湄公河是六国人民的生命线，在它从源头流向大海的过程中滋养着世界最大的内陆渔业以及越南湄公河三角洲丰富的稻田。柬埔寨计划建造一条连接湄公河与其海岸的大型运河，担心这个耗资17亿美元、由中国助建的富南德科技运河“Funan Techo”可能对湄公河的自然洪水系统造成破坏，加剧干旱并剥夺了湄公河三角洲农民赖以生存的富含营养的泥沙。该项目旨在提升柬埔寨国内制造设施向沿湄公河出口的能力，绕过越南，将首都金边与位于南部海岸的克普省连接起来。
在8月5日举行的开工仪式上，柬埔寨首相洪森表示，不论成本多少，“这个运河都必须建”。这条运河能减少至柬埔寨唯一深水港西哈努克港的物流成本。他指出，这将促进国家荣誉、领土完整以及柬埔寨的发展。
然而，伴随着承诺的是风险。接下来是更详细的探讨：
湄公河从中国开始，流经缅甸、泰国、老挝、柬埔寨和越南。它支撑着占全球内陆捕捞量15% 的渔业产业，每年价值逾110亿美元。湿季期间的洪水使得湄公河三角洲成为了世界上生产效率最高的农田之一。
然而，这条河流已经受到在上游老挝和中国修建的大坝所引发的水流量减少的影响，并且气候变化正在侵蚀该地区脆弱的南部边缘。华盛顿智库“斯汀森中心”东南亚项目主任布莱恩·埃利尔（Brian Eyler）警告称，100米宽、5.4米深运河两侧高耸的河堤将阻止携带泥沙的洪水流向下游至越南，这可能会加剧越南稻米碗里的干旱以及柬埔寨的泛滥平原区域，这片区域大约有1300平方公里（约501平方英里）。
湄公河三角洲的变干对依靠农业维生的越南经济至关重要，该行业占全国GDP的12%。受影响最大的省份将是安边和前江省。穿梭于绿色农田中的河流网络对于越南的计划在2030年前在其100万公顷农田上种植“高品质、低排放水稻”至关重要。目标是减少温室气体排放、降低生产成本并增加农民收益。
河流之水对超过一亿的越南人民以及全球粮食安全都是极其关键的资源，越南大米出口公司鸿明达的董事阮文 Nhut 表示：“这对越南农业部门来说将是一个重大担忧。”
2023年8月提交给湄公河委员会的一份文件并未提到运河用水用于灌溉。然而，柬埔寨表示计划进行这样做。斯汀森中心指出在干旱月份中进行灌溉是合理的，但需要与其它湄公河国家协商达成协议。
湄公河委员会向美联社表示所有湄公河上的重大项目都应评估其跨界影响，并提供技术支持以增强各国间透明度和合作。该项目的柬埔寨副首相 Sun Chanthol 并未对此发表评论。
柬埔寨对于运河计划的批评持拒绝态度，这被认为是该国统治精英试图通过支持洪森之子接班总理洪马内来获得支持的方式之一。中国国家工程企业集团中国路桥与柬埔寨公司将共同建造这条运河，并用其国家主义的言辞包裹。柬埔寨声称这条运河将为他们提供“呼吸通道”，从而减少对越南的依赖。
然而，越南在公开上避免批评邻国，而是悄悄地表达其关切。越南海外部长发言人范秋环在5月份的新闻发布会上表示，河内已要求金边分享项目信息并评估环境影响，以确保湄公河流域国家利益的和谐一致。
许多人对越南企图夺占柬埔寨领土的可能性心存疑虑。新加坡东南亚研究所叶思华分析中心的分析师阮国江指出，“尽管在越南内部，确实存在许多严重担忧。”
在柬埔寨国家主义话语中往往忽略了许多人如57岁的梭科恩的忧虑。她自1980年以来一直和家人居住在运河即将开建的地方，一条小泥顶房里。当生计困难时，她依靠湄公河获取鱼类来喂养家庭，并且靠售卖甘蔗汁和回收塑料罐维持生活。但是没有任何人联系过她解答其不断增长的问题：补偿、土地或现金？他们将去哪？
“我只是现在才知道这个运河的事情。”她说。
– 路透社的气候与环境报道得到了多个私人基金会的财务支持。路透社独自对所有内容负责。了解路透社与慈善机构合作的原则和资助领域，请访问AP.org.
新闻来源：www.abcnews.go.com
原文地址：Cambodia hopes a new canal will boost trade. But it risks harming the Mekong that feeds millions.
