The second episode of Narating Protest On Collectivizing Justice focused on documentation and collective knowledge production in the context of systemic injustices within court proceedings at the Tiergarten District Court in Berlin. This Episode also raises the question of what it looks like when knowledge is not only generated, but questions power relations and strives for social change. This episode delves into another example of collaborative research and crowd-sourced knowledge production - this time in the climate movement in northern Thailand.
# The Mekong and its water resources
The Mekong stretches from Tibet through China and Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam before finally reaching the sea in the south of Vietnam. Since the mid-1960s, more than forty dams have been built on the Mekong for power generation and irrigation, as well as more than one hundred dams on its tributaries. Most of these, especially those on the upper Mekong, were financed by China through state-controlled companies, and have impacted water flow and the environment in the immediate regions and downstream countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The dams also blocked fish migration paths, thus reducing fish stocks and affecting the water supply for agriculture, and depriving the basic source of income for the people of the region, whose livelihoods are based on fishing and cultivation. Additionally, the dams regularly cause droughts and floods in the surrounding areas and the lower Mekong states. These environmental changes have led to considerable resistance in the affected lower Mekong states.
Fig. 1
# The social environmental movement
The Pak Mun Dam was built in 1993, about five kilometers from the Mekong at the Mae Nam Mun. After its construction, the ecology of the entire river basin changed, with fish catches falling by 60-80%, fish species disappearing, and the color of the river changing from brown to blue. A huge area was flooded. In total, the reservoir flooded more agricultural land than was ever irrigated by it. According to the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJAtlas), around 25,000 people were affected by the Pak Mun Dam, a relatively small dam compared to the others in that region. The area flooded by the Pak Mun Dam was one of the most important ecosystems in Thailand, most of which was used to grow rice. The residents began to organise themselves to demonstrate in front of the government buildings and to occupy part of the Pak Mun Dam. Together with the non-governmental organization International Rivers, they set up the protest camp, Ban Mae Mun Man Yuen No. 1, one of several camps active for several years. They demanded that the dam be shut down. According to International Rivers, the authorities flooded most of the protest camps to suppress resistance, using the dams for targeted flooding. The same thing happened again in 1995 with Ban Mae Mun Man Yuen No. 1.
In response to the protests of the communities in the lower Mekong states, in April 1995, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) was formed. MRC is an intergovernmental organization that works directly with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand to manage the water resources. The Mekong River Commission conducted studies to assess the social impact of the dams through 2040. In parallel, it provides scientific and technical guidance and guidelines for the planning, construction, and operation of further dams. The MRC has since carried out studies on the impact of dams on the Mekong, including Pak Mun Dam, focusing on the environmental, social, and economic impact of such projects. These have revealed that, in many cases, there were misconceptions or exaggerated expectations about the economic benefits and long-term sustainability of the dams. These results contradicted the studies commissioned by governments in advance of the infrastructure projects.
Fig. 2
After seven years of negotiation with the anti-dam movement, in 2020 the government finally agreed to open the dam for about 4 months each year to restore the river's ecosystem and to reassess the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the dam's operation. The opening was part of a compromise and allowed for a more accurate assessment of the dam's impact on the surrounding areas. The government and the electricity authorities commissioned various universities and consultancies to carry out these assessments, including the intergovernmental Mekong River Commission, but their reports and studies omitted important fundamental factors and did not reflect the real social and environmental situation. The dam had far-reaching negative impacts on biodiversity and the ecological balance of the river and surrounding areas. In these state-commissioned studies, the economic loss for the fishermen and the changes in their way of life were insufficiently taken into account. This means that the long-term consequences for the river system and the local communities were not meaningfully considered. The affected communities, therefore, developed their participatory action method, the Thai Baan research, and implemented it in cooperation with a network of environmental organizations and communities focusing on the protection of rivers. Such organizations include the Southeast Asia Rivers Network (SEARIN), which was founded to coordinate the research across several areas of the Mekong.
# Knowledge as resistance: Thai Baan Research
The Thai Baan research falls under the participatory action research method—an approach to action research—which aims to identify local problems and to develop solutions by actively involving the affected communities in the research process. The method is practice-oriented and focuses primarily on developing concrete solutions to the challenges faced by communities. It is not just about collecting data, but about applying knowledge.
Fig. 3
With the Thai Baan research, the communities along the river created a network of independent and indigenous knowledge based on the research and collective studies of the Mekong’s ecosystem. The affected communities systematically documented the environmental damages, resource conflicts, and their loss of income, as well as the consequences for fisheries and the ensuing social impact. The topics of inquiry of Thai Baan research were determined in the meetings among the residents of nearly 40 communities. They include agriculture in the surrounding areas, documentation of biodiversity, the number of fish species in the river, as well as further changes in the ecosystem. These respective research topics were analyzed following three different temporal trajectories: before the construction of the dam, while the dam was closed, and when it was open. The research criteria were based on the background knowledge and skills of the community members, who regularly exchanged information with each other at assemblies. At these meetings, dates were also set for field research to collect relevant data from everyday life in designated locations. This raw data was then reviewed and checked at another meeting by the entire group.
This participatory research, whose unique importance was its horizontality and the cooperative engagement with and across indigenous groups, enabled the impacted communities to claim sovereignty and compensation and to take action against current and future dam projects. It also provided a means to influence planning and grassroots decision-making processes regarding the use of wetland ecosystems, access to land and water rights, and the management of the river basin. Such an approach ultimately gives form to Indigenous knowledge activism as it not only generates sovereign knowledge but also challenges power relations by disrupting profit-driven systems, especially those that exploit and waste natural resources.
Fig. 4
The results of the Thai Baan research have been scientifically recognized, and, although the Pak Mun Dam was not completely decommissioned, the research results led to its operation being adjusted. The opposition and organization by the river communities have dramatically reduced the construction of further dams in Thailand, and even prevented, in the case of the Kaeng Suea Ten Dam, a major project that was planned by the Thai government. The next challenge for the river-coastal communities is to reclaim their ecosystem and restore their lost resources.
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- Image credits
Cover: The Pak Mun Dam | iStock © Kwhisky
Fig. 1: Residents stand in the flooded area in Rasi Salai in 1999 © Archive: Wetland People’s Association
Fig. 2: Protest camp © Archive: Wetland People’s Association
Fig. 3: The Mekong © Jean-Baptiste
Fig. 4: The Mekong © Pexels
