External report

Chinese researcher Fan Xiao visited the communities resettled by Zipingpu Dam and found evidence of graft and corruption, violation of rights, and dissatisfaction with the amount of compensation given.

A science brief from the WorldFish Center exploring the potential impact of the proposed Don Sahong hydroelectric dam on the fisheries of the Lower Mekong River Basin. Key messages are: If built, the Don Sahong dam would be the first dam on the mainstream of the Lower mekong RiverThe Hoo Sahong channel, the site of the proposed dam, plays an especially important role in fish migration basinwide.The Lower Mekong Basin hosts the most productive freshwater fishery in the world, contributing substantially to national and regional economies, food security and rural livelihoods.There are no effectiv

Report on the West Seti Hydroelectrict Project and ADB Policy Violations Meeting to discuss the potential impacts of the planned West Seti Hydropower Project in Nepal. Yuki Tanabe Yuki Tanabe from Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society in August 2007 went to western Nepal to visit the area to be affected by the planned 750MW West Seti project. The project, with an estimated cost of USD 1.2, is planned by the Australian Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation and expected to receive loans and political guarantees from the Asian Development Bank, the Multilateral Investme

Based on field research, this 2001 report details the impacts in Vietnam along the Sesan River arising from the construction of the Yali Falls dam. At the resettlement sites, the study investigates living standards and compensation arrangements. It identifies difficulties these communities face including immediate food and water shortages, and an absence of long-term challenges to ensure income and livelihood security. Downstream communities dependent on the river were found to have suffered from flooding and poor water quality. (English / Vietnamese)

This 2004 study investigates how communities displaced by the Yali Falls Dam in Vietnam are faring several years after they were moved. The study finds that problems with land shortages, poor quality housing and sanitation are taking a toll on the health and well-being of the thousands of ethnic minority people who were displaced by the project.

The Srepok River is one of the major rivers of Cambodia. Anticipating major changes in the river basin, in particular hydropower development in upstream Vietnam, this baseline survey details the linkages between local peoples’ lives and the river. (Report also available in Khmer).

China intends to develop Lancang or Mekong mainstream hydropower in Yunnan and make the Mekong mainstream navigable from Yunnan to the South China Sea, a distance of some 2,500 kilometers. This poses unprecedented environmental and social problems for the downstream countries Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Severe ecological deterioration of the Mekong River is a foregone conclusion if this plan proceeds. And of course the impacts will not be limited to the river. The downstream countries will be forced to undertake exhausting and largely futile efforts to protect themselves an

Wang Yongchen, Beijing-based journalist and founder of the environmental group Green Earth Volunteers, reports on her travels to the Nu River valley in Yunnan Province. She discovers what local people have been told about the projects, and how they feel about the prospect of resettlement. 

This paper was submitted by villagers affected by the Manwan Dam to the UN Symposium on Hydropower and Sustainable Development held in Beijing in October 2004. According to the paper, it has been 18 years since the start of construction of the Manwan Dam, yet the living conditions of the resettled people have not yet improved. The government promised affected people that ‘When Manwan Dam generates hydropower resettled people will achieve a rich standard of living". However, the situation of today is that the living tandards are lower than their level before the construction of the dam.

This paper outlines the findings of a social impact assessment conducted for people displaced by the Manwan Dam, the first dam to be built on the Upper Mekong. The SIA findings led the Yunnan Provincial government to allocate an additional $9.7 million in funds to resolve the problems facing the resettlers.