Contested waterscapes in the Mekong Region : hydropower, livelihoods and governance

The catchment area of the Mekong River and its tributaries extends from China, through Burma/Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and to Vietnam. The water resources of the Mekong region - from the Irrawaddy and Nu-Salween in the west, across the Chao Phraya to the Lancang-Mekong and Red River in the east- are increasingly contested. Governments, companies, and banks are driving new investments in roads, dams, diversions, irrigation schemes, navigation facilities, power plants and other emblems of conventional 'development'. Their plans and interventions should provide some benefits, but also pose multiple burdens and risks to millions of people dependent on wetlands, floodplains and aquatic resources, in particular, the wild capture fisheries of rivers and lakes.This book examines how large-scale projects are being proposed, justified, and built. How are such projects contested and how do specific governance regimes influence decision making? The book also highlights the emergence of new actors, rights and trade-off debates, and the social and environmental consequences of 'water resources development'.This book shows how diverse, and often antagonistic, ideologies and interests are contesting for legitimacy. It argues that the distribution of decision-making, political, and discursive power influences how the waterscapes of the region will ultimately look and how benefits, costs and risks will be distributed. These issues are crucial for the transformation of waterscapes and the prospects for democratizing water governance in the Mekong region.The book is part of the action-research of the M-POWER (Mekong Program on Water, Environment and Resilience) knowledge network.Published with IFAD, CG|AR Challenge Program on Water & Food, M-POWER, Project ECHEL-EAU and HEINRICH BOLL STIFTUNG

Author Notes

Franois Molle is a Senior Researcher at the Institut de Recherche pour le Dveloppement, France, and holds a joint appointment with the International Water Management Institute.
Tira Foran is a Research Fellow at Chiang Mai University's Unit for Social and Environmental Research, Thailand.
Mira Kknen is a Researcher at Helsinki University of Technology in Water and Development Research Group, Finland.

François Molle and Tira Foran and Philippe FlochCarl Middleton and Jelson Garcia and Tira ForanTira Foran and Kanokwan ManoromShannon LawrencePatchamuthu IllangovanDarrin Magee and Shawn KelleyChu Thai Hoanh and Thierry Facon and Try Thuon and Ram C. Bastakoti and François Molle and Fongsamuth PhengphaengsyDavid J. H. Blake and Richard Friend and Buapun PromphakpingDavid Biggs and Fiona Miller and Chu Thai Hoanh and François MolleJuha Sarkkula and Marko Keskinen and Jorma Koponen and Matti Kummu and Jeff E. Richey and Olli VarisFrançois Molle and Philippe Floch and Buapun Promphakping and David J. H. BlakeLouis Lebel and Bach Tan Sinh and Po Garden and Suong Seng and Le Anh Tuan and Duong Van TrucRichard Friend and Robert Arthur and Marko KeskinenMira Käkönen and Philip HirschJohn Dore and Kate LazarusFrançois Molle and Louis Lebel and Tira Foran

