Development pushes poor from land as Cambodia dams its rivers
“From my view, I don’t want to have it, but it is development, we can’t stop them,” says Srekor’s village chief, Leang Saroeurn. Cambodia’s impressive yearly GDP growth rates of 7 percent for the last decade have come, in part, through a ravenous consumption of the countries natural resources. While this cashing in on natural resources has helped boost macro economic figures, they have also highlighted the divide between rich and poor and created a growing pool of people disenfranchised and removed from their traditional lands. This in turn has helped build and fuel Cambodia’s on-going political crisis. … The Chinese-built Lower Russei Dam, Cambodia’s largest, went online earlier this month with a reported 333 mega watt capacity. … According to the Asia Development Bank the dam will be an extremely inefficient considering the area of flooded land. Land disputes are common around large-scale development projects the world over but they are even more urgent in a country with Cambodia’s levels of poverty. … One study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science found the dam will cause a 9.3 percent drop in fish stocks across the basin and will threaten up to 50 species of fish. … According to Open Development Cambodia, an organisation that publishes development data, some 50 hydropower projects are either planned or are underway in the country, many of which fall well below best practices in terms of local consultation, compensation and environmental impacts. … To make matters worse, according to the International Energy Agency, demands for energy in Southeast Asia will increase by more than 80% by 2035, creating more pressure for projects whatever the environmental impact and their associated human costs. …
Daniel Quinlan
http://asiancorrespondent.com/120212/development-drives-displacement-as-cambodia-dams-its-rivers/
