Environment activists protest against China’s reefs blasting in the Mekong river

[webfact]

Environment activists protest against China’s reefs blasting in the Mekong river

 

 

CHIANG RAI: -- Environmental groups in Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong district on Sunday staged a protest against reefs blasting in the Mekong river by a Chinese exploration ship.

 

The Rak Chiang Khong environmental group rode in three long-tailed boats with placards written in Thai, Chinese and English protesting the reefs blasting, in the Mekong river in parallel to the Chinese ship which was on a return voyage from Odomxei in Laos to southern China.

 

The Royal Thai Navy’s Mekong river patrol boat was observing the protest from nearby. The protest lasted about 20 minutes.

 

Mr Niwat Roikaew, a leader of the group, said that the protest was intended to send a message to the Chinese government of the local people’s opposition to the reefs explosion. He warned that the group would intensify its protest if the reefs blasting continues.

 

Meanwhile, former senator Kraisak Choonnavan called on the government to reconsider its decision to participate in the development of the international navigation in the Mekong river and to allow Chinese ship to explore the river and to blast underwater reefs in the river.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/environment-activists-protest-chinas-reefs-blasting-mekong-river/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-01-09

[halloween]

don't they know that rapids give off greenhouse gases?

[leeneeds]

Once refused permission!

a change of government,

permission granted !

brown paper bag must be involved,

as  there would be no other sane reason, to be blasting natural reefs in any place in the world,

 killing natural breeding grounds for fish and other life forms.

Chinese arrogance and disrespect on display yet again.

 

[Thechook]

The don't and never have given a damn about the environment.   Life is all about China and will continue to rape and destroy the planet.

[halloween]

23 minutes ago, leeneeds said:

Once refused permission!

a change of government,

permission granted !

brown paper bag must be involved,

as  there would be no other sane reason, to be blasting natural reefs in any place in the world,

 killing natural breeding grounds for fish and other life forms.

Chinese arrogance and disrespect on display yet again.

 

Do fish breed in river rapids? Who is confused, you or the protesters?

[waldroj]

"...the incumbent administration which is full of five-star generals...allowed the Chinese to explode the reefs..."

 

Destruction is what generals are good at  !!! 

[leeneeds]

1 hour ago, halloween said:

Do fish breed in river rapids? Who is confused, you or the protesters?

Well I do not think it is myself , rapids in the Mekong provide natural a flow, and fish use these flows to breed the cat fish being one, 

[ezrider62]

1 hour ago, Thechook said:

The don't and never have given a damn about the environment.   Life is all about China and will continue to rape and destroy the planet.

US was doing this when industrialisation took a foothold also. Now things are much different beacause people made change happen. Seems the people in China are getting fed up with pollution and destruction, the government and industry is a different story. The super wealthy are the same the world over, destroy and pillage people and the environment.

[jacko45k]

Who are Thai people to tell the Chinese what they can and cannot do!

They can do what they like, wherever they like!

[GTO1969]

ok

 

[ballpoint]

8 minutes ago, GTO1969 said:

Reef's in freshwater???

I think they mean Rocks!

" Saltwater: Corals need saltwater to survive and require a certain balance in the ratio of salt to water. This is why corals don’t live in areas where rivers drain fresh water into the ocean (“estuaries”). "

http://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/what-do-coral-reefs-need-to-survive/

Reef (noun)  a ridge of rocks or sand, often of coral debris, at or near the surface of the water.

[Catoni]

10 minutes ago, GTO1969 said:

Reef's in freshwater???

I think they mean Rocks!

" Saltwater: Corals need saltwater to survive and require a certain balance in the ratio of salt to water. This is why corals don’t live in areas where rivers drain fresh water into the ocean (“estuaries”). "

http://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/what-do-coral-reefs-need-to-survive/

 

       Yes, reefs in fresh water! Why not? 

    My home in North America is surrounded by the freshwater Great Lakes and thousands of smaller lakes. 

    Guess what. There are reefs in some places in the lakes.

   Not all reefs are made up of coral. 

   Where did they mention CORAL reefs?

  Do you think that all reefs are coral? 

       There are other types of reefs also. 

[British Bulldog]

don't they know that rapids give off greenhouse gases?

 

Rapids also produce life giving oxygen to rivers and also eliminate other 'nasties' in the eco system

 

And ... fish breed in rapid areas ... but spore in quieter waters ....

[Srikcir]

The Chinese are making a mistake in destroying the reefs.

They should instead be building river fortresses and claiming sovereignty as they have in the South China Sea.

[biplanebluey]

OK the mystery of the so called "reefs" has been explained but I still do not know----- WHY ARE THEY BLASTING,and if it is for something important------ WHY ARE THE THAIS NOT DOING IT ???????????

[Grubster]

5 hours ago, halloween said:

Do fish breed in river rapids? Who is confused, you or the protesters?

Yes they do, in fact behind every big rock in the rapids you will find fish and some very big fish too. Confused or just ignorant?

[Yann55]

5 hours ago, Thechook said:

The don't and never have given a damn about the environment.   Life is all about China and will continue to rape and destroy the planet.

 

I fully agree, but let's not forget that they learned from the masters ...

 

The Western 'civilization' has destroyed, polluted, pillaged and raped the planet in every possible way since the beginning of colonization, ie roughly the end of the 15th century. The entire wealth of the West nowadays is based on that unfortunate fact. Five hundred years later, having reached un unprecedented level of wealth, basking in the comfort and wild consumption we now consider as a vital minimum, somewhere around the end of the 1960s ie only five decades ago, we suddenly became ecology conscious, not due to some moral epiphany but because we started realizing that enriching the present generation even more incurred summoning planet-sized disasters over the heads of its descendants.

