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Aspirations undone: hydropower and the (re) shaping of livelihood pathways in Northern Laos

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Abstract

This paper looks at how local livelihoods and to a certain extent their transitions are embedded in, and in thrall to, power relations at higher levels. Placing the (re)shaping of livelihood pathways within the context of top-down hydropower planning, it shows how the latter predetermines farm households’ current farming strategies and future livelihood pathways. Taking two villages along the Mekong River, both of which are to be impacted by the planned Pak Beng hydropower dam in Pak Beng district, Oudomxay province, the paper illustrates how the pathways that rural livelihoods are taking in northern Laos are being shaped by decisions and processes embedded in national and regional exigencies. We argue that top-down approaches in hydropower planning, as manifested in the current institutional vacuum to formally deal with resettlement and compensation issues at the village level result in village authorities’ and potentially affected villagers’ inability to strategically convey and negotiate their views and concerns. Moreover, we reveal how it is the specter of change which drives livelihood adaptation, not change itself, thus illustrating how the defined compensation rules and procedures (re)shape farm households’ farming strategies and future livelihood pathways even prior to the construction of the hydropower dam.

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Fig. 1

Source: Author’s compilation

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Notes

  1. See also Chambers (1983, 1997).

  2. Both village names are pseudonyms.

  3. These dams are Pak Beng, Luang Prabang, Xayabury, Pak Lay, Sanakham, Pak Chom, Ban Koum, Lat Sua, Don Sahong, Thakho (both located at Lao territory above Khone falls), Stung Treng and Sambor (both located at Cambodia territory below Khone falls).

  4. For discussions on upland cultivation in Laos and how it is often entangled with internal resettlement see Cole and Rigg (2019), Baird and Shoemaker (2007), Lestrelin and Giordano (2007), Evrard and Goudineau (2004).

  5. See also Kuuire et al (2016) on migrant farmers’ disadvantaged position in relation to original inhabitants in Ghana.

Abbreviations

DAFO:

District Agriculture and Forestry Office

DEMO:

District Energy and Mines Office

DoNRE:

District Natural Resources and Environment

EdL:

Electricite du Laos

EGDP:

Ethnic group development plan

EIA:

Environmental impact assessment

EMMP:

Environmental management and monitoring plan

GoL:

Government of Laos

KHIDRI:

Kunming Hydropower Investigation Design and Research Institute

MEM:

Ministry of energy and mines

NTFP:

Non-timber forest product

PAFO:

Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office

PEMO:

Provincial Energy and Mines Office

PoNRE:

Provincial natural resources and environment

PRCC:

Provincial Resettlement and Compensation Committee

RAP:

Resettlement action plan

SIA:

Social impact assessment

SMMP:

Social management and monitoring plan

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Acknowledgements

This work was undertaken as part of, and funded by, the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM) led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI) SUMERNET research project on “Strengthening pathways for rights-based approaches in Mekong hydropower” led by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). The opinions expressed here belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of PIM, IFPRI, or CGIAR. The authors would like to thank Oulavanh Keovilignavong for his support of initial field data collection in both villages in February 2020, NAFRI, PAFO Oudomxay, DAFO Pak Beng for their support and collaboration throughout the (field) research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Water Management Institute, Southeast Asia Regional Office, P. O. Box 4199, Vientiane, Lao PDR

    Diana Suhardiman

  2. School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK

    Jonathan Rigg

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  1. Diana Suhardiman
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Correspondence to Diana Suhardiman.

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Suhardiman, D., Rigg, J. Aspirations undone: hydropower and the (re) shaping of livelihood pathways in Northern Laos. Agric Hum Values 38, 963–973 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-021-10203-3

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