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 Children at Ban Phongnam, one of the villages affected by Nam Leuk Hydropower Project. (Susanne Wong) "Since the dam was built, some fish species have disappeared entirely. Consultants promised fish ponds and other compensation, but these have not appeared." – Leader of the Ban Nyang Kheua village, October 2002 The Nam Leuk Hydropower Project was promoted by the Asian Development Bank and the Japanese and Lao governments as a way to lift Laotians out of poverty and conserve the fragile Phou Khao Khouay National Protected Area. Eight years since its completion, the project has accomplished neither of these objectives. Thousands of Laotians have suffered livelihood losses and health impacts because of Nam Leuk. The $130 million project, which diverts water from the Nam Leuk to the Nam Xan river, has caused declines in fish populations, submerged riverbank vegetable gardens and affected dry season water supplies. Promises of compensation have not materialized. The project is located in the Phou Khao Khouay National Protected Area in Vientiane Province. Although it was approved, in part, to protect Phou Khao Khouay, management of the protected area is inadequate and revenues are not being properly allocated towards the protected area. In 2004, the ADB's Operations Evaluation Department produced an audit of the Nam Leuk project detailing the dam's unmitigated impacts and broken promises. After years of inaction, the ADB and the Lao government finally agreed to an environmental mitigation plan for Nam Leuk in January 2007. While International Rivers welcomes these belated efforts, the proposed plan is insufficient and will not adequately replace what villagers have lost, nor compensate them fairly. lnternational Rivers continues to monitor the project and pressure the Lao government and the ADB to address the Nam Leuk legacy. LATEST ADDITIONS: Southeast Asian Dam Still a Carbon Source Ten Years Later International Rivers Letter to ADB re Nam Song and Nam Leuk Mitigation Plan Mekong at Risk: Report Damns Plans to Make Laos the “Battery of Southeast Asia” Power Surge: The Impacts of Rapid Dam Development in Laos IRN Comments on Nam Song and Nam Leuk Environmental Mitigation Implementation Plan CONTACT US: Aviva Imhof |
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