Assesing Impacts of Hydropower Plant on Livelihood of Local Residents in Cambodia: the Case of Sambor Project
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ASSESING IMPACTS OF HYDROPOWER PLANT ON LIVELIHOOD OF LOCAL RESIDENTS IN CAMBODIA: THE CASE OF SAMBOR PROJECT A thesis submitted To Kent State University in partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts By Sokvisal Kimsroy May 2017 © Copyright All rights reserved Except for previously published materials Thesis written by Sokvisal Kimsroy B.A., The Royal University of Phnom Penh, 2008 LL.M., The University of Hong Kong, 2013 M.A., Kent State University, 2017 Approved by James A. Tyner , Advisor Scott C. Sheridan , Chair, Department of Geography James L. Blank , Dean, College of Arts and Sciences TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………………….. iii & iv LISTv OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………... v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS …………………………………………………………………... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………….. vii & viii CHAPTERS I. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………. 1 My story ...…….…………… ……………………………………………………….. 2 A Brief History of Cambodia ……………………………………............................... 6 The Mekong River ….……………………………………………………………….. 7 Organization of my thesis ……………………........................................................... 10 II. The Hydropower Development along the Mekong River ……………………………. 12 The UMB Hydropower Development, China ……………………………................. 13 The LMB Hydropower Development ……………………………………................. 15 Lao PDR ………………………………………………….................................... 19 Thailand…………………………………………………..................................... 20 Cambodia ……………………………………….................................................. 20 Vietnam ……………………………………………............................................ 21 The impacts of the hydropower dams …………………………………..................... 21 III. The Hydropower development in Cambodia: The Case of Sambor …...................... 30 The first phase development the Sambor Project (1952-1970s) …………................ 31 The second phase development (1990s-present) …………………………............... 34 The existing studies of the Sambor Dam …………………………………............... 39 The contested mainstream dams in Lao PDR ……………………………………... 43 IV. Research Methodology, Site Study, and Positionality ……………………................ 46 Political Ecology Framework ……………………………………………………… 47 Site study …………………………………………………....................................... 49 Kaoh Phdau Village ……………………………………………………………. 51 Kaoh Khnhaer Village …………………………………………………………. 52 Sandan Village ………………………………………………………………… 53 Voadthonak Village …………………………………………………………… 55 Research Methodology ……………………………………………………………. 57 Archival research ……………………………………………………………… 57 Site observation ………………………………………………........................... 58 iii Interview…………………………………………………….............................. 59 Data analysis ……………………………………………................................... 61 Definitions …………………………………………………………………….. 62 Positionality ………………………………….......................................................... 63 V. Discussion of the Livelihood of Local Residents in Sambor ………………………. 67 Specification …………………………….................................................................... 67 Agriculture ……………………………………………………………………… 68 Fishing ………………………………………………………………………….. 69 Culture ………………………………………………………………………….. 69 Discussion of the socio-economic of each village ………………….......................... 72 Kaoh Khnhaer Village …………………………………………………………. 72 Kaoh Phdau Village ………………………………………………..................... 79 Voadthonak Village ………………………………………………….................. 87 Sandan Village …………………………………………………........................ 93 Comparative upstream-downstream impacts ……………………............................. 98 Awareness, knowledge, and future plan …………………………………………… 101 VI. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………. 107 Significance of the research ……………………………………………................... 107 Summary of main findings ………………………………………………................ 108 Limitations ………………………………………………………………................. 111 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………………. 113 APPENDICES ………………………………………………………….................................. 123 List of interviews the author conducted for the research study ……………………. 123 A questionnaire used for conducting interview for the research study …………….. 126 List of fish mentioned by participants during filed research ………………………. 127 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Map of the MRB …………………………………………………………………….. 9 Figure 2: List of operational, under-construction, and proposed mainstream dams along the Mekong River ……………………………………………………………. 13 Figure 3: List of characteristics of the Sambor Dam from several sources ………….................... 38 Figure 4: Map of Site studies of Sambor produced by the NHI ………………………………. 