularbwong says.
PHRC is helping farmers and villagers battle government projects, including electricity poles and a long-planned mine for potash (potassium-filled salt) that would affect some 2,000 villagers, according to local media.
On the Lampaniang project, the government is pushing ahead. On 24 September, parliamentarian Phisanu Hathsongkroh met 250 villagers to discuss how best to continue the dredging.
“Some people lost almost all their land, and some had to change their livelihoods altogether. If we have to move forward with the Lampaniang development project, then we have to compensate the villagers because if you’re making a sacrifice, then we have to assist you,” Hathsongkroh told the town hall meeting. “We need to find a way for this to move forward.”
Rice farmer Srijannon did not attend the meeting, which he saw as political arm-twisting rather than a good-faith effort to address the farmers’ woes.
“They will keep pushing us until they can continue the dredging,” he said. “They’re going to say that if the dredging is not completed, then it will continue to flood. But if I let them dig, then what will I do for a living?”
at/nb/mw
By signing government contracts, the farmers forfeited any right to compensation should anything go wrong, which it has. The river was widened to as much as 100m and activists say this has resulted in more severe droughts and floods, causing environmental degradation that has deprived farmers of land, livelihoods and traditional sources of food.
“We’ve lost an entire way of life,” said Wichian Srijannon, 54, as he waded through his flooded rice paddies, which were submerged for most of September. His harvest once netted US$3,000 a year, which supported his family of four. “This year, I probably won’t make any money at all because all my rice has died.”
Srijannon was wary of the dredging, and the only villager out of 300 who refused to sign the papers. Nonetheless, he has suffered with the others.
In desperation, many farmers have switched from rice to less lucrative sugar cane, which tolerates floods but requires pesticides and chemical fertilizer.
The combined impact of the chemicals and loss of land has destroyed the riverine habitat – traditionally the hunting, fishing and gathering grounds for many Thai villagers. In addition to widening the river, the project deepened it by 4.5m and the dredged dirt was piled on the banks, making the water inaccessible without a pump.
“Before, this area was healthy and fertile. We didn’t have to buy food, we could just catch fish from the river, but now there are no fish. Before we had vegetables and herbs growing along the river and could gather wood to cook, but now we don’t have anything. Now, we have to buy our food,” said Srijannon, who in 2006 co-founded the Lampaniang Conservation and Restoration Group (LCRG).
Suing for land lost
The $7.5 million project along the 150km stretch of the river in Nongbualamphu Province began in 2004, but after dredging 30km, it stalled in 2006 because funds ran out, according to the 2008 report by LCRG and another local NGO, the Peace and Human Rights Center of Northeast Thailand (PHRC).
The report estimates 4,000 villagers have been affected by the dredging. The government is now planning to resume the project.
Although farmers were told the dredging was to improve irrigation, the LCRG/PHRC report said it was also to supply water to the Ubonrat Dam in Khon Kaen for electricity generation for industrial centres.
With support from PHRC, 150 villagers who signed the contracts sued the government, and in at least 42 cases, the court ruled in their favour, compensating them for the land they lost.
Now, the farmers are spreading the word. “We’re talking to the people about how they can rehabilitate the river. We take them upstream and downstream and introduce them to other communities to share their experiences,” said activist Suwit Kularbwong, founder and coordinator of PHRC.
An official from the Royal Irrigation Department declined to comment, saying he was not authorized to speak to the media. Other department officials did not respond to repeated requests from IRIN for an interview.
Photo: Alisa Tang/IRIN  |
| Parliamentarian listening at dredging town hall meeting |
Infrastructure and development projects that encroach on and destroy farmland are not uncommon, Kularbwong says.
PHRC is helping farmers and villagers battle government projects, including electricity poles and a long-planned mine for potash (potassium-filled salt) that would affect some 2,000 villagers, according to local media.
On the Lampaniang project, the government is pushing ahead. On 24 September, parliamentarian Phisanu Hathsongkroh met 250 villagers to discuss how best to continue the dredging.
“Some people lost almost all their land, and some had to change their livelihoods altogether. If we have to move forward with the Lampaniang development project, then we have to compensate the villagers because if you’re making a sacrifice, then we have to assist you,” Hathsongkroh told the town hall meeting. “We need to find a way for this to move forward.”
Rice farmer Srijannon did not attend the meeting, which he saw as political arm-twisting rather than a good-faith effort to address the farmers’ woes.
“They will keep pushing us until they can continue the dredging,” he said. “They’re going to say that if the dredging is not completed, then it will continue to flood. But if I let them dig, then what will I do for a living?”
at/nb/mw
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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