Orientation During the first week of June, EarthRights Mekong School staff conducted orientation to introduce the students to each other, the Mekong School staff, and their new home in Chiang Mai. Orientation activities were designed to enable students to learn about one another's work, the issues they are face in their home countries, and their personal motivations to work on environmental and human rights issues. Conversation was lively, and students established a good rapport with one another. Orientation included a boat trip to study the ecology of the Ping River and a trip to the sacred mountain Doi Suthep, where several controversial development projects are being planned. Students wrote stories about each trip, and shared their observations with the class.
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Following orientation, EarthRights International Executive Director Ka Hsaw Wa led a two-day workshop on intercultural communication and team building, providing students with basic cross-cultural skills to maintain open communication, develop strong teamwork, and work effectively together throughout the EarthRights Mekong School session. This strong foundation empowered the students to work together across cultural and linguistic boundaries towards their common goals as members of the Mekong Sub region.
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Extracurricular activities during the month of June included an environmental art workshop at Chiang Mai University's Faculty of Fine Arts, in which Mekong School students worked in pairs with Thai printmaking students to explore the image-creation possible using sunlight, water, and found natural objects. This course provided a creative outlet for students as well as a new framework for viewing the natural world.
Students also attended local events with EarthRights Burma School students such as a fundraiser for victims in Burma of Cyclone Nargis, an event organized by a 2007 Mekong alumni. This event was exciting because it allowed students to see an ERS-Mekong School alumni’s work in action. At a celebration of Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday at the Chiang Mai University Women's StudiesCenter students gained an increased awareness of Burma and women’s issues. Students learned about the Darfur crisis and women’s issues by attending a seminar by the Nobel Women's Initiative in which women leaders from Thai hill tribes, Nobel Laureate Professor Jody Williams, and actress Mia Farrow, among others, took part. These events proved a fun and exciting way to educate students about local issues and integrate them into the activist community of Chiang Mai.
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Earth Rights' Protection and Promotion Dr. Rachel Morris, Assistant Director of EarthRights International's Asia Office and a human rights lawyer, taught a four-day session on EarthRights protection and promotion to provide the theoretical background for the Mekong School course. Rachel focused on helping the students identify and understand the linkages between human rights and the protection of the environment, a dominant theme in the Mekong School curriculum. In this course, students also became familiar with the World Commission on Dams (WCD) guidelines.
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Anthony Fontes of the International Accountability Project taught a week-long seminar on development-induced displacement, with a focus on international human rights and housing rights, and legal strategies and advocacy. Anthony's class included several lively role-plays, including one in which the Union Carbide Company attempted to forcibly evict Mekong School students from their dormitories. The students responded with a comprehensive campaign, in which community members, NGO lawyers, media groups, and local politicians and businessmen vied for their interests. This lively class ranked among the student’s favorites.
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Non-Violent Communication Ginger Norwood of the International Women's Partnership for Peace and Justice invited students to her farm outside of Chiang Mai for a two-day workshop on the linkages between human rights, women's rights, and the environment. The class was structured around different forms of power and power dynamics. Under Ginger’s guidance, the students gained useful skills that they can utilize in future communication for the promotion of peace and equality.
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EarthRights International Campaigns Coordinator Paul Donowitz provided a week-long course entitled Introduction to International Campaigning. In this course, students were shown advocacy tools and methods to assist in their community development projects. This class attempted, through participatory methods, to enable students to lobby and pressure international, national and community organizations to achieve their goals.
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Carl Middleton of International Rivers spoke about the Mekong Power Grid. He introduced the main regional advocates of the hydropower grid, including the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, private sector, consultants, and bilateral donors. Mr. Middleton outlined the processes adopted by the national and regional forums in which Mekong Power Grid issues are discussed and decisions made.
Students learned about how these discussions are not presently open to civil society participation and discussed the types of alternative arrangements that can be put forward to the Mekong Power Grid.
