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This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Drivers and Enablers of Hydropower Development in the Lao PDR The Political Ecology of Mekong Riparians, Investors and the Environment Matthews, Nathanial Albert Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact librarypure@kcl.ac.uk providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 01. Oct. 2021 Drivers and Enablers of Hydropower Development in the Lao PDR: The Political Ecology of Mekong Riparians, Investors and the Environment Nathanial Matthews Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD October 2013 Department of Geography King’s College London University of London Abstract The study has employed a political ecology approach to analyse what is driving and enabling the rapid pace of hydropower development in the Lao PDR. The Lao PDR is the focus of the study but it has been necessary to marshal evidence from the entire Mekong Basin because the asymmetric international politics of the basin shape the drivers and enablers. The Mekong Basin is currently experiencing rapid social, economic and ecological change. Hydropower is a key component. Lao PDR is at the centre of the Basin’s hydropower development. The research employs political ecology to critique the narratives, mechanisms, and power relationships and agendas that drive and enable hydropower development. The meso-scale analysis highlights the links between the political, economic and social mechanisms, macro-political economic forces and local level environmental and social change. Recent and current phases of investment and development over the last two decades are analysed. The research methods include interviews with key informants, document analysis and participant observation. Evidence from case studies across Lao PDR is employed together with the case study of the Xayaburi dam, the first mainstream dam in the Lower Basin. The study makes two original contributions. First, it examines the Xayaburi dam, which began construction in November 2012. Second, it is the first comprehensive, meso-scale, political ecology critique of hydropower development in the Lao PDR. Through its analysis the research provides extensive evidence of the mechanisms that drive and enable differences between the rhetoric and reality of hydropower development in Lao PDR. The research shows that the polarized debate surrounding hydropower, the outcome of which is so important for the future of the Mekong Basin and its peoples, has been constructed to allow contending actors to legitimize their own agendas. It will be shown that in many cases hydropower projects are built because they benefit international and regional elites. Their access to political power, corrupt practices, policy influence, the patronage of jobs and to regional control more 2 generally come with serious consequences for the environment and for the livelihoods of much of the Basin’s population. These insights provide lessons learned that are relevant to global autocratic states developing their natural resources. 3 Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in any previous application for a degree. 4 Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Declaration .................................................................................................................................. 4 List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. 9 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. 10 List of Appendices ..................................................................................................................... 10 Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................................................................... 11 Note on Spelling ........................................................................................................................ 13 Note on Currency ...................................................................................................................... 13 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... 14 1 Introduction - Drivers and Enablers of Hydropower Development in the Lao PDR: The Political Ecology of Mekong Riparians, Investors, and the Environment ................................. 16 1.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 16 1.2 Introduction of the Research Problem ........................................................................... 24 1.2.1 The Research Problem ............................................................................................. 24 1.2.2 The Impact Assessment Process and its Role in the Mekong .................................. 27 1.2.3 The Research Questions ........................................................................................... 28 1.3 Policy Relevance .............................................................................................................. 29 1.4 Structure of the Study ..................................................................................................... 31 2 Context and Background to the Mekong Basin and its Hydropower Development .............. 34 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 34 2.2 The Mekong Basin and its Importance to the Riparian States........................................ 34 2.2.1 China ........................................................................................................................ 37 2.2.2 Laos .......................................................................................................................... 38 2.2.3 Thailand .................................................................................................................... 39 2.2.4 Cambodia ................................................................................................................. 40 2.2.5 Vietnam .................................................................................................................... 40 2.3 Overview of the Existing Water Resource Development and Early Actors in the Mekong Basin ...................................................................................................................................... 41 2.3.1 Pre-development Era of the River ........................................................................... 41 2.3.2 Early Development of the Basin and the Geopolitics Surrounding the Formation of the Key River Basin Organization - the 1950s to the 1990s .............................................. 42 5 2.3.3 The Mekong Agreement and the Mekong River Commission ................................. 46 2.3.4 The Greater Mekong Sub-region Program ............................................................... 50 2.3.5 The Association of South-East Asian Nations .......................................................... 52 2.4 Current State of Hydropower Development in the Basin ............................................... 52 2.4.1 China - Yunnan Province .......................................................................................... 56 2.4.2 Thailand .................................................................................................................... 58 2.4.3 Laos .......................................................................................................................... 61 2.4.4 Cambodia ................................................................................................................. 66 2.4.5 Vietnam .................................................................................................................... 67 2.5 Brief Overview of Hydropower Development Literature ............................................... 69 2.6 EIAs and their Relevance to Hydropower in the Mekong ............................................... 73 2.7 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................