Resettled Laotians Have Power Supply

2012-06-19

The World Bank refutes a report that said that some of the villagers who were settled to make way for the Nam Theun 2 project have no electricity.

AFP

The reservoir of the Nam Theun 2 in a handout photo from the power company, Oct. 23, 2010.

All the villagers who were resettled to make way for Nam Theun 2, Laos’s largest hydroelectric dam, have received electricity supply, the World bank said Monday, rejecting a report that some of those villagers did not receive power.

"[E]very resettlement village on the Nakai plateau, and every household in those villages, has an electricity connection and improved water supply, as part of a comprehensive compensation package to people affected by inundation of the reservoir," World Bank spokeswoman Meriem Gray said in a statement from Laos.

She was commenting on a RFA report dated June 14, which has since been retracted, that some of the 6,300 people in 15 villages resettled since 2005 to make room for the dam had no electricity supply.

The 1,070-megawatt Nam Theun 2 dam on a tributary of the Mekong River in Khammouane province has been producing electricity since March 2010.  The dam diverts water from the Nam Theun River to the Xe Bang Fai River.

The U.S. $1.25 billion project, financed by international institutions including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, was launched as 6,300 people living in the assigned reservoir area on the Nakai Plateau were resettled.

"The project’s commitment to resettled communities extends beyond compensating them for the move, and includes helping villagers to develop significantly better livelihoods and living standards than they had before the project," Gray said.

She said that there was a small number of families who "voluntarily chose not to relocate to the resettlement villages but rather to receive cash compensation and to choose by themselves where they would relocate."

"These families were provided significant cash compensation."

Gray explained that Nam Theun 2 does not exacerbate any natural floods in the Xe Bang Fai downstream area as it ceases power production when the river reaches a certain predefined level.

In August last year, it ceased power generation for several weeks when the level was reached.

Poverty reduction

Nam Theun 2 will generate around U.S. $2 billion in government revenues for poverty reduction and environmental protection through the sale of electricity to Thailand and into the Lao grid, the bank said.

But International Rivers, an environmental group, said more than 110,000 people who depend on the Xe Bang Fai and Nam Theun rivers for their livelihoods have been directly affected by the project, due to destruction of fisheries, the flooding of riverbank gardens, and water quality problems.

It claimed that people on the Nakai Plateau still have no source of sustainable livelihood, threatening their food security. 

A key selling point of the project was the funds it would provide for protection of the globally significant Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area, the largest protected area in Laos and one of the most important areas for biodiversity in Southeast Asia.

Yet, according to International Rivers, the reservoir has opened up an access to the area, exacerbating logging and poaching and threatening its ecological integrity.

But the World Bank said the Nam Theun 2 project has put in place a comprehensive downstream program that benefits more people than are affected by the dam and that food security has "significantly improved" for resettled people on the plateau compared to life before the project. 

The Nam Theun 2 is also providing more than U.S. $1 million per year for the full 25-year concession period to improve the management and protection of the Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area, which includes the dam watershed. "This makes it the largest and best financed protected area in the country," it said.

As of the beginning of this year, Laos had 14 operational hydropower dams, 10 under construction, and 56 proposed or in planning stages, according to an online government report.

Among these is the controversial Xayaburi dam, which would be the first on the mainstream Lower Mekong. Green groups say the dam could have a major impact on the regional environment and threaten Southeast Asia’s food security.

Reported by Parameswaran Ponnudurai and Rachel Vandenbrink.

Copyright © 1998-2011 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/dam-06192012171526.html 

PM's adviser seeks to build tunnel linking river, Tak dam

The Nation February 15, 2012 1:00 am

An adviser to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is trying to revive a Bt200-billion project to build an 88km tunnel linking Burma's Salween River and Bhumibol Dam in Thailand's Tak province.

"The investment will be well worth it," Uthen Chatpinyo said yesterday. During the 2011 flood crisis, Uthen chaired the water-drainage committee of the Flood Relief Operations Centre.

Uthen described the project as a solution to both flooding and water shortages.

He said water management at Tak's Bhumibol Dam should be adjusted and the reservoir's water level lowered in preparation for possible rainstorms throughout the year. The dam could then play a role as a water-retention area, he said.

Uthen said the tunnel, when built, would be able to send 3,000 cubic metres of water to the Bhumibol Dam per second.

The volume should be large enough to generate electricity, he said.

The tunnel project won the green light from the Cabinet in 2004 during the administration of Yingluck's brother Thaksin. But the project was scrapped after Thaksin lost power.

