It appears the second Asia Pacific Water Summit now under way in  ChiangMai’s newest extravagant building project and scheduled to end on 20th May 2013 is already creating controversy with government officials asserting that no protests will be allowed and when one considers criticisms of water management in the pages of OurChiangMai.com one might wonder if internet censorship of the site is in the offing?

Just try a search here on words like irrigation or dredging or dam.

Then there are pictures like that below taken last week in Uttaradit province.

Plowing for Water runoff

 

For years the Peoples Republic of China has paid farmers to leave steep lands like these and plant trees, both commercial and for conservation and together with the Socialist Republic of VietNam has received praise for reforestation from the UN Food & Agriculture Organization FAO.  In Thailand down hill plowing of sloping lands is standard practice and does much to explain why our streams are full of silt.

This summit could well be a showcase watershed and river mismanagement if the Governor would care to take delegates on tours of the country side and see burnt forest, dredged and channelized rivers.

( We would like to show more photos of watershed management e.g. as in this post but are experiencing technical difficulties)