Cambodian Women Speak Up on Dam's Threat

Monday, July 4, 2011
By Amy Lieberman
WeNews correspondent

In Cambodia's rural northeastern province, the Sesan River is the primary source of food and income for fishing and farming communities. But hydropower dams are encroaching and village women say their daily life is hit the hardest.

RATANAKIRI PROVINCE, Cambodia (WOMENSENEWS)–-The Cambodian government has not yet secured funding for Lower Sesan 2, a 750 megawatt, $650 million dam that would export electricity to Vietnam and become the largest hydropower dam in Cambodia.

With plans underway, though, some women in the deeply spiritual nine ethnic indigenous communities of Ratanakiri Province, 10 hours north of Phnom Penh, are braced for the worst.

Ratanakiri residents along the Sesan river support themselves by fishing and farming, both subject to drastic disruption by the project. The dam is expected to impinge on fish migration and flood surrounding farmland.

Electricity [from Sesan dam] for [Big-brother] Vietnam

People navigate a boat down the Sesan river, past Kbal Romea village, in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district last month. (Photo by: Adam Miller)

Kith Meng's company stealing Khmer resources to sell to Vietnam?

Wednesday, 01 June 2011
Adam Miller and Phak Seangly
The Phnom Penh Post

“This is not about electricity for Cambodia. It is not about reducing the cost of electricity in Cambodia,” Baird said. “They are trying to maximise their profit. It’s not for the benefit of the country – these are private companies.”

An official from the Ministry of Environment admitted yesterday that electricity generated from the controversial Lower Sesan 2 Dam, a project touted as ensuring cheaper energy prices in Cambodia, would be exported to Vietnam.

The admission, made at an NGO-led workshop held with indigenous community representatives in Phnom Penh, came after a United States-based fisheries expert and consultant for conservation group International Rivers estimated that only about 1 percent of the dam’s capacity would be used locally, with the rest being sold to Cambodia’s eastern neighbour.

The proposed US$816 million, 400-megawatt dam is set to begin construction later this year in Stung Treng province by the Cambodia-Vietnam Hydropower Company, a joint venture that is 51-percent owned by the EVNI Joint Stock Company of Vietnam and 49-percent owned by local conglomerate the Royal Group.

Prach Sun, a secretary of state for the Ministry of Environment, initially said yesterday that the potential of the Lower Sesan 2 Dam to fulfill local energy needs outweighed the environmental and social damage it may inflict on indigenous communities.

Our Concerns About the Lower Sesan 2 Dam

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 of 3

June 27, 2009
Intercontinental Cry

Villagers from northeastern Cambodia express their concerns about the proposed Lower Sesan 2 dam project.

A participatory video project, five villages representing three different ethnic groups from northeastern Cambodia (Lao, Pnong and Brao indigenous peoples) express their concerns about the proposed Lower Sesan 2 dam project.

Located on the Sesan river in Cambodia’s Stung Treng Province Province, the Lower Sesan 2 dam will block two of the largest rivers in the Mekong River Basin, forcing tens of thousands of people to relocate.

Noted in a Joint Statement by the Sesan, Srepok, Sekong Community Network, and examined in the report, “Best Practices in Compensation and Resettlement for Large Dams: The Case of the planned Lower Sesan 2 Hydropower Project in Northeastern Cambodia“, the Lower Sesan 2 dam will also severely diminish the fish stocks of nearly 100 villages in the region, as well as others throughout the Mekong Ribver Basin, near the Tonle Sap Lake in Central Cambodia, the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, and the middle Mekong River in Laos and Thailand. It will also effect:

• Natural resources on river banks, along with natural vegetation, fish varieties, and fauna dependent on the rivers will be affected and lost;
• Social infrastructure, such as schools, roads, pagodas, health centers, etc., will be destroyed;
• Farmland will be flooded and lost;
• Water quality will be affected, and drinking water will be in shortage;
• Water flow will fluctuate irregularly, interrupting people’s livelihoods;
• Fish migration will be affected, and fish varieties will disappear;
• People’s tradition and customs will be affected, and children’s education will be interrupted;
• When relocated, we are concerned that insufficient compensation will be provided, and we are worried about sustaining our livelihoods.