新闻日期：2024-09-25
原文摘要：
The Mekong River is a lifeline for millions in the six countries it traverses on its way from its headwaters to the sea, sustaining the world’s largest inland fishery and abundant rice paddies on Vietnam's Mekong Delta. Cambodia's plan to build a massive canal linking the Mekong to a port on on its own coast on the Gulf of Thailand is raising alarm that the project could devastate the river's natural flood systems, worsening droughts and depriving farmers on the delta of the nutrient-rich silt that has made Vietnam the world's third-largest rice exporter. Cambodia hopes that the $1.7 billion Funan Techo canal, being built with Chinese help, will support its ambition to export directly from factories along the Mekong without relying on Vietnam, connecting the capital Phnom Penh with Kep province on Cambodia's southern coast. At an Aug. 5 groundbreaking ceremony, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said the canal will be built “no matter what the cost.” By reducing costs of shipping to Cambodia's only deep-sea port, at Sihanoukville, the canal will promote, “national prestige, the territorial integrity and the development of Cambodia,” he said. Along with those promises comes peril. Here is a closer look. The Mekong River flows from China through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It supports a fishery that accounts for 15% of the global inland catch, worth over $11 billion annually, according to the nonprofit World Wildlife Fund. Flooding during the wet season makes the Mekong Delta one of the world's most productive farm regions. The river already has been disrupted by dams built upstream in Laos and China that restrict the amount of water flowing downstream, while rising seas are gnawing away at the southern edges of the climate-vulnerable Mekong Delta. Brian Eyler, director of the Washington-based Stimson Center’s Southeast Asia Program, warns that high embankments along the 100-meter (328 feet)-wide, 5.4-meter (17.7 feet)-deep canal will prevent silt-laden floodwater from flowing downstream to Vietnam. That could worsen drought in Vietnam's rice bowl and Cambodia's floodplains, an area stretching over roughly 1,300-square kilometers (501 square miles). A drier Mekong Delta is a concern for Vietnam’s agricultural sector, which powers 12% of its economy. The southwestern provinces of An Giang and Kien Giang would likely be most impacted. The delta's latticework of rivers crisscrossing green fields is vital for Vietnam’s own plans of growing “high quality, low emission rice” on 1 million hectares of farmland by 2030. The aim is to cut earth-warming greenhouse gases, lower production costs and increase farmers’ profits. Water from the river is “essential” not just for Vietnam's more than 100 million people but also for global food security, said Nguyen Van Nhut, director of rice export company Hoang Minh Nhat. Vietnam’s exports of 8.3 million metric tons (9.1 U.S. tons) of rice in 2023 accounted for 15% of global exports. Most was grown in the Mekong Delta. The amount of silt being deposited by the river has already dropped and further disruptions will worsen salinity in the area, hurting farming, Nhat said. “This will be a major concern for the agriculture sector of the Mekong delta,” he said. Cambodia says the canal is a “tributary project” that will connect to the Bassac River near Phnom Penh. President Hun Sen claimed on social media platform X that this means there would be “no impact on the flow of the Mekong River.” But blueprints show the canal will connect to the Mekong's mainstream and in any case the Bassac consists entirely of water from the Mekong, Eyler said. Cambodian authorities are downplaying the potential environmental impacts of the project. “This is their logic-defying basis for justifying no impact to the Mekong River,” he said. A document submitted in August 2023 to the Mekong River Commission — an organization formed for cooperation on issues regarding the Mekong — does not mention using water from the canal for irrigation, though Cambodia has since said it plans to do so. The Stimson Center added it was “logical” that irrigation would be needed during dry months, but that would require negotiating an agreement with the other Mekong countries. The Mekong River Commission told The Associated Press all major projects on the Mekong River “should be assessed for their potential transboundary impacts.” It said it was providing technical support to “increase transparency and cooperation among concerned countries.” Sun Chanthol, the Cambodian deputy prime minister who oversees the project, didn’t respond to a request for comments. Cambodia has rejected criticism of the canal, which is widely seen as an effort by the country's ruling elite to curry support for Prime Minister Hun Manet, who succeeded his father Hun Sen, who led Cambodia for 38 years. The canal is to be built jointly by Chinese state-owned construction giant China Road and Bridge Corporation and Cambodian companies. But it is enveloped in nationalistic rhetoric. The canal would provide Cambodia a “nose to breathe through” by reducing its dependence on Vietnam, Hun Sen has said. Vietnam has avoided openly criticizing its neighbor, instead communicating its concerns quietly. Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said at a press conference in May that Hanoi had asked Cambodia to share information and assess the environmental impacts of the project to “ensure the harmony of interests” of Mekong countries. Many Cambodians remain suspicious of Vietnam’s intentions, believing it may want to annex Cambodian territory. Given the contentious past between the two countries, bigger and richer Vietnam is taking care not to appear to be impinging on Cambodian sovereignty, said Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. "Although in Vietnam, there are big concerns,” he said. Lost in Cambodia's nationalistic rhetoric are the concerns of people like Sok Koeun, 57, who may lose her home. The tin-roofed cottage where she has lived with her family since 1980 is right where the canal is due to be built. The river provides her with fish to feed her family when she struggles to get by selling sugarcane juice and recycling plastic cans. No one has been in touch, she says, to answer her mounting questions: Will she get compensated? Will she get land? Or cash? Where will they go? “I only learned about it (the canal) just now,” she said. ___ The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. 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