On 28 November-4 December 2003, at Rasi Salai, Thailand, the Thailand-based Assembly of the Poor, USA-based International Rivers Network (IRN), and Southeast Asia Rivers Network (SEARIN) from Thailand, organized the Second International Meeting of Dam Affected People and their Allies, or Rivers for Life!
The meeting was attended by more than 300 people from 62 countries throughout the world, peoples affected by dams, fighters against destructive dams, and activists for sustainable and equitable water and energy management. They met on land that is being restored to life after being flooded by a dam. The gates of the dam are now open, the river flows, the crops have ripened, the fish are starting to return, community life is becoming vibrant once more.
The dam-affected people of Thailand offer all peoples an example of determination and struggle to preserve lives, rivers, territories, cultures, and identities.
Water for life, not for death! The call made at the First International Meeting of People Affected By Dams, held in Curitiba, Brazil, 1997, has been realised in Rasi Salai, Thailand.
The full Rasi Salai declaration is available at:
http://www.irn.org/programs/rasi/index.asp?id=031204.rasidecl.html