Uthen plans to present the project for Yingluck to consider on Wednesday.

"If we don't act fast, Burma and China may invest in the Salween River instead, and Thailand will lose many opportunities," he said.

Meanwhile, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said he hoped the government would be able to answer his 10 questions about its water- and flood-management policies.

One of them was about the accuracy of the mathematical model being used to develop an early-warning system.

"The [government-appointed] Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management has said the system will be ready by January. I would like to ask about the system now," the Opposition leader said.

He was speaking at a seminar held by the Democrat Party, as Yingluck's administration planned a tour of many provinces to tackle flood problems.

Chamadon Chomchoengphaet, an executive at tempura-flour maker Gogi, said at the seminar that he had not yet fully repaired Gogi's factory in Ayutthaya because he was worried that more floods may come.

"I hope the government will improve the early-warning system," he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/PMs-adviser-seeks-to-build-tunnel-linking-river-Ta-30175892.html

Energy companies pledge to measure impacts of large dam projects

Critics say new scorecard to evaluate social and environmental impacts of hydropower projects serves dam builders not local communities 

The Khone falls on the Mekong River in Champassak, Laos. Photograph: Suthep Kritsanavarin/ONASIA

Two of the world's largest energy companies committed last week to assess the impacts of their hydropower projects using new voluntary guidelines to evaluate the economic, social, and environmental consequences of big dam projects. But civil society activists denounced the protocol as an attempt to "greenwash" the industry.
Électricité de France (EDF) said on Friday it would apply the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP), a voluntary scorecard for hydropower developers, to all new projects as part of a package of commitments made at the World Water Forum (WWF) in Marseille, France. It also said it would commission a scientific evaluation of its global water footprint, and either maintain or decrease it in years to come.
The International Hydropower Association (IHA), the industry association that has spearheaded the development and implementation of the HSAP protocol, said the GDF-Suez energy company had also committed to use the protocol to evaluate its controversial Jirau dam project on Brazil's Madiera river. Survival International claims indigenous communities in the river basin were not consulted adequately about the project, as required by law.
Hundreds of large dams are expected to be built over the next decade to meet the rising demands for energy, particularly from countries like India and China.
IHA programme director Cameron Ironside said the protocol could help to assess the impacts of these projects at all stages of development and across a wide range of issues – including biodiversity, water quality, infrastructure safety, and the effect on local communities. Projects are scored by accredited assessors from one tofive across 20 indicators, with three representing "basic good practice". The result, says IHA, is a "sustainability profile" that can help different stakeholders to evaluate a project and identify weaknesses.
In addition to EDF and GDF-Suez, nine other energy companies have agreed to use the protocol in at least one project. The WWF has called for projects in at least 20 countries to be assessed using the IHA protocol by 2015.
Ironside said: "There are very few companies that can afford to ignore sustainability considerations, especially in the infrastructure sector. This may be to demonstrate steps being taken in this regard to shareholders, or to ensure that projects are given the go-ahead and support from civil society and governments (and financing bodies)."
But activists at the Alternative World Water Forum (FAME), also in Marseille, denounced the IHA protocol as an attempt to "greenwash" projects that primarily benefit manufacturers and large industries looking for cheap electricity.
Zachary Hurwitz, policy programme coordinator at International Rivers, said the protocol could create opportunities for dam builders to make sustainability claims while potentially undermining legislative and civil society-led efforts to hold them accountable for the social and environmental impacts of their projects.
"There are ways to better regulate dam building," he said. "It is by the legislative process, through harmonising-upwards country regulatory systems in order to truly come to a global binding standard, with the ability to penalise developers."
Hurwitz called on companies to adhere to the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams, which he said has "larger buy-in from civil society".
Nguyen Viet Dung, deputy director of Pan Nature, a Vietnamese civil society organisation, said the IHA protocol could put at risk the future of millions of people who rely on the Mekong river basin, and emphasised the need to strengthen accountability at the local and national level.
"We already have a huge gap between existing regulation and implementation. That's what we need to work on," he said. "If anything, we need new tools to help civil society organisations and local communities, who will be affected by large dams, to evaluate and monitor these projects."
David Harrison, senior adviser at the Nature Conservancy, said the protocol requires developers to comply with national legislation and will help foster more "adult conversations" about the impacts of dams.
"It's a measurement tool," said Harrison, who is on the protocol's governance committee. "It doesn't say whether hydropower is good or bad, or whether particular projects are good or bad. It just allows us to lay out the 'good, bad, and the ugly,' and to start conversations based on that."
Countering concerns from campaigners about the risk of corruption that might result from impact assessors being paid by the hydropower companies themselves, Harrison said all assessments will be published online and that it "will be obvious if something's going on".
The linkages between water and energy sectors were a focus of discussions at both the WWF and FAME. On Monday, the UN world water development report pointed to hydropower as a potential energy source for sub-Saharan Africa, the "under-dammed continent". The World Water Council, a key organiser of the WWF, also announced a new partnership with the World Energy Council to encourage public policy at national and international levels to focus on the "water-energy nexus" before the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development in June.