List of figures, tables and boxes	p. vii
List of contributors	p. x
Preface: About M-POWER	p. xvi
Acknowledgements	p. xvii
List of acronyms and abbreviations	p. xviii
1 Introduction: Changing Waterscapes in the Mekong Region - Historical Background and Context	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Brief history of water resources development in the Mekong region	p. 4
Current challenges and dynamics	p. 11
Structure of the book	p. 13
Part I Hydropower Expansion in The Mekong Region
2 Old and New Hydropower Players in the Mekong Region: Agendas and Strategies	p. 23
Introduction	p. 23
Old players and the region's new 'electricity hunger'	p. 24
Brief history of dam development in the Mekong region Current trends in regional hydropower development	p. 29
A changing world: The banks seek to reinvent themselves	p. 41
Discussion and conclusions	p. 45
3 Pak Mun Dam: Perpetually Contested?	p. 55
Introduction	p. 55
Pre-operational patterns of contention, 1989 to 1994	p. 58
Post-operational patterns of contention, 1994 to 2003	p. 64
Pak Mun Dam: Perpetually contested	p. 74
4 The Nam Theun 2 Controversy and its Lessons for Laos	p. 81
Introduction	p. 81
The history of Nam Theun 2 (NT2)	p. 83
Waiting for the World Bank: The NT2 debate in brief	p. 85
NT2 moves forward	p. 88
NT2s implementation	p. 93
Lessons and implications for Laos	p. 103
Conclusions and recommendations	p. 105
Appendix: Nam Theun 2 and Its Impact upon Hydropower Development in Laos	p. 111
5 Damming the Salween River	p. 115
Introduction	p. 115
Overview of the Nu-Salween watershed	p. 116
Development plans	p. 117
Principal actors	p. 127
Governance	p. 131
Conclusion: Leverage points	p. 133
Part II Livelihoods and Development
6 Irrigation in the Lower Mekong Basin Countries: The Beginning of a New Era?	p. 143
Introduction	p. 143
Revisiting irrigation in the Lower Mekong Basin countries	p. 144
The beginning of a new irrigation era?	p. 155
Conclusions	p. 166
7 Landscape Transformations and New Approaches to Wetlands Management in the Nam Songkhram River Basin in Northeast Thailand	p. 173
Introduction	p. 173
The Nam Songkhram Basin	p. 174
Of grand visions and failed experiments	p. 178
Alternative visions, new approaches	p. 182
Field testing of new participatory approaches	p. 185
Old plans, new disguise?	p. 191
Conclusions	p. 194
8 The Delta Machine: Water Management in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives	p. 203
Introduction	p. 203
Historical and geographical overview	p. 206
Total management schemes	p. 208
The delta as machine: A work without end	p. 212
Local adaptivity and responses to disasters	p. 216
Conclusions	p. 221
9 Hydropower in the Mekong Region: What Are the Likely Impacts upon Fisheries?	p. 227
Introduction	p. 227
Modellers and modelling	p. 229
Modelled flow change and methodological development needs	p. 230
The ecosystem and economic values of resources	p. 239
Peoples' well-being under threat	p. 242
Part III Institutions, Knowledge and Power
10 The 'Greening of Isaan': Politics, Ideology and Irrigation Development in the Northeast of Thailand	p. 253
Introduction	p. 253
The 'Greening of Isaan': A recurring syndrome	p. 254
Aspects and cross-cutting themes	p. 263
Conclusions	p. 275
11 The Promise of Flood Protection: Dikes and Dams, Drains and Diversions	p. 283
Introduction	p. 283
Promises of protection	p. 284
Origins and consequences	p. 290
Discussion	p. 297
Conclusions	p. 301
12 Songs of the Doomed: The Continuing Neglect of Capture Fisheries in Hydropower Development in the Mekong	p. 307
Introduction	p. 307
Perspectives on the 'importance' of fisheries in the Mekong	p. 308
Songs of the doomed: Fisheries in the Mekong	p. 312
Prospects for a fisheries-based counter-narrative: Crisis under scrutiny	p. 318
Conclusions	p. 324
13 The Anti-Politics of Mekong Knowledge Production	p. 333
Introduction	p. 333
Hydrological models at the heart of the Mekong River Commission's (MRC's) knowledge production	p. 337
The MRC, the participatory turn in development and new openings in knowledge production	p. 344
Conclusions: Governing water through depoliticized knowledge	p. 350
14 De-marginalizing the Mekong River Commission	p. 357
Introduction	p. 357
Underutilized	p. 358
Tensions	p. 363
Case study: Laos hydropower, Don Sahong and the Mekong River Commission (MRC)	p. 368
De-marginalizing	p. 373
Conclusions	p. 377
15 Contested Mekong Waterscapes: Where to Next?	p. 383
Introduction	p. 383
Water governance in the Mekong region	p. 384
Shifting water governance	p. 398
Conclusions	p. 405
Index	p. 415

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