Water rights and fights: Lao dams on the Mekong River

Abstract

T he Mekong River is one of the world's most diverse and unique large rivers, and its flood pulse drives an extensive and productive ecological system (Campbell 2009). However, the capacity of the Mekong River basin to sustain fishery resources and upland and riverbank agriculture that provide food security and livelihoods for the people of Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) is strained by competing economic, ecological, and political interests. Development projects, such as dam construction on the Mekong River and tributaries to support a booming hydropower industry, are bringing great change to ecological, agricultural, and cultural systems in this region. The Laotian government has built many small “pocket” dams along tributaries (figure 1) and has proposed eight or more large dams on the Mekong main stem to meet energy needs for economic growth and to increase export revenues. Traditional fishing and agricultural systems are affected when dams submerge narrow floodplains and disrupt the timing and volume of river flows. As a result, dam building on the Mekong River main stem has become a source of uncertainty and unease in local river communities and has led to geographic and national unrest and conflicts (Campbell 2009; Nam Ou 2009). This tropical, transboundary river…