Damn dams!

Construction of 12 hydroelectric dams in Sarawak is disastrous to the environment and indigenous groups

According to the Sarawak state government, the combined total of 7,000 MW from the 12 proposed dams was necessary for large energy-intensive industries like aluminium smelter plants and for export - primarily to Peninsula Malaysia.

We question the sustainability of the project and raise concerns voice for the environment and the heritage sites as a result of the proposed construction of 12 hydroelectric dams in Sarawak.

Although the Sarawak Environment and Public Health Minister Michael Manyin announced that the 12 dams will be built based on mandatory EIAs following existing legislation, we doubt both the independence and credibility of the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and its effectiveness in influencing policy decisions.

According to certain local environmental groups, the government-sponsored EIAs contain falsified information which blatantly served as the tools to legitimize the construction of large dams.

The government must be transparent and release all EIA details pertaining to the dams, so that the public can evaluate the comprehensiveness of the assessments based on universally accepted parameters - taking into account factors such as the safety of human populations.

We should learn the painful lessons from the Bakun dam project that has caused more than 10,000 indigenous people to be displaced in the inferior conditions, and has destroyed primitive tropical forest the size of Singapore.

The 12 dams, like Bakun, will likewise be extravagant and unnecessary in the scale of electricity generation and unjustifiable in environmental and biodiversity destruction. The livelihood and sustainable lifestyle of indigenous communities in an already disadvantaged socio-economic position will be further affected, leading to disillusionment and serious social problems.

据砂劳越州政府表示，砂州有必要兴建总发电量达7000百万瓦特的12个水坝，以便应付一些需要高发电量的工业需求如溶铝厂，也同时输送电量到马来半岛。

我们质疑这项工程的永续性，也关注这12个水坝将为环境及自然遗产带来的破坏。

虽然砂州环境及公共卫生部长迈克曼音宣布上述12个水坝将依据环境评估报告及现有的法律条文来兴建，但是，我们依然怀疑上述环境评估报告的独立性及公信力，以及它是否有足够的份量来影响政策的决定。

根据当地的环境组织指出，由政府出资的环境评估报告含有被歪曲的资料，很显然地，环境评估报告已经成为将水坝工程合法化的工具。

政府必须透明化，公开所有与水坝有关的环境评估报告的细节，以让公众可以重新评估报告的完整性，并将一些普世标准如人类安全问题列入考量范围。

我们应该从巴昆水坝汲取沉痛的教训，上述巨坝工程导致超过1万名原住民流离失所，他们的生活环境变得极度恶劣，也摧毁了犹如一个新加坡般大小的热带原始森林。

上述12个水坝，将与巴昆水坝一样，在发电的规模来说将会显得非常奢侈，对环境及多元物种进行无理的肆虐。此外，原本已经处于弱势地位的原住民群体，他们的生活及永续性的生活方式将会进一步被破坏，进而导致人们的生活理想破灭，衍生严重的社会问题。