Vietnam
Vietnam's rivers are under threat from a massive hydropower development program. More than 30 projects are under development or at an advanced stage of planning to meet Vietnam's spiraling demand for energy. To make way for these projects, around 190,000 people will be displaced and many thousands more living downstream will be affected.
Vietnam’s first and largest dam, the Hoa Binh Dam in the North, had devastating consequences for the 58,000 mostly Muong people who were forcibly displaced. They were moved to locations far their homelands and provided with little compensation. As a result, about three-quarters of those who were displaced continue to live near the edge of the reservoir and are facing extreme impoverishment and food shortages.
The Yali Falls Dam in
Vietnam's largest and most controversial project, the US$2.3 billion Son La Dam, will displace 91,000 ethnic minority people by the time it is completed in 2010. A recent study found that the resettlement program is already facing significant challenges, including a shortage of arable land and sources of income for the resettled people.
International Rivers' Southeast Asia program is working to support the burgeoning Vietnam Rivers Network and to highlight concerns regarding Vietnam's over-reliance on hydropower to meet its energy needs.
Visit Center for Water Resources Conservation and Development website.
Learn more about the Buon Kuop Hydroelectric Project in Vietnam on BankTrack.