40 Figure 5: Map of the study site of the four villages and the Sambor Dam ……………............. 50 Figure 6: Kaoh Phdau’s Ecotourism Center where people hold meeting and performance …………………………………………………………………….. 52 Figure 7: Commercial fisher and his catch for sale …………………………………………… 53 Figure 8: Fishers in Sandan Village getting Henicorhynchus from the net for sale …………… 55 Figure 9: A motorbike with small logs at the back in Voadthonak Village …………………… 57 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ADB Asian Development Bank CNMC Cambodian National Mekong Committee CRDT Cambodian Rural Development Team ECAF Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East ECAFE United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and Far East GMS Greater Mekong Sub-Region HCKEC Hydro-China Kunming Engineering Cooperation HLRHC Huaneng Lancang River Hydropower Cooperation LMB Lower Mekong Basin NHI Natural Heritage Institute IMC Interim Mekong Committee IMF International Monetary Fund ICEM International Centre for Environmental Management MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries MME Ministry of Mines and Energy MoE Ministry of Environment MoPI Ministry of Power Industry MoWRPI Ministry of Water Resources and the Power Industry MRB Mekong River Basin MRC Mekong River Committee NDR Northeastern Rural Development NDRC National Development and Reform Commission SPCC State Power Cooperation of China UMB Upper Mekong Basin UNDP United Nations Development Programs WB World Bank WCD World Commission on Dam WWF World Wild Fund YPG Yunnan Provincial Government vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would not have finished this thesis without the generous support, patience, and guidance from countless individuals and institutions. First, I would like express my gratitude to Prof. James Tyner, my advisor and mentor. Next, I wish to thank Profs. Kelly Turner, Andrew Curtis, and Thomas Schmidlin for their kind assistant and constructive comments. I thank them very much for their valuable time of reviewing my work and many meetings to discussion about this thesis. As English is not my first language, I thank my friend, Chris Willer, for helping me to edit this thesis. I would like to express my appreciation to Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, (DC-Cam) who has provided me opportunities to serve for his institution and motivated me to seek higher education for my personal and professional growth, which can contribute to the Cambodian society. Many individuals who serve at various institutions namely the Mekong River Commission, World Wild Fund, International Rivers, Cambodian Rural Development Team, NGO Forum, Northeastern Rural Development, Ministry of Environment, and Ministry of Mines and Energy, have enthusiastically assisted me in collecting data for thesis. I am grateful for their assistance. At the study site, I would like to thank my Uncle, Sophal, and his family members who provided me accommodation every time I went to Kratie Province. I thank him for always reminding not to cross Mekong River before it rained each time I was there. I am in debt to all the people of Sambor District I have met. I thank the commune chiefs, the village chiefs, and all villagers I have met and interviewed whose spent their valuable times talking with me, guiding vii me through the villages and expressing their frank thoughts to me without any hesitation. My thesis is all about you all. Lastly, I cannot thank my family members enough for all the things they have done to me. I thank my mother and father for their hard work, supports, and motivation. I thank Chhunly Chhay, my girlfriend, fiancée, and then wife, for her continuous support during my study in Kent State University. viii Chapter I Introduction In the introductory chapter, I provide my personal experiences along the Mekong River and connect it to the Sambor1 Project. This reflects myself as being one of millions of Cambodians residing along the Mekong and its tributaries. And it helps define my position in this research, and especially how I am able to communicate with villagers of Sambor during my field research. Regarding this issue, England (1994), for example, argues that field research is very personal and shaped greatly by the positionality and biography of the researchers which connects to participants through dialogical process. It is about understanding the positions of the researcher and how knowledge with their subject study takes place, which establishes engagement between the two (Katz, 1994). Then I outline a brief history of Cambodia particularly about its development and economic growth. Next, I discuss about the Mekong River and its vital contributions to millions of people who rely on fishing and agriculture. The last section finishes with the organization of my thesis. 1 For the purpose of this study, I use this spelling “Sambor”, despite that some government sources and other studies spell it as “Sambour”.