In the Media

Vietnam puts power before people

Saturday, November 11, 2006
Trouble is brewing in Vietnam's Son La province, threatening the social stability that has underpinned the country's recent rapid economic growth. A government scheme to compensate more than 100,000 people to be uprooted by construction of what promises to be Southeast Asia's largest hydropower dam has left them high and dry in desolate areas that lack arable land for cultivation. Construction of the US$3.5 billion Son La Dam began last December and the last new turbine is scheduled to come on line in 2012. Once fully operable, the dam is designed to produce 3,600 megawatt

Thai Dam Casts Long Shadow Over Asia Dam Wars

Monday, June 26, 2006
Article from IOL Pak Mun River, Thailand - Mekong fish don't jump. It was one of the many hard lessons learned at Thailand's Pak Mun Dam, a minnow as dams go, but it casts a long and costly shadow over Asia's water wars. Built more than a decade ago on a tributary of the Mekong river, Pak Mun left a legacy of angry protests, damaged fish stocks and uprooted communities - and a fish ladder more suited to leaping Pacific salmon. 'This is like a slow tsunami' "It created huge conflicts in Thailand that last today and it produces very little power. When you consider all

Laos' Rivers: Open to the Highest Bidder

Thursday, June 1, 2006
Since the World Bank's approval of the Nam Theun 2 project in March 2005, the Government of Laos has signed a spate of agreements with hydropower investors from neighboring countries in its bid to become the "battery of Southeast Asia." Aviva Imhof examines some of the planned hydropower projects and the implications of increasing regional investments in hydropower development. Download the report

Nam Theun 2: A Way of Life Threatened

Tuesday, September 7, 2004
Opinion piece published in Bangkok's The Nation. Dave Hubbel Laos The Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric project will double water levels in the Xe Bang Fai River in central Laos and destroy the self-sufficient lifestyle of the thousands of people living along its banks Living all of his life on the Xe Bang Fai River, Sombath has been ferrying people from their villages to the market at the Route 13 bridge and back for more than 20 years. "I wake up early to catch fish for my family," he says, "Then I drive my ferry to help people go to the market." Asked if he had heard about the proposed Nam Theun 2

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