Sai Bunlamb, villager from Ta Lao village, Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia
Sesan River
Yali Falls DamSai Bunlamb, villager from Ta Lao village, Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia: "At the early stages of the Yali Falls dam construction, people living on the Sesan River didn't know a dam was being built upstream. People used to be very happy. They were able to catch fish from many places – around the river pools fish were easy to catch. At first, my community didn't know why the flooding happened – the water flooded our rice fields destroying our rice. When we returned to our village after the flooding, we saw that our chickens were washed away. Villagers are scared now of the water fluctuations. Many people have moved away. The vegetable gardens on the river banks have been badly affected."
The Sesan River is one of the largest Mekong tributaries, flowing westward from Vietnam's Central Highlands through Northeastern Cambodia before joining the Srepok and Sekong Rivers. In Ratanakiri province alone, 60 villages are located along the river, home to more than 20,000 people and a variety of ethnicities with distinct livelihoods, cultures and languages.
In 1993, Vietnam began building the first and largest of the hydropower dams on the Sesan in Vietnam's Central Highlands, about 80 kilometres from the Cambodian border. The 720 MW Yali Falls Dam was completed in 2001.
Despite the dam's adverse impacts on the Sesan's downstream hydrology, fisheries, water quality and livelihoods, no notification was given to the villagers living along the river. The Environmental Impact Assessment didn’t consider downstream Cambodians to be affected and wrongly concluded that the downstream population was 'very sparse and not dependent on the river in any way.' Four more dams are currently under construction on the Se San River in Vietnam.
Sai Bunlamb is from Ta Lao village in Andong Meas district and is working with the support of the 3 S Rivers Protection Network to voice the concerns of his community. "Our community asks us to do whatever we can to restore the natural flow of the river," explains Sai Bunlamb. "We request that the government and the dam builders compensate us for what we have lost so far. We ask them to stop new dam construction – these are the requests of the community."
Sai Bunlamb attended the RWESA general meeting and contributed to the forum entitled "Voices from the Frontlines: Presentations from Dam-Affected Peoples."
Background information courtesy of the 3 S Rivers Protection Network
For more information on issues facing communities living on the Sesan, Srepok and Sekong Rivers contact the 3 S River Protection Network: Email sesan@camintel.com
Or visit the following websites:
NGO Forum on Cambodia
Australian Mekong Resource Centre (dead link)
-- by Melanie Scaife, Oxfam Australia
The Sesan River is one of the largest Mekong tributaries, flowing westward from Vietnam's Central Highlands through Northeastern Cambodia before joining the Srepok and Sekong Rivers. In Ratanakiri province alone, 60 villages are located along the river, home to more than 20,000 people and a variety of ethnicities with distinct livelihoods, cultures and languages.
In 1993, Vietnam began building the first and largest of the hydropower dams on the Sesan in Vietnam's Central Highlands, about 80 kilometres from the Cambodian border. The 720 MW Yali Falls Dam was completed in 2001.
Despite the dam's adverse impacts on the Sesan's downstream hydrology, fisheries, water quality and livelihoods, no notification was given to the villagers living along the river. The Environmental Impact Assessment didn’t consider downstream Cambodians to be affected and wrongly concluded that the downstream population was 'very sparse and not dependent on the river in any way.' Four more dams are currently under construction on the Se San River in Vietnam.
Sai Bunlamb is from Ta Lao village in Andong Meas district and is working with the support of the 3 S Rivers Protection Network to voice the concerns of his community. "Our community asks us to do whatever we can to restore the natural flow of the river," explains Sai Bunlamb. "We request that the government and the dam builders compensate us for what we have lost so far. We ask them to stop new dam construction – these are the requests of the community."
Sai Bunlamb attended the RWESA general meeting and contributed to the forum entitled "Voices from the Frontlines: Presentations from Dam-Affected Peoples."
Background information courtesy of the 3 S Rivers Protection Network
For more information on issues facing communities living on the Sesan, Srepok and Sekong Rivers contact the 3 S River Protection Network: Email sesan@camintel.com
Or visit the following websites:
NGO Forum on Cambodia
Australian Mekong Resource Centre (dead link)
-- by Melanie Scaife, Oxfam Australia
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