Nam Theun 2 / Pages

Commissioned by International Rivers and Environmental Defense

By May 2005, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank are expected to decide whether or not to finance the US$1.3 billion Nam Theun 2 hydropower project in Lao PDR. If completed, the project would displace more than 6,200 indigenous people and negatively affect the livelihoods of up to 100,000 villagers living downstream.

The World Bank claims that the project has been carefully planned so that, unlike past hydro projects, people displaced or otherwise threatened will not be left worse off. As well, the Bank claims that the dam’s negative environmental impacts can be successfully mitigated.

Because an independent review of the developers’ plans is not possible in Lao PDR, International Rivers and Environmental Defense invited several experts in Thailand and the US to review the November 2004 drafts of the Nam Theun 2 Social Development Plan, Environmental Assessment and Management Plan, and Watershed Management Plan (SEMFOP–1).

A Lao man, his face and hands hardened by the sun and years of fishing, tends his water buffalo by the Theun River and wonders what his life will be like "after the flood". That's how he refers to the water that has started