 

In order to widen our 'markets' we have aggressively promoted the Western way of life and thus managed to massively increase, worldwide, the pathological craving that fuels capitalism. This craving is behind the Indian, the Chinese and other giants' urge to 'develop' even more. Their stance is clear, in every big Worldwide Conference : 'you did it so why can't we?'. Greed is undoubtedly a global human trait and I'm not saying that the West has implanted it in Asia or elsewhere, but it certainly has let it, nay encouraged it to grow like a cancer.

 

And look at what's happening in the US now : Trump is about to enter the White House, and he's the champion of denial when it comes to ecology, so how on earth could the Chinese be made to realize that their ecological ruthlessness is dangerous, immoral, unproductive and short-sighted ?

 

 

[IAMHERE]

5 hours ago, waldroj said:

"...the incumbent administration which is full of five-star generals...allowed the Chinese to explode the reefs..."

 

Destruction is what generals are good at  !!! 

Well, they are building islands out there in the South China Sea.

[spidermike007]

There is a phenomenally low amount of pushback against the Chinese, by this administration. So, protection of Thailand and the people is completely out of the question. The Chicoms will do as they please, as they do most everywhere these days. They are perhaps the most heinous government on the planet. Mankind, or the environment, or the good of the people is almost never considered in their equations. They must be fought, and resisted at every opportunity. Some people in power just do not get that, or do not have the appetite for a battle with Goliath. Or lack the courage or moral conviction to do the right thing. 

[farcanell]

30 minutes ago, biplanebluey said:

OK the mystery of the so called "reefs" has been explained but I still do not know----- WHY ARE THEY BLASTING,and if it is for something important------ WHY ARE THE THAIS NOT DOING IT ???????????

 

The link says "international navigation" which would imply running bigger vessels along the Mekong, for trade, or security.... or aggression in the future.

[farcanell]

10 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

Well, they are building islands out there in the South China Sea.

 

Lol... yer... so they can blow things up later!

[IAMHERE]

6 minutes ago, farcanell said:

 

Lol... yer... so they can blow things up later!

Wow, those guys really think ahead. No wonder China has been around so long. I hope next POTUS (2020) is Asian or Oriental.

[farcanell]

?

[drgoon]

6 hours ago, Thechook said:

The don't and never have given a damn about the environment.   Life is all about China and will continue to rape and destroy the planet.

They only care about China and money, nothing else. Not even life.

[drgoon]

1 hour ago, Yann55 said:

 

I fully agree, but let's not forget that they learned from the masters ...

 

The Western 'civilization' has destroyed, polluted, pillaged and raped the planet in every possible way since the beginning of colonization, ie roughly the end of the 15th century. The entire wealth of the West nowadays is based on that unfortunate fact. Five hundred years later, having reached un unprecedented level of wealth, basking in the comfort and wild consumption we now consider as a vital minimum, somewhere around the end of the 1960s ie only five decades ago, we suddenly became ecology conscious, not due to some moral epiphany but because we started realizing that enriching the present generation even more incurred summoning planet-sized disasters over the heads of its descendants.

 

In order to widen our 'markets' we have aggressively promoted the Western way of life and thus managed to massively increase, worldwide, the pathological craving that fuels capitalism. This craving is behind the Indian, the Chinese and other giants' urge to 'develop' even more. Their stance is clear, in every big Worldwide Conference : 'you did it so why can't we?'. Greed is undoubtedly a global human trait and I'm not saying that the West has implanted it in Asia or elsewhere, but it certainly has let it, nay encouraged it to grow like a cancer.

 

And look at what's happening in the US now : Trump is about to enter the White House, and he's the champion of denial when it comes to ecology, so how on earth could the Chinese be made to realize that their ecological ruthlessness is dangerous, immoral, unproductive and short-sighted ?

 

 

Spot on

[elgordo38]

7 hours ago, leeneeds said:

Chinese arrogance and disrespect on display yet again.

Yes and its alarming. Its popping up all over the planet with abandon. Its happening in the physical and monetary sense both. Its funny how China whines about the president of Taiwan landing in the US and so called infringements in the Spratlys. They do pretty well what they want to around the globe. They seem to have a road map as well. 

[Alan Deer]

9 hours ago, halloween said:

don't they know that rapids give off greenhouse gases?

Halloween, your posts on this thread would indicate a profound ignorance of the ecology of rivers.

Yes amongst other things fish use them to lay eggs and breed and they act as "baffles" that restrict the flows and prevent erosion....if you tinker with the flow of a river you affect the wildlife, the course of the river and the livlihoods of those who have for generations lived off the river.

I do so wish that people would educate  themselves on these issues before posting nonsense that serves no purpose other than to make themselves look stupid.

[timber]

Not too sure what is accomplished by negatively going over history.  We have a problem now that we have to solve now and not too sure who is significantly doing anything about it.  2020 was the date indicated as a tripping point to extinction of the human race and the big four: Russia, USA, China and India are so mired in greed, and big egos that I don't see anything happening by then.  The technology is there, but no one is prepared to use it.

[ikke]

12 hours ago, halloween said:

Do fish breed in river rapids? Who is confused, you or the protesters?

There is no evidence they dont breed there, but its a very important place for their reproduction and a source of food in the growth cycle of fish.

A pumpkin isn't that important in our life cycle, or am i confused ?

[ratcatcher]

13 hours ago, Thechook said:

The don't and never have given a damn about the environment.   Life is all about China and will continue to rape and destroy the planet.

 

Here is a picture of just how much of a dam the Chinese give about the Mekong Riverand its environment.