Dead in the Water: Global Lessons from the World Bank's Model Hydropower Project in Laos
edited by Bruce Shoemaker and William Robichaud foreword by Yos Santasombat Philip Hirsch
University of Wisconsin Press, 2019 Paper: 978-0-299-31794-2 | Cloth: 978-0-299-31790-4 | eISBN: 978-0-299-31793-5 Library of Congress Classification TK1513.L28D43 2018 Dewey Decimal Classification 333.91409594
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
For decades, large dam projects have been undertaken by both nations and international agencies with the aim of doing good: preventing floods, bringing electricity to rural populations, producing revenues for poor countries, and more. But time after time, the social, economic, and environmental costs have outweighed the benefits of the dams, sometimes to a disastrous degree. In this volume, a diverse group of experts—involved for years with the Nam Theun 2 dam in Laos—issue an urgent call for critical reassessment of the approach to, and rationale for, these kinds of large infrastructure projects in developing countries.
In the 2000s, as the World Bank was reeling from revelations of past hydropower failures, it nonetheless promoted the enormous Nam Theun 2 project. NT2, the Bank believed, offered a new, wiser model of dam development that would alleviate poverty, protect the environment, engage locally affected people in a transparent fashion, and stimulate political transformation. This was a tall order. For the first time, this book shows in detail why, despite assertions of success from the World Bank and other agencies involved in the project, the dam's true story has been one of substantial loss for affected villagers and the regional environment. Nam Theun 2 is an important case study that illustrates much broader problems of global development policy.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Bruce Shoemaker is an independent consultant on development and natural resources who has conducted extensive research on the impacts of the Nam Theun 2 dam. His books include The People and Their River: River-based Livelihoods in the Xe Bang Fai Basin in Laos. William Robichaud is a conservation biologist who has worked in Southeast Asia for twenty-five years. One of his main areas of focus has been conservation of the globally significant forests and wildlife of the Nam Theun 2 catchment.
REVIEWS
"Extremely insightful and succinct, this volume shows how badly the Nam Theun 2 dam project has failed across the areas of indigenous rights and development, sustaining fisheries and river life, livelihoods