Water Grabbing in the Mekong Basin – An Analysis of the Winners and Losers of Thailand's Hydropower Development in Lao PDR (original) (raw)
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The politics of hydropower: developing the Mekong
Political Geography, 1999
With renewed economic interest in the Southeast Asian region following the 'peace dividend' of the early 1990s, numerous hydrodevelopment plans have been initiated in the Mekong basin. The river-as-resource, in a glibly bioregional metaphor, has been transformed from a Cold War 'front line' into a 'corridor of commerce', drawing six riparian states together in the pursuit of sustainable development through economic and infrastructural integration and cooperation, promoted by multi-and bilateral donors and lending institutions. Through a brief examination of the discursive framing of Mekong hydrodevelopment, this paper uncovers some of the implications of an emerging regional geopolitical imagination centred on the naturalising metaphor of the watershed. Through a discussion of the increasing involvement of private capital, and the politicisation of resource use, the implications of hydrodevelopment for Laos, an upstream state currently undergoing major hydrodevelopment, and Cambodia, a downstream state, are explored.
Sustainability Science, 2013
Hydropower developments along the main stem of the Mekong River and its tributaries cause transboundary effects within the Mekong Basin Region, which comprises parts of six countries. On the one hand, the provision of hydropower triggers economic development and helps to meet the rising energy demand of the Mekong riparian countries, especially China, Thailand, and Vietnam. On the other hand, the negative impact of dam construction, mainly altered water flow and sediment load, has severe impacts on the environment and the livelihoods of the rural Mekong population. Several discrepancies exist in the needs, demands, and challenges of upstream versus downstream countries. Against the common apprehension that downstream countries are powerlessly exposed to mainly negative impacts whereas upstream countries unilaterally benefit from hydropower, the authors argue that upstream-downstream relations are not really clear-cut. This conclusion is based on a consideration of the complex power play between Mekong riparians, with a focus on recent power trade interactions. The article investigates the consequences of hydropower dams for the Mekong region as well as the role of supranational players, such as the Mekong River Commission and the Greater Mekong Subregion Initiative, on the hydropower debate. It is not nations that are the winners or losers in the hydropower schemes in the Mekong, but rather parts of the riparian population: a few influential and powerful elites versus the large mass of rural poor.
Hydro/Power? Politics, Discourse and Neoliberalization in Laos's Hydroelectric Development
Sociology of Development, 2018
Hydropower development is making a global resurgence due to endorsement by powerful global institutions such as the World Bank and the imperative to scale up renewable energy production to address global climate change. Employing a green governmentality lens, we analyze the debate surrounding one controversial dam in Laos, the Xayaburi. In the realm of hydropower development in the Mekong, a green governmentality approach allows for both an investigation of the macro-political influences on hydropower development, including trade liberalization and regional economic development, and the micro-political disciplining of state and non-state actors who, through legitimizing particular discourses and practices, reinforce global power relations. Our findings suggest that World Bank-style sustainable development discourses continue to shape ideas and practices relating to hydropower and sustainable development in Laos. However, we conclude that green neoliberalization does not fully explai...
Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2011
In 2010, the largest hydropower dam ever constructed in Laos, the Nam Theun 2 (NT2) Power Project, was completed with crucial—indeed, deal-making—support from the World Bank. Although the vast majority of the electricity produced by the project is exported to neighboring Thailand, the most important negative social and environmental impacts have occurred in Laos. While much attention has focused on the dam reservoir, there have been significant effects downstream from the project along the Xe Bang Fai (XBF) River, a major tributary of the mainstream Mekong River. In this article we examine the complex relationships between energy produced by NT2 and energy consumption patterns in Thailand. We link varying electricity demand in Thai air conditioning, fluctuating water releases from the NT2 dam, and downstream changes in XBF hydrology. Taking a political ecology approach, we emphasize how NT2 is part of rescaling electricity production and consumption networks, changes to their modes of ordering, and the reworking of nature–society relations. Although NT2 involves a complex array of social and environmental civil society concerns for Thailand, Laos, and global society, this was largely obscured by the commercial and technical orientation of its novel governance systems.
Lao Hydropower's Circle of Influence
Anthropogenic Rivers: The Production of Uncertainty in Lao Hydropower, 2018
Chapter One of Anthropogenic Rivers: The Production of Uncertainty in Lao Hydropower (Dec 2018, Cornell University Press). This chapter describes the complex transnational forces that come to bear on Laos's rivers, and helps explain why they enjoy such a priority by the government in spite of their environmental costs. It also helps explain how environmental measures put forward by transnational institutions like the World Bank sit within a historical context of long term geopolitical marginalization. Uncorrected Proof. Do Not Cite Without Permission. jwhitington@nyu.edu
Journal of Contemporary Asia, 2018
Large areas of the rural Lao landscape are being rapidly transformed by infrastructure development projects. Arguably, it is hydraulic development that is contributing most significantly to rural socio-ecological change, due to the profound socio-political ruptures dams precipitate. The nationally iconic Theun-Hinboun Hydropower Project, commissioned in 1998 and expanded in 2012, provides an illustrative case of hydropower's complex social-ecological outcomes. Proponents have argued that the project represents a best-case example of planned, sustainable development, through successful mitigation of negative impacts and benefit-sharing with affected communities, and implemented in accordance with international good practice. This article questions the narratives of sustainability. It is argued that while the project could be considered successful in achieving certain economic objectives defined by the government and investors, evidence of social and environmental sustainability is questionable, raising questions about other dam projects in the country with weaker standards and oversight. Given the extent of negative impacts and associated social trauma in the Nam Hinboun basin, the article considers whether and to what extent such hydraulic development processes under authoritarian rule may be framed as expressions of structural injustice and slow violence.