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Carl Middleton also taught a special session on hydropower dams and global warming, exploring the relationship between hydropower dams and global climate change and the debate around whether carbon credits should be allotted for hydropower development.
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After gaining background information from Carl's presentations, students boarded the train for Bangkok, where they attended a Climate Justice Conference at Chulalongkorn University from July 12-14 sponsored by Focus on the Global South and Oxfam Australia. The conference served as a teach-in for activists, in which Asia-based organizations and movements gained the opportunity to build regional coalitions and strategies, bring new perspectives and analyses to the climate debates from local/national movements and organizations, broaden the climate justice movement, and develop strategies for COP 14 and COP 15. The students returned from the conference energized by all that they had learned, and continued discussions throughout the term.
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From July 15-19, ERS-Mekong School students took a trip to the Salween River to learn about the impacts of the Salween Dams along the Thai-Burmese border. In preparation for the trip, an ERS-Mekong School Burmese alum gave a presentation based on her fieldwork on the Tasang Dam in Eastern Shan State of Burma, and representatives of a Karenni environmental group showed the video documentary they had made entitled Damming the Yin Tha Lay. The powerful documentary showed the potentially catastrophic impacts of the Salween Dams on the Yin Tha Lay, a small indigenous community threatened with extinction should the project move ahead.
The local NGO Salween Watershed Recovery and Development Association hosted a stay in the indigenous Karen village of Sop Moey, where students lived with local families who will be affected by the construction of the Salween dams. Through community meetings and personal conversations, students gained detailed information about the social and environmental impacts of the Salween dam projects, with particular emphasis on the problems faced by stateless people. Without citizenship, undocumented community members feared relocation back into the unstable war zones they had previously fled, with no provisions for compensation or security. Lack of citizenship also prevented the community from fully joining in the worldwide campaign against the Salween Dams, for fear of reprisals and lack of legal representation.
The trip included a town meeting in the local mosque in the riverside community of Mae Sam Laep, where Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist representatives discussed their efforts to transcend ethnic and religious differences to work together to secure citizenship and equal rights for their community members. Upon their return to Chiang Mai, students gave presentations to the class on what they learned during the trip.
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Salinee Tavaranan of the Thai NGO Border Green Energy Team gave a presentation on alternative energy initiatives in Burmese refugee communities along the Salween, providing an alternative model of development in stark contrast to the devastation caused by the Salween dams. Following her presentation, the class took a field visit to Mae Kham Pong Village, where the community has set up several well-run microhydro power stations and have become energy self-sufficient. Students were impressed with the Mae Kham Pong example, and a Vietnamese student wrote a story on the village, which was published in the Vietnamese language periodical.
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Ms. Titi Soentoro of NADI gave a two-day presentation on Export Credit Agencies' role in funding destructive development projects in the Mekong region. Ms. Soentoro updated Mekong School students on current campaigns that work to assure that regional ECAs adapt the standard safeguard policies associated with international financial institutions, providing a valuable and applicable lesson to the students.
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Toshiyuki Doi of Mekong Watch then led an intensive three-day workshop focusing on the structure of the Asian Development Bank and its complaint mechanisms, decision-making processes within the Asian Development Bank, the bank's safeguard policies. Students analyzed examples of complaints that have been brought to the bank by communities adversely affected by its projects. Toshi gave a class an in-depth look at the case of Highway One in Cambodia, and explained how the community was affected, how they organized their response, and how this may serve as an example for other communities in the region.
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Students continued their travels and visited a community affected by the Mae Moh Power Plant in Lampang Province of Northern Thailand. Estimates suggest that since the implementation of the project, 300 villagers may have lost their lives as a direct result of pollution from the plant, thousands have suffered from respiratory problems, and over 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes. During the visit, local leader Ms. Malinee was joined by a number of her neighbors, who described what they have endured and highlighted their attempts to pressure the Asian Development Bank and local and national government offices for compensation and relocation from the affected area. One of our Cambodian students showed interest in the community's on-going law suit against the company and the help they've received from the Law Society of Thailand, and a Lao student was particularly moved by Ms. Malinee's presentation, as a large-scale lignite mine is scheduled to open in her community in Sayabouri. At the end of the week, students gave class presentations on all they had learned from the week-long session on the Asian Development Bank.
