The Khong-Loei-Chi-Mun project is the latest version of a long history of plans for large-scale irrigation in Northeastern Thailand. Visiting the area, Mai Lan hears how Thailand’s Royal Irrigation Department is pushing ahead with studies, as communities, NGOs, and downstream countries worry about the environmental and social impacts.
Pak Mun Dam: 25 years after World Bank’s loan, problems remain
In Thailand, communities still suffer impacts of the World Bank’s Pak Mun Dam over 25 years after construction started. Whilst fisheries are decimated, and the communities’ fishing culture largely lost, compensation is inadequate. Yuka Kiguchi asks what are the responsibilities of the World Bank and Government for restitution and redress?
Planned Ywarthit mega-dam on Salween River threatens Karenni communities
The Ywarthit Dam in Karenni State, Myanmar is a huge hydropower project planned for the Salween River. To date communities living nearby have not been consulted, and there is little attention by the media or wider public. Ko Thaike highlights the social and environmental impacts of the project, and says it’s time we talked about it.
Protecting the culture and identity of herders on the Tibetan Plateau
The herding communities in the Tibetan Plateau face many struggles to protect their grasslands and herding livestock that together form an integral part of their culture, identity and livelihoods. Mkha Be recollects her childhood experiences in rural Tibet and explains the changes and challenges facing the herding communities.
Passion and people’s power defend free-flowing Salween
Laofang Bundidterdsakul is a Hmong indigenous human rights lawyer. He initiated the Salween Youth Research Project to restore people’s power along the Salween River who are seeking to protect the Salween River from a proposal for a hydropower cascade and take back decision-making about the use of the river.
High costs of Cambodia’s Lower Sesan 2 hydropower dams
The Lower Sesan 2 hydropower dam in Cambodia will affect tens of thousands of people if built. This article shows how lessons have not been learned from past upstream dam construction in Vietnam, and the project will mainly reap profits for the dam developers, rather that result in “poverty reduction”.
Women’s traditional knowledge in Lao social enterprise
A silk farm established by Ms. Kommaly Chanthavong in Lao PDR has helped reintroduce the traditional knowledge of silk weaving to her hometown. Tipakson Manpati describes her visit to the farm and explains how it combines social enterprise as a practical model of alternate development with promoting environmental awareness.
Growing food forests along the Ou River in Lao PDR
Khmu youths and villagers living along the Ou River in Luang Prabang Province, Northern Lao PDR have adopted a food forest concept in reforesting the river’s banks that in recent years have been impacted by land erosion. The initiative aims to maintain fragile areas that are important sources of food and thus sustain community food security.