419 



from the penned-up slack water, the consequences of heavy reliance 

 (foreseen as necessary) on chemical pesticides, resettlement of hun- 

 dreds of thousands of families from the reservoir area, need for large 

 amounts of chemical fertilizer as farmers were displaced from fertile 

 river flood plains to less fertile uplands, flooding of prime timber 

 lands, and diminished fish population. 73 An additional catalog of 

 possible disadvantages was offered by Claire Sterling in a series of 

 newspaper articles on the Mekong Project. 74 Reservoirs choked with 

 water hyacinths, leaching of great salt deposits into the main stem of 

 the river rendering the water unsuitable for irrigation, the threat of 

 an epidemic of liver fluke to a nation of raw fish eaters, and the loss 

 of fertilizing silt downstream as a result of upstream flood control. 

 However, the author concluded this catalog with the observation that 

 "For once, developers and planners are giving some study to this sort 

 of thing before the event." But even that assurance carried an accom- 

 panying danger: "Whether or not they may end by studying the 

 scheme to death is another thing." 



An analysis of this problem of adverse environmental effects, with 

 particular reference to the Aswan High Dam, suggests that there 

 are some reasonably objective guidelines to determine good from 

 bad environmental management. The analysis recommended (1) that 

 qualitative requirements for the environment be quantitatively ex- 

 pressed and brought into the equation of good and bad products of 

 the development, (2) that the options be preserved — including plant 

 and animal species — to enable readaptation of the environment to 

 future changes in policy, (3) that the environment itself be diversi- 

 fied as much as possible, and (4) that the planners take into account 

 the limited tolerance of any environment to change. 75 



Perhaps the most serious of these criticisms concerns the health 

 and medical consequences of civil works. Even without manipulation 

 of the Mekong, the health problems of the region are serious. One pro- 

 posal (with specific reference to such problems in Africa) calls for 

 a "series of strong medico-biological research centers" and also "col- 

 laborative efforts or programs involving as full a local participation 

 as possible." Each of the proposed centers would have a set of par- 

 ticular objectives related to local needs, but aimed at anticipating and 

 correcting for adverse ecological effects of technological applications. 



This means evaluation of health needs in the fullest sense, and it requires com- 

 bined contributions from as many disciplines as can effectively be focused on the 

 problem. The effort must be regional, cooperative, sympathetic — but scientifically 

 rigorous. It must build a bank of reliable information, continually cross-checked 

 from the standpoint of different disciplines. This material, re-evaluated and 

 restudied as opportunity and need require, assembled and available to all, should 

 provide an invaluable source for aid at any level. Major programs without such 

 prior study are unthinkable in view of past experience. From each study area 

 an even more valuable resource would emerge : experts with firsthand field 

 experience, both theoretically and pragmatically knowledgeable, available for 

 consultation.™ 



73 "Eeologlsts in the Mekong," The New Republic (March 28, 1970) : pp. 6-7. 



74 Claire Sterling, "Thai-Laos Dam Plan Is Perfect One — Except for Why? Washington 

 Post (May 1, 1971), p. A14, and Claire Sterling, "40-Odd Dams Hold Promise for Great 

 Mekong Basin," Washington Post (April 24, 1971), p. A18. 



76 Gerardo Budowski, "The Quantity-Quality Relationship in Environmental Manage- 

 ment." Impact of Science on Society XX, no. 3 (1970), pp. 245-246. 



78 Donald Heyneman, "Why We Must Prevent Foreign Aid From Becoming an l|cological 

 Nightmare," Science Forum (October 1971), p. 9. 



/ 