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Kingkorn Narintarakul (Kae) of the Thai NGOs FTA Watch and Bio Thai and Pornpana Kuaycharoen (Kung) from the Thai NGO TERRA familiarized students with the debate around crops for bio-fuel vs. food, discussed the impacts of plantations on community rights and the environment, and highlighted lessons learned from on-going regional campaigns to address the negative impacts of plantations.
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Matthew Smith of ERI, and representatives of Arakan Oil Watch and the Pa-O Youth Association worked as a team to design the course on extractive industries. Though the course, EarthRights Mekong School students learned from examples throughout the world how natural resource extraction is often connected to a range of poor development outcomes, such as corruption, war, and authoritarianism. Students learned how mining operations can cause human rights and environmental violations, how mining operations are funded, effective campaigning strategies to address the negative impacts of mines, and about international and national laws and policies regarding extractive industries.
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In early August, Jelson Garcia from the Bank Information Center conducted a workshop on Understanding the World Bank. Students studied the bank’s policies and practices, focusing in on its plans for the Mekong region and the potential impacts of these plans on local communities. After gaining a comprehension of the Bank’s structure, students focused on how community members can use the World Bank's Inspection Panel to file complaints and create positive change.
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In Mid-A
ugust, Mekong School students had the opportunity to see firsthand the impact of mining on communities through a trip to the Udon Thani Potash Mine in Northeastern Thailand. Students stayed with local families, and gathered in the community temple to meet with a local NGO, the Salt Problem and Mineral Study Group to learn about potential impacts of the potash-mining project and villagers’ struggle to protect their rights and control resources.
Afterwards, students continued down to the site of the controversial Pak Mun Dam, a World Bank-funded project in Ubon Ratchathani Province, and Huay Ra Ha, the site of a highly popularized debate over control of irrigation water in Northeast Thailand. Community leaders at each site presented on the impacts of the dams on their livelihoods, strategies they used to oppose the projects, and the need for stronger legal protection for affected people.
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The Mekong School hosts alumni reunions every other year to provide alumni the opportunity to share their experience and perspectives on emerging issues in the region, access further training and skills-development, and make concrete plans for future collaboration and coordinated transnational campaigning.
In August of 2008, the EarthRights Mekong School held its first reunion, bringing together three generations of students at Si Phan Don, Southern Lao PDR, an ecologically unique and diverse area where the Mekong River at its widest point branches out into four thousand islands before flowing into Northern Cambodia and the Tonle Sap. The area is the site of the controversial Don Sahong Dam, where Lao and Cambodian alumni are working to mitigate adverse impacts on riverside communities.
During the five-night, four-day reunion, three generations of EarthRights Mekong School students shared their challenges and accomplishments following graduation and renewed their motivation for working for human rights and environmental justice. Alumni met in country groups to prioritize EarthRights challenges currently facing their communities, and reported back to the larger group. Based on these reports, the facilitator developed a list of critical issues shared by communities throughout the region, and alumni then broke into topic groups to strategize and plan joint campaigns.
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This course was led by Pianporn Deetes of Living Rivers Siam. It helped students develop an understanding of collaborative community-based research methods and their practical applications in campaigning and advocacy.
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In this class Professor Suriya taught Mekong School students about various research and data collection tools, urging them to explore various theories of research methodology. Students then chose which methods would be most appropriate and effective for their own research.
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With over a week of research theory and techniques classes behind them, students formally began their project planning from September 1-9. They worked with the Mekong School staff to develop well-documented plans for their projects including devising a budget and developing methods to best reach their specific target audience. The students delivered oral presentations about their fieldwork plans to collaborate and seek benefit from group input. They emerged from this class with solid plans and tools for their time in the field.
