scholarly journals Modified Transboundary Water Interaction Nexus (TWINS): Xayaburi Dam Case Study

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 710
Author(s):  
Richard Grünwald ◽  
Wenling Wang ◽  
Yan Feng
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitude ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Conflict Of Interests ◽  
Water Interaction ◽  
Hydropower Dam ◽  
Hydropower Dams ◽  
Political Leverage

The Mekong River comprises six riparian states and supports the livelihood of more than 65 million people. Although the rapid joint river development enlarges the pie of benefits, it also deepens existing conflict of interests and motivating downstream countries to use more power to get better control over shared waters. The purpose of the article is to operationalize a new Transboundary Water Interaction Nexus (TWINS) and interpret interchange of cooperation and conflict between Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam about the Xayaburi hydropower dam in the last 19 years (2000–2019). Our results show that (1) there is significant disparity between the official and public attitude towards the Xayaburi dam, (2) since 2013, the debates about the Xayaburi dam issue has been substituted by other mainstream hydropower dams, (3) the Xayaburi dam indicates that hydropower dams are one of the national priorities that will be pursued at all cost, (4) Laos gained confidence and significant political leverage on downstream countries since the groundbreaking ceremony of the Xayaburi dam in November 2012, (5) failure of the Mekong River Commission’s Procedure of Notification and Prior Consultations (PNPCA) with the Xayauri dam motivated downstream countries to redesign the institutional arrangements and stakeholder consultations.

Lost in the waters: contemporary dilemmas in examining transboundary water interaction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Grünwald ◽  
Yan Feng ◽  
Wenling Wang
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Interstate Relations ◽  
Water Interaction ◽  
Conflict Intensity

<p>The presented paper examines current dilemmas in transboundary water interaction and debates about the reconceptualization of the Transboundary Water Interaction Nexus (TWINS). The new TWINS framework provides a theoretical alternative how to (1) evaluate the interstate relations between two or more actors regardless their legal status; (2) calculate the transboundary water interaction based on process tracing analysis rather than milestone analysis; (3) distinguish more intensities of cooperation and conflict, (4) clarify broader hydropolitical context in transboundary water interaction, and (5) debate about dual water event phenomenon where one event may possess both cooperation and conflict features. Currently, the new TWINS model serves as an indicator for evaluating cooperation and conflict intensity of water-related events in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin. The data are then recorded in the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and Conflict Database (LMCCD) designed by authors which already comprise more than 1600 water-related events in the last 30 years (1990-2020). To proof the viability of the presented concept, we will illustrate the new TWINS model on a case study related to the Xayaburi hydropower dam. Although there are still several methodological limitations, the new TWINS model can be adapted to any interstate water-related issue and be able to fill the information gaps about the interdisciplinary understanding of the transboundary water interaction.</p>

scholarly journals Exploring the Impact of Resettlement on Women: A Case Study of the Nam Mang 3 Hydropower Dam in Central Laos

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Singkham Lueyeevang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Production ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Time Saving ◽  
Grazing Land ◽  
Hydropower Dam ◽  
Hydropower Dams ◽  
Dam Site ◽  
The Impact

<p>Over the last decade, construction of hydropower dams has increased rapidly around the world, including in developing countries. For many countries including Laos, energy production and export play a significant role in promoting and boosting economic growth and development. Energy production generates substantial revenue and foreign exchange from exporting electricity and expands economic activity domestically. However, construction of hydropower dams also causes negative effects on the people who live at and around the dam site. Some local communities have been affected indirectly, while others require relocation to other areas bringing significant change, including for women. This research explores the impact of resettlement from hydropower dam creation on women by using the Nam Mang 3 hydropower dam in central Laos as a case study. This dam, completed in 2005, required the relocation of approximately 150 households from two villages at the dam site. The research draws on a social constructivist epistemology, qualitative methods including semi-structured interviews, and analysis of relevant policy documents. Interviews involved 18 participants including both male and female from the three affected villages. Results indicate that the resettlement of villagers by the Nam Mang 3 hydropower dam has generally improved living conditions of the resettled communities. Women were found to have greater opportunities to benefit from home-based business, employment and wage labouring. In addition, with better access to modern facilities and services, women have been able to save greater time from agricultural activities and divert this time saving to other economic activities. Overall, access to water supplies, roads, and transport have reduced women’s workload significantly. Access to improved health services and facilities have also improved women’s wellbeing. Girls have greater opportunities to attend school and seek employment in towns. However, this research identified some challenges experienced by the resettled such as the reduction of agricultural and grazing land area, and that new livelihood options were not accessible to all women. Instead of these challenges, the experience with the Nam Mang 3 hydropower project has highlighted one of the key lessons learnt that is worth highlighting for future resettlement programs, which is to have the resettlers fully engaged in the entire process of resettlement and livelihood strategy development.</p>