Claire Provost
 Monday 19 March 2012 15.16 GMT
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/mar/19/energy-companies-protocol-water-footprint

Karen IDPs protest dam projects on Salween River

E-tu Hta Karen refugee camp

(Mizzima) - Hundreds of men, women and children thronged the sand bank of Salween river in the boat-stop area of E-tu Hta temporary Karen Refugee Camp. They came together on March 14 to observe the International Day of Action for Rivers and to protest against dam projects on the Salween.

People listened to speakers providing information, support and encouragement before floating a raft with a poster saying "No Dam" down the Salween. The villagers are Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) from Ho Kay, Por Ka Der and E-tu Hta refugee camp.

E-tu Hta temporary refugee camp lies on the banks of the Salween river, the border between Karen state in Burma and Mae Hong Son Province in Thailand. The year marks the sixth consecutive anti-dam event focused on the Salween River, coordinated by Karen Rivers Watch, a coalition of Karen social groups along with villagers. They have been organizing events annually since 2004.

“This annual event of anti-dam day aims to keep the spirit of awareness of dams on the Salween River up-to-date and show the solidarity that our Karen people have towards broader anti-dam movement (or global movement) organized by other people affected by dams. We are against mega dams; full stop”, said Saw Johnny Lay, the spokesperson for KRW and the primary event organiser.

There are three dams proposed for the Salween River - the Wei Gyi, Dagwei and Hat Gyi in a conflict zone.

Villagers are concerned that these dams will repeat the mistakes of previous dam construction projects; people being forcibly removed from their livelihood and homes; Karen people being the target of vicious assaults and random killings; destruction of the ecological balance of the area; and people’s traditional way of life. Many of them shared their bitter experience of the Law Pi Ta dam construction in Karenni State and ongoing issues.
One day before the event, there was a women's forum with local villagers and a children's forum with basic education for students in the area organized to educate the villagers, with more than a hundred women and children participating in one day workshops. These activities included an update on the dam situation and encouraged participation in environmental protection.

Saw Lawplah, one of the organisers said, "We need a people-to-people advocating strategy--to expand our idea, and to make sure that environmental idea is in all our Karen hearts. Karen for Karen people."

This message of "No Dam" by the protesters loudly proclaims to all those people living along the Salween that there is a concerted effort to protect the Salween from dams. 

Source: http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/3673-karen-idps-protest-dam-projects-on-salween-river.html

Push to build big dams undermines peace process in Karen State

The push by investors to proceed with large dams in Karen State areas of Burma is threatening to undermine ongoing cease-fire negotiations between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Burmese government, says Karen Rivers Watch.

The Paunglaung Dam project under construction about 50 km from Naypyitaw, the capital of Burma. Photo: KNGY

The increased presence of Burmese troops around dam sites and “blatant disregard for concerns of impacted communities are heightening tensions, and throwing into doubt the government’s sincerity in conducting cease-fire talks,” according to a statement issued on Wednesday. Karen Rivers Watch is a coalition of community-based organizations working to promote sustainable river development.

Two months after an initial cease-fire agreement between the KNU and the government, military tensions have risen around the planned Hatgyi Dam site on the Salween River in Karen State, located 48 kilometres from the Thai border. Unusually large amounts of supplies sent in to Burmese army camps securing the dam site, and the planned deployment of a new battalion in the area, prompted the local KNU commander to reinforce troops around the Burmese bases since last month, the statement said.

Since 2009, the KNU has called for a halt to the dam project until there is a viable peace in Burma, but under pressure from China’s Sinohydro Corporation and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the KNU agreed in December 2011 to allow further surveys for the dam.

However, they did not give approval for increased Burmese troops, the statement said. Cease-fire talks have so far failed to establish agreements regarding troop movements on both sides.