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From September 10 until November 8th, students returned to their home countries to put their new skills to work in field research. They each engaged in field-based fact finding on an EarthRights issue. They used their research to compile reports and make tangible recommendations on how to safeguard local communities and the environments on which they depend.
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From September 14-27, the ERS-Mekong School hosted a Video Advocacy Workshop for grassroots activists challenging forced displacement in Asia. Working closely with regional human rights and popular media organizations, the International Accountability Project (IAP), WITNESS, the Unit for Social and Environmental Research (USER), the Malaysian NGO Komas, and EarthRights International collaborated to bring together a diverse group of community activists, filmmakers and civil society advocates who are determined to incorporate video advocacy as a powerful tool in their work to expose and demand accountability for forced displacement caused by development projects. Two ERS-Mekong School alumni participated in the training, along with fifteen other activists from around the region, gaining valuable video documentation skills. The workshop culminated in a screening of short films made by participants. Two Burmese alum are currently working together to create a documentary about forcibly displaced Burmese communities in Thailand, with the goal of raising awareness among the Thai public, and several alumni have expressed interest in hosting similar video workshops in their communities.
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At the end of the students’ field work sessions, from November 11-13, ERS-Mekong students participated in the Mekong Mainstream Dams: People's Voices across Borders at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The conference provided an opportunity for civil society and national and regional policy makers to exchange views and experiences on the problems of hydropower dams in the Mekong region, particularly those on the mainstream Mekong. Over 250 conference participants worked together to promote a greater role for civil society to develop alternatives to Mekong mainstream dams in meeting the region’s energy demands. students, alumni, and staff attended an international conference entitled.
ERS-Mekong School students and alumni actively participated throughout the three-day event. A Thai and Lao student their presented findings from their recent field work at the site of the proposed Ban Koum Dam. A Vietnamese presented on changes in the Mekong Delta ecosystem that he’s observed since his childhood, and a Cambodian student presented on the human rights situation in Cambodia. A Chinese student presented his research findings on the Asian Development Bank’s involvement in the Dachaoshan dam project on the mainstream Mekong, and a Chinese alumni spoke on behalf of dam-affected communities on the upper Mekong. His speech was particularly moving, and was featured on nightly news and in a Bangkok Post article.
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After two months of field research, the ERS-Mekong School students reunited in Chiang Mai, Thailand to discuss and share their new experiences and learn from each other. ERS-Mekong School and EarthRights International staff assisted the students in identifying commonalities in fieldwork experiences. The students found they shared many commonalities in challenges and themes. The students worked together and with staff to prepare their findings for class presentations.
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Student fieldwork presentations were held from November 24-27, 2008. EarthRights Mekong School staff and students invited representatives from partner NGOs and Chiang Mai University to attend the presentations, and the staff of the ERS-Burma School brought all of their students along, so that each day, over 40 audience members contributed to lively discussion on the topics presented. Audience members were given evaluation forms to fill out on the content of the presentations as well as the presentation style to help students improve their public speaking skills. The following is a list of the student fieldwork topics:
(Student from Vietnam) Impacts on Local Livelihoods and the Environment from the Song Bung 4 Hydropower Project, Quang Nam Province
(Vietnam) A Study of Advocacy Processes of National Media and Local People on Livelihood and Ecosystem Impacts from the Huyndai Vinashin Ship Factory in Vân Phong Bay, Khánh Hòa Province
(China) A History of the Relationship between the ADB and the Chinese Government with Emphasis on Safeguard Policies: a Case Study of Dachaoshan Power Plant in Yunnan Province
(China)Leave the Last Living River to Our Children: the Liuku Dam’s Impacts on the Environment and Livelihoods of Nu River Communities
(Cambodia) The Lower Sesan 2 Hydropower Dam: Resettlement and Compensation Issues
