Mekong People’s Forum Pushed to Pave Way for Wider Participation in Mekong Decision Making
Over a hundred participants from various sectors, which have been working on development issues in the Mekong Basin, attended the two-day seminar held in Chiang Rai’ Chiang Khong district, where has been one of the locations which have long suffered from development projects in the Mekong River.
Apart from sharing views and updates on the situations in their areas, the participants agreed to push for the set-up of the new Mekong People’s Forum, aimed to provide a shared platform where they can work collectively in an attempt to push forward the issues and policy recommendations to the decision-making level, hopefully that this could help shape the course of the development in the Mekong Basin better than it is.
Dr. Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, Director of the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development at Chiang Mai University, who has been following up the Mekong issues academically for years, said several Mekong communities have been working independently on protecting the mighty river from any harms derived from unsound development for many years.
B.Tribune