“At this fragile stage of the cease-fire process, pushing ahead with the Hatgyi Dam will reignite conflict and derail the talks,” said Saw Paul of Karen Rivers Watch. “Investors are sabotaging the hopes of Karen people for lasting peace.”

Growing local resentment against dam-builders is putting increased pressure on KNU to take protective action, irrespective of ongoing cease-fire talks, the statement said.

In February 2012, KNU troops arrested and fined workers of the Chinese-backed “Myanmar Nature Energy Wave,” demanding they stop building the Dah Thway Kyauk Dam, which will flood five Karen villages near Dawei in southern Burma.

Similar resentment is building against the Italian Thai Development Plc (ITD) for pushing ahead with the Taninthayi (Tenasserim) Dam, which will export power to Thailand, and the Ka Loat Hta Dam, which will store water for the Dawei Special Economic Zone.

Local KNU units sought to block ITD’s operations in 2011, but have since been pressured to allow them to continue survey work.

“The Burmese government should show its sincerity by halting all mega-development projects in ethnic areas until there is genuine peace and political reform which guarantees the rights of impacted communities,” Saw Paul said.

Source: http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6758-push-to-build-big-dams-undermines-peace-process-in-karen-state.html

Mekong river power plants "catastrophic" to fish

WASHINGTON: Plans to build hydropower plants along Southeast Asia's longest river could have devastating effects on the world's largest inland fishery and should be reconsidered, scientists said on Monday.

Plenty of attention has focused on plans to develop dams along the main stem of the 4,600-kilometre Mekong River which passes through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

But the international study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined the impact of building dams on dozens of the smaller branches, known as tributaries.

Since the area is home to many species of migratory fish, the analysis found that several dam projects could block fish from swimming upstream and cause massive losses to diversity and fish supply.

This could have devastating effects on the tens of millions of rural, poor residents in the region who depend on subsistence fishing for their main source of food, said scientists from Cambodia's Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute and Stanford and Princeton University.

More than one million tons of freshwater fish are caught each year in the Cambodian and Vietnamese floodplains, and the entire Mekong River Basin is home to 65 million people, about two-thirds of whom rely on fishing to survive.

"We find that the completion of 78 dams on tributaries, which have not previously been subject to strategic analysis, would have catastrophic impacts on fish productivity and biodiversity," said the study.

"Our results argue for reassessment of several dams planned, and call for a new regional agreement on tributary development of the Mekong River Basin."

Specifically, four planned dams were found to create the largest fish biomass losses, including the Lower Se San 2 in Cambodia (9.3% drop in fish biomass basin-wide), Se Kong 3d (2.3%), Se Kong 3u (0.9%), and Se Kong 4 (0.75%) in Laos.

Those projects were among 27 dams focused on by the team because they have construction planned between 2015 and 2030 and their future remains up in the air.

In all, the researchers identified 877 fish species in the Mekong River Basin, 103 of which would be potentially blocked from making their upstream migrations by hydropower development.

Tributary dams fall under national laws and do not require international agreement, even though building these dams could have "potentially significant transboundary impacts" on fish in other countries' waters, said the study.

- AFP/wk


Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1187196/1/.html

Decision looms for controversial Mekong dam

Ministers are expected to pass judgment on the most controversial dam ever proposed for the vast waterway

Jonathan Watts

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 7 December 2011 17.52 GMT

A 'slow' boat cruises on the Mekong River near the Thai-Laos border town of Huay Xay in northern Laos. Photograph: Voishmel/AFP

