MEE Net and its partners

Mee Net Today

Mekong Energy and Ecology Network (MEE Net) has been established under Foundation for Ecological Recovery (FER) as a sister organisation of Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance (TERRA) to work on an energy issue especially the electricity structure, governance and policies to sustain local livelihoods and ecology in the Mekong Region.

Why has MEE Net been established?

MEE Net has been established at the time the Mekong region is in need of focusing on energy issues. There are, however, no NGOs working on the issues yet. TERRA and MEE Net work to support the network of NGOs and people´s organisations in the respective Mekong countries, encouraging exchange and alliance-building, and drawing on the experiences of development and environment issues in Thailand. TERRA focues on issues concerning the environment and local livelihoods while MEE Net focuses on energy policy issues.

In the Mekong region a number of electricity power projects (especially large scale hydropower, coal, natural gas and the forhtcoming nuclear power) that have extreme impacts for local communities and the environment. The process by which these projects are planned is extremely top down, and rife with conflicts of interest in which decision-makers benefit from constructing and operating power plants. In some cases, civil society has historically developed campaigns that focus on environmental and social impacts of the projects. That has been effective to a certain extent, but such intervention is too far down stream. Often a "success" in stopping a particular project simply leads to the project being moved to a new community - or country - less able to mobilize effective opposition.

It is important to address this problem region-wide given the recent trends of transnational power deals. To achieve this, MEE Net will work to develop "energy network" on monitoring the electricity sector situation and developing analyses and strategies that are effective in challenging "massive build-out, mega infrastructure" government /utility plans.

MEE Net and NGOs

Unfortunately, civil society capacity is very weak in the area of electricity. The power sector is percieved as a technical issue, and government/utility experts use technical language that masks important decisions in complex financial/engineering terms that reduce the ability of most civil society to respond.

MEE Net apply some experiences and analysis that has been developed in Thailand and elsewhere to support struggles of communities facing costruction of destructive power development projects, and to develop advocacy works on the electricity structure, governance and policy reform.

There are some common elements of the centralized power structure, promoted by the mainstream economic development. These will point out irrational elements of government /utility plans:
- excessive projections of demads
- tendency to focus on expensive and polluting centralized sources
- systematically marginalizing or ignoring less expensive and more environmentally friendly options such as demand side management (DSM), combined heat and power (CHP), renewable energy etc.

The "alternative powet plans" have been developed and provided a concrete, realistic vision for a cheaper, greener future relying new but proven technologies that save energy and use renewable energy fuels. Furthermore, we are addressing the governance of the sector, identifying conflicts of interest and working to insert language into the Energy Industry Act that established, for example, and energy regulatory body that has the ability, authority and interest to look after public interest.

However, these efforts are admittedly inadequate considering the magnitude of the task. In the Mekong region, there is much less civil society capacity . In Vietnam and China, efforts are just beginning by a few individuals to develop a dialogue about alternative, clean energy options. In Laos and Burma the situation is even worse. In Cambodia a few NGOs exist, but none have developed expertise in the power sector policy and planning.


MEE Net Today (beginning of 2010)

MEENet has a Mee Net coordination team in the office of FER in Bangkok with four people working there: Director Mr Witoon Permpongsacharoen, information coordinator Ms Appinya (Whitney) Mattadet, training coordinator Ms Prakchakporn (May) Sopohon and research coordinator Ms Mai Lan Ha. MEE Net has a Steering Committee with members from each Mekong country:

Steering Committee of MEE Net (2010)
Burma: Mr. Sai Sai (Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization)
Cambodia: Ms. Phallika Chea (NGO Forum on Cambodia)
China: Mr. Kevin Yuk-Shing Li (Globalisation Monitor and Greenpeace China, Hong Kong)
Laos: Ms Boutsady Khounnouvong (Gender and Development Group)
Thailand: Ms. Chuenchom Sangsari Greacen (Palang Thai)
Vietnam: Ms. Nga Thi Viet  Dao (Centre for Water Resources Conservation and Development)

The MEE Net network members:

Burma:
Earth Rights Mekong School
Shwe Gas Movement
Shan Sapawa Environmental Organisation SAPAWA

Cambodia:
NGO Forum on Cambodia
Culture and Environment Preservation Association CEPA
Oxfam Australia

China:
Greenpeace China/Globalization Monitor GM (Hong Kong)
Green Watershed (Yunnan)

Laos:
Gender and Development Group GDG
Poverty Reduction and Development Association PORDEA
CIDSE Laos

Thailand:
Palang Thai
Healthy Public Policy Foundation

Vietnam:
Center for Water Resources Conservation and Development WARECOD
Institute for Energy
People and Nature Reonciliation PanNature

MEE Net web site will be opened in early 2010: www.meenet.org