2013
THPC Theun Hinboun Power Company THXP Theun Hinboun Expansion Project UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNESCAP UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific USGS United States Geological Survey WB World Bank WCD World Commission on Dams WRCC Water Resources Coordination Committee WREA Water Resource and Environment Administration WWII World War Two Note on Spelling Throughout the thesis, British English is used. Spelling follows the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (12th edition). In case of multiple spelling entries, the first entry is used. Examples of spelling used are 'analyse', 'focused', 'organization' and 'utilize'. Direct quotations maintain their original spelling. Note on Currency All currency is presented in United States Dollars. Peter Oliver, my former boss at the IWC, was a great mentor. I think he would be proud of the study. My fieldwork and conferences have been supported by generous grants from the Department of Geography, the School of Social Science and Public Policy, the University of Saskatchewan and the UNEP. I am grateful to all the people who have provided invaluable data during my fieldwork. In particular, Sean Watson has been a deep well of information. My understanding of hydropower development and environmental impacts has been greatly enhanced by his perspectives. The support of my friends and family has been indispensable. Graham Watts was a great help with editing. My good friend Oskar provided outside perspectives and was there to share a beer or two when needed. In particular, I thank my wife Ay. She has enriched my life. Her patience, understanding and caring have boosted me through the highs and lows. Finally, I am deeply grateful to my mother for her unconditional support and encouragement.
International Journal of Development Issues, 2017
This paper analyses the unequal hydropower exchange of hydropower dams on Myanmar-Thai transboundary rivers revealing that power relationships between dams and their socio-environmental effects are discussed from the perspective of critical hydropolitics. In this study, the case of the Nu–Salween–Thanlwin River is reviewed. This study is an attempt toward developing a conceptual model to explain the unequal hydropower exchange of hydropower dams on transboundary rivers. The evidence is drawn from an extensive review of academic literature, reports, newspapers and websites on this topic. Cascao and Zeitoun’s (2010) four pillars of power, namely, geographical, material, bargaining and ideational power, are reviewed in the case of the Salween–Thanlwin River and its riparian states. On the basis of a realist discourse, power relationships between dams and their socio-environmental effects are discussed from the perspective of critical hydropolitics. Multiple levels of power asymmetry regarding geographical, material, bargaining and ideational power are observed. The powerful states are high electricity consumers and importers. They invest in hydroelectric dams of adjacent developing states and buy back most of the electricity generated to fuel their industrialization and urbanization. Weak states generally do not have high bargaining power. They depend on the investment of high material power states for domestic and economic development and gain from the export of electricity. However, the externalities of hydropower dams are transferred to these weak states. This contributes to an unequal hydropower exchange model. This conceptual model stems from Cascao and Zeitoun’s (2010) four pillars of power – geographical, material, bargaining and ideational power. The author limits the framework to hydroelectric dams in transboundary rivers. The powerful states are high electricity consumers and importers that dominate the dam development projects and exchange process.
Hydropower and the Green Economy in Laos: Sustainable Developments?
This paper discusses the surge of export-oriented large hydropower projects in Laos in the context of the green economy. It starts off with an overview of rural electrification in Laos and figures about the hydropower boom. While there were 85 hydropower projects in some stage of development in 2011, around 30% of the Lao population still does not have access to electricity. The paper then discusses the stakeholders involved in the hydropower sector, which shows that the almost all developers, financiers, and consultancy companies are foreign, as well as the designated markets for the electricity produced. Finally, the benefits, costs, and equity implications of large hydropower projects in Laos are discussed. While the economic benefits are generally large, the social and environmental costs are also large, as well as unpredictable in the long run and disproportionally affecting people in rural areas. The paper concludes that hydropower in Laos in its current form is not an example of a ‘green economy’ activity as long as it does not address the inherent shortcomings of a ‘green’ neoliberal economic approach to energy development. Furthermore, there are many forms of renewable energy possible in Laos that would better fit the label ‘green economy’ and could lead to more sustainable developments.
Our study offers a comparative assessment of the economic, sociopolitical and environmental implications of the world's largest source of renewable electricity, hydropower. Theorists from many disciplines have questioned both the proper role and ostensible benefits from the generation of electricity from large-scale hydroelectric dams. In this study, we use 30 years of World Bank data from 1985 to 2014 and a research design with three mutually exclusive reference classes of countries: major hydropower producers, members of OPEC and all other countries. This is precisely so our analysis moves away from 'dam-centric' or single case study approaches to comparative analysis at the international scale. We examine and test six separate hypotheses related to (a) military conflict, (2) poverty, (3) economic growth, (4) public debt, (5) corruption and (6) greenhouse gas emissions. Our analysis lends statistical support to the idea that there is such a thing as a 'hydroelectric resource curse', although effects were not always significant and varied from small, medium to large. The possible benefits of hydroelectricity-improved energy access, economic development and positive spillover effects-are real, but they are all too frequently constrained. Planners, investors and researchers may therefore need to rethink their underlying assumptions about how they evaluate hydropower's risk.