(Cambodia) The Local Response to Impacts from the O’Yadav Gold Mine on Land Use and Livelihoods: a Case Study from Ratanakiri, Cambodia
(Cambodia) Involuntary resettlement and the World Bank Safeguards policy: a Case Study of Sihanoukville Airport Construction
(Thailand) An Udon Thani Community’s Response to Impacts from the Lao-Thai Power Transmission Line
(Thailand) Use and Access Rights over the Mekong River Ecosystem: A Case Study of a Community Affected by the Ban Kum Hydropower Dam Project
(Lao PDR) Local Wisdom in the Use of the Mekong River: A Case Study of Lao Communities Affected by the Ban Koum Dam Project
(Lao PDR) An Assessment of Potential Livelihood Impacts from the Ban Koum Dam Project on Communities in Ban Koum Noi, Xanasomboun District, Champasak Province, Lao PDR
(Burma) Nickel and Gold Mining in Namtu Township, Shan State Burma: Human Rights Abuses and Environmental Destruction
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After a week of student presentations, the EarthRights Mekong School students began their session on International Human Rights and Environmental Law with several guest speakers, including Dr. Daniel Aguirre, Marie Soveroski, and Katie Redford of EarthRights International, and Charlie Clemens of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Each of the speakers shared their perspectives and experiences in the field, showing students how law can be used as a tool for EarthRights protection. Students discussed how what they learned about international water law and the mechanisms that exist in its support could be applied to the cases they investigated during their field work sessions and how they might incorporate international human rights and environmental laws into their campaigns against destructive development in their home countries and the Mekong region as a whole.
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On December 3, ERS-Mekong School students participated in a Graduate Seminar at Chiang Mai University’s Regional Center for Sustainable Development entitled, “Do We Need Electricity from Our Neighbors? A Case of Trans-Border Electric Power from Laos and Burma” by Khun Supajee Nilubol, the Honorary Consul for Sweden, Chiang Mai. The ERS-Mekong School students contributed much to the debate on Thailand’s energy policy and relationships with neighboring countries. At this conference, they gained valuable experience in public speaking, campaign organizing, and networking.
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During the third week of November, the ERS-Mekong School students took a trip to Kaeng Seua Ten in northern Thailand. At Kaeng Seua Ten, students learned how over the course of 18 years community leaders organized a successful campaign to stop a dam project that would flood their community and one of the world’s last remaining golden teak forests. Students began the adventure by traveling down the Yom River on bamboo rafts and hiking through the golden teak forest, where they met with indigenous community members who were fighting relocation. 
From their discussion with these villagers, students learned about the importance of internal organizing at the community level and became fluent in the prerequisites of a successful community-led campaign over time. During the trip, the students were exposed to a wade range of peaceful advocacy strategies, and discussed which of these might be adopted for use in their own countries.
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As our school term came to a close, the focus shifted to empowering and reinforcing students with the skills they will need as they return to their home countries. The Strategic Campaign Planning course allowed students to develop a strategic advocacy campaign based on the common themes identified in the field debriefing. Students were introduced to the ERS-Mekong School Alumni Program goals and objectives, and the activities of our first year program graduates. Working within the alumni network, this year’s class planned a number of advocacy activities to be conducted in the coming year.
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A graduation ceremony was held at the ERS-Mekong School on December 19, 2008 to celebrate our third year students’ successful completion of the program. EarthRights International staff, Burma School students, friends, and representatives from a number of partner organizations gathered together at the school to reflect on another successful year. The festivities opened with a candle light ceremony, during which ERS-Mekong School students, alumni, and staff shared their thoughts and reflected on the past year together. A Chinese student and Thai student delivered speeches on behalf of the ERS-Mekong School students, and students sang both traditional and modern songs to celebrate the occasion of another successful year at the ERS-Mekong School.
The power of law and the power of people
in defense of human rights and the environment.
© Copyright 1995-2011, EarthRights International
ERI staff, February 2010
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