The Mekong ministers responsible for southeast Asia's "Mother River" are expected to pass judgment on Thursday on the most controversial dam ever proposed for the vast waterway.
Laos hopes to built a 1,285 MW hydroelectric plant at Xayaburi that would supply Thailand with electricity and open the door to a host of other proposed dams on the Mekong. But until now its plans have been fiercely opposed by Cambodia and Vietnam, which fear the blockage would sharply reduce the water needed for downstream fisheries and irrigation.
Ministers from the four nations meet in Siem Reap, Cambodia, tomorrow to rule on the Xayaburi plan amid demonstrations and petitions by conservationists who warn that the dam could kill off some of the world's most remarkable freshwater species. Arguments between the four member states of the Mekong River Commision have held up the plan, on which a decision had been expected in April.
Laos - one of Asia's poorest nations - is desperate to start the $3.5bn project to generate foreign exchange and accelerate economic development. To meet the concerns of its neighbours, it promised a new study of the environmental impacts. But the study - produced by the Swiss firm, Poyry Energy - has been criticised by conservationists for approving construction even though it acknowledges key information is missing.
"It is astounding that Poyry affirms there are serious data gaps and weaknesses with the project and still gives it the all clear," said Dr Jian-hua Meng, WWF's Sustainable Hydropower Specialist. "Poyry recommends dealing with the critical knowledge gaps during the construction phase. Playing roulette with the livelihoods of over 60 million people would not be acceptable in Europe so why is it different in Asia?"
A coalition of 39 environmental groups have organised protests and run full-page advertisements in Thailand to oppose the Xayaburi, which - they say - threatens the livelihoods of 60m downstream dwellers in addition to some of the world's most remarkable creatures, including catfish the length of cars and stingrays that weigh more than tigers are threatened by the proposed 800m barrier.
It is the second big dam controversy of the year in southeast Asia after Burma halted construction of a hydroelectric plant on the Irrawaddy at Myitsone, which would have supplied power to China.
China also wants to build four dams on the Mekong - which would have a greater chance of approval if the Xayaburi goes ahead. It only has observer status at the commission meeting this week. The outcome remains far from clear. Vietnam has called for a 10-year moratorium on all dams on the Mekong until further detailed assessments of the entire basin. A further postponment of Xayaburi is likely.
Ame Trandem, of the US-based NGO, International Rivers, said another delay of a year or two would not send a strong enough signal. "All the evidence collected so far suggests this dam would have a devastating environmental impact and people's don't want it," she said. "They should be cancelling this project."
• 8 December 2011 update: Ministers from the four countries voted on Thursday to delay a decision on the Xayaburi dam – no timescale was given.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/07/decision-mekong-dam

Japan told to gauge human cost of Burma dam

Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin greeted by Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura at PM Yoshihiko Noda's official residence in Tokyo (Reuters)

By THUREIN SOE

Published: 3 November 2011

Japan should investigate abuses surrounding the construction of a dam inBurma’s eastern Karenni state before considering whether to resume its financial backing of the project, environmental groups warn.
During a visit to Tokyo in October, Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin was told by his Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba that the resumption in aid to Burma after years of reticence from Tokyo may include rehabilitation support for the ageing 168 MW Lawpita Hydropower Plant No.2.
The Thailand-based Burma Rivers Network says however that the by-products of the dam’s construction, which have dogged the more than 40 other hydropower projects inBurma, must be addressed before Japan signs on the dotted line.
“Over 12,000 people were forced from their homes by the Lawpita project. Thousands of Burma army soldiers came in to secure the project, resulting in abuses against the local population including forced labour, sexual violence, and extrajudicial killings,” said in a statement.
“Water use was prioritized for the power plants, causing water shortages and destructive floods that destroyed crops. Today there are an estimated 18,000 landmines surrounding the power plants and pylons. Despite these costs, still today 80 percent of the local population has no access to electricity, as most is sent to central Burma.”
Tokyo has an historical stake in the project, which began in the 1950s with funding from Japanese reparations after World War Two.
But with the cancellation in September of the China-backed Myitsone dam in northern Burma, anti-dam sentiment among Burmese is growing. Sai Sai, head of the Burma Rivers Network, told DVB that antipathy towards energy projects in Burma is compounded by the requisite militarisation of areas around dam sites.
“Conflict is still ongoing in some areas in the [Lawpita region] and thousands of landmines were laid as security measures. This is a violation of the rights of the local population as these mines restrict them from moving freely and cause difficulties for their livelihood.”
Japan claims its decision to resume Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Burma stems from the new government’s apparently reformist intentions, although protestors in Tokyo picketed the foreign ministry in protest at Wunna Maung Lwin’s visit.
Human Rights Watch also had words for the Japanese government. Its Tokyo director, Kanae Doi, said last month: “Japan should not be seduced into thinking that Burma’s recent announcements and gestures are sufficient when abuses continue in ethnic areas and many hundreds of political prisoners remain behind bars.”
Following a visit to Burma by Vice Foreign Minister Makiko Kikuta in June, Japanese press suggested the resumption of aid would focus on medical assistance in the field of malaria prevention and tuberculosis, agricultural assistance, and the potential training of Burmese in Japan.
Japan is also pushing its relations with Burma in a bid stem China’s growing regional clout, particularly in light of China’s decision to block exports of rare earth metals to Japan, which are vital for its technologies sector. Both Japan and South Korea have bid to explore for rare earths in Burma.

Source: http://www.dvb.no/news/japan-told-to-gauge-human-cost-of-burma-dam/18523