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Opinion piece published in the Bangkok Post

In September, officials from Thailand and Laos gathered with the World Bank at a High-Level Forum on Sustainable Hydropower Development to affirm the need for environmental and social standards for hydropower projects. This was an important dialogue at which commendable commitments were made by both countries. The Thai Energy Ministry, project developers, financiers, and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) acknowledged their responsibility to ensure that the Lao dams they support meet international environmental and social standards. Across the Mekong, the Lao government affirmed the importance of strengthening its regulatory institutions and policies to secure maximum benefits for Lao people.

Community-based research in Thailand, known as Thai Baan research, is reinventing the way that villagers and decision-makers perceive and value local knowledge and experience. Thai Baan means villager. The Thai Baan method enables local people to take responsibility for understanding and revealing knowledge about their relationship with natural resources because, from conception to dissemination, villagers themselves are the principal researchers. Thai Baan research has been effectively applied by communities threatened by the development of dams, and those looking for better ways to manage their local resources.