Management of Transboundary Water Resources Case Study: Mekong River

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. p8642
Author(s):  
Boudahri K. ◽  
Al-Hassan Abdul Wahab ◽  
Johannsen L. O. ◽  
Njoroge L. W. ◽  
Semlali K.
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Transboundary Water Resources

scholarly journals Exploring the Impact of Resettlement on Women: A Case Study of the Nam Mang 3 Hydropower Dam in Central Laos

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Singkham Lueyeevang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Production ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Time Saving ◽  
Grazing Land ◽  
Hydropower Dam ◽  
Hydropower Dams ◽  
Dam Site ◽  
The Impact

<p>Over the last decade, construction of hydropower dams has increased rapidly around the world, including in developing countries. For many countries including Laos, energy production and export play a significant role in promoting and boosting economic growth and development. Energy production generates substantial revenue and foreign exchange from exporting electricity and expands economic activity domestically. However, construction of hydropower dams also causes negative effects on the people who live at and around the dam site. Some local communities have been affected indirectly, while others require relocation to other areas bringing significant change, including for women. This research explores the impact of resettlement from hydropower dam creation on women by using the Nam Mang 3 hydropower dam in central Laos as a case study. This dam, completed in 2005, required the relocation of approximately 150 households from two villages at the dam site. The research draws on a social constructivist epistemology, qualitative methods including semi-structured interviews, and analysis of relevant policy documents. Interviews involved 18 participants including both male and female from the three affected villages. Results indicate that the resettlement of villagers by the Nam Mang 3 hydropower dam has generally improved living conditions of the resettled communities. Women were found to have greater opportunities to benefit from home-based business, employment and wage labouring. In addition, with better access to modern facilities and services, women have been able to save greater time from agricultural activities and divert this time saving to other economic activities. Overall, access to water supplies, roads, and transport have reduced women’s workload significantly. Access to improved health services and facilities have also improved women’s wellbeing. Girls have greater opportunities to attend school and seek employment in towns. However, this research identified some challenges experienced by the resettled such as the reduction of agricultural and grazing land area, and that new livelihood options were not accessible to all women. Instead of these challenges, the experience with the Nam Mang 3 hydropower project has highlighted one of the key lessons learnt that is worth highlighting for future resettlement programs, which is to have the resettlers fully engaged in the entire process of resettlement and livelihood strategy development.</p>

scholarly journals A New Remote Sensing Approach to Enrich Hydropower Dams’ Information and Assess Their Impact Distances: A Case Study in the Mekong River Basin

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 3016
Author(s):  
Zihan Lin ◽  
Jiaguo Qi
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Hydropower Dam ◽  
Hydropower Dams

Hydropower dam information such as construction and completion timings is often incomplete and missing in existing dam databases, and the hydropower dam’s adjacency impact distance, which is important to the surrounding environment, is also lacking for many dams. In this study, we developed a new remote sensing approach to specifically determine the timings and to assess the influencing distance on land use and land cover at the above and below dam areas. We established the new remote sensing method by identifying levels shifts in trajectories of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) indicators and by identifying the change point in entropy coefficient of variation (CV) variations to allow an auto-acquisition of the information above at the water basin level. We used three geospatial datasets including 1) a 30-year Landsat time series, 2) an annual Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) composite, and 3) digital elevation model (DEM) data. We applied the proposed method to the Mekong River Basin (MRB) in Southeast Asia, where hydropower dam constructions have increased significantly since the 1990s. Results suggested that we were able to obtain the desired information for 67 Mekong hydropower dams successfully. Pearson correlation tests were used to validate timing results against official records, and the correlation coefficients were found to be 0.96 and 0.90, respectively, for construction and completion timing determination. We discovered that the buffer radius of a Mekong dam’s adjacency impact on land use and land cover was usually 4.0-km and 2.5-km in the above and below dam area. The data determined from this study may fill important information gaps in existing dam databases, and the approach developed in this case may be generalized to the other watersheds of the world, where hydropower dams exist. However, essential dam information is either incomplete or unavailable.

scholarly journals The Impacts of Hydropower Dams in the Mekong River Basin: A Review

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 265
Author(s):  
Akarath Soukhaphon ◽  
Ian G. Baird ◽  
Zeb S. Hogan
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
River System ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Aquatic Biodiversity ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
The Social ◽  
Hydropower Dams ◽  
River Hydrology ◽  
Riparian Communities

The Mekong River, well known for its aquatic biodiversity, is important to the social, physical, and economic health of millions living in China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. This paper explores the social and environmental impacts of several Mekong basin hydropower dams and groupings of dams and the geographies of their impacts. Specifically, we examined the 3S (Sesan, Sekong Srepok) river system in northeastern Cambodia, the Central Highlands of Vietnam, and southern Laos; the Khone Falls area in southern Laos; the lower Mun River Basin in northeastern Thailand; and the upper Mekong River in Yunnan Province, China, northeastern Myanmar, northern Laos, and northern Thailand. Evidence shows that these dams and groupings of dams are affecting fish migrations, river hydrology, and sediment transfers. Such changes are negatively impacting riparian communities up to 1000 km away. Because many communities depend on the river and its resources for their food and livelihood, changes to the river have impacted, and will continue to negatively impact, food and economic security. While social and environmental impact assessments have been carried out for these projects, greater consideration of the scale and cumulative impacts of dams is necessary.

Economic structure, power and institutions: A conceptual framework for analysing the historical transformation of US industrial strategy

2021 ◽  
pp. 102452942110154
Author(s):  
Mattia Tassinari
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Economic Structure ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Alexander Hamilton ◽  
The Government ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
Illustrative Case Study

An industrial strategy emerges from possibilities for structural change, that depend on material constraints and opportunities afforded by economic structure, the distribution of power in society and the institutional arrangements organized at the political level. Building on a structural political economy perspective, this article develops a structure–power–institutions conceptual framework to describe how economic structure, the distribution of power, and institutions interact through a ‘circular process,’ which is useful for analysing the historical transformation of industrial strategy. In this framework, an industrial strategy refers to the institutional arrangements through which the government manages emerging conflicts or agreements between different powers and influences structural change. As an illustrative case study, the structure–power–institutions framework is applied to analyse the historical transformation of US industrial strategy from the era of Alexander Hamilton to that of Donald Trump.

scholarly journals River Levels Derived with CryoSat-2 SAR Data Classification—A Case Study in the Mekong River Basin

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Boergens ◽  
Karina Nielsen ◽  
Ole Andersen ◽  
Denise Dettmering ◽  
Florian Seitz
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Data Classification ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Sar Data

scholarly journals The Water Management Regime in Western Iran: A Retrospective Analysis through a Hybrid Transitions Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3323
Author(s):  
Nishtman Karimi ◽  
Hossein Azadi ◽  
Kobe Boussauw
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Retrospective Analysis ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Surface Water Management ◽  
Management Regime ◽  
Transition Pathways ◽  
Single Transition ◽  
Group A

Continuously changing conditions of sociotechnical systems are the basis of structural changes in communities. Relationships between transition contexts and regime transformation processes and their driving factors in sociotechnical regimes are poorly understood. Moreover, not all changes in multilevel governance regimes are geared towards sustainability, as demonstrated by the case of the water management regime in Sanandaj county in the west of Iran between 1962 and 2018. The current study shows how the management regime of water resources in the case study has changed over time and identifies the institutional arrangements through a retrospective analysis. The analysis is based on three stages of data collection which included a discussion group, a Delphi survey, and a focus group survey among various types of stakeholders. The “Hybrid Transitions” framework is introduced in order to denote processes of regime change that take place in a range of different transition contexts. The findings do not identify a single transition pathway but show that a number of parallel transition pathways have occurred in the context of groundwater and surface water management and their respective institutional arrangements. The study provides a better understanding of the complexity of transition pathways that were devised at the management regime level.

Hydropower dams of the Mekong River basin: A review of their hydrological impacts

2019 ◽  
Vol 568 ◽  
pp. 285-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jory S. Hecht ◽  
Guillaume Lacombe ◽  
Mauricio E. Arias ◽  
Thanh Duc Dang ◽  
Thanapon Piman
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Hydrological Impacts ◽  
Hydropower Dams
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document