Local communities along the Mekong River are asking the government to establish a fund, made up of collected tax revenues from development projects on the waterway, to compensate villagers affected by them.
"This fund [should] not be a corporate social responsibility scheme," said Ormbun Thipsuna, president of Network of Council of Mekong River Community in Seven Northeastern Provinces. "It [should be] similar to a sin tax on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages to fund health projects.
"This fund must be handled by the government, not by project developers," Mr Ormbun said.
His network represents villagers living in Loei, Nong Khai, Bung Kan, Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan, Amnat Charoen and Ubon Ratchathani. Communities along the river in these provinces have suffered due to a series of dams built upstream which stretch in Laos and China.
On Friday, network members held a three-hour meeting with the government to discuss how development projects on the Mekong River have affected their livelihoods and river ecology, and what the state can do to help.
A proposal calling for the establishment of what they call the "Mekong River Rehabilitation Fund" was submitted to Suporn Atthawong, assistant to minister to the Prime Minister's Office, that day.
The network is also asking the government to give more say to people in the decision-making process of development projects on the Mekong River.
Chawian Kongsimma, president of Tambon Nakhon Hong Local Administration in Loei province's Pak Chom district, asked the government to cancel their plan to purchase electricity from Laos' Sanakham dam.
The Lao government is planning to build the 684-megawatt hydropower plant in an area about 2 kilometres away from Chiang Kan district. Construction by a Chinese firm is slated to start this year and finish in 2028 at a cost of 6.4 billion baht. The Thai government is touted to be a major purchaser of electricity generated by this dam.
Mr Chawian said the construction of Sanakham dam will not only wreak havoc on the livelihoods and culture of communities living along the Mekong River, but it will also affect tributaries that run in Thailand, such as the Chi and Mun Rivers, two main rivers in the northeastern region.
"The planned Sanakham dam will upset water flow and cause a great impact on the Khong-Chi-Moon River Diversion plan that the Thai government has spent a lot of money on to make happen," Mr Chawian said, referring to a water project meant to divert surplus water from the Mekong River to local tributaries to feed arid land in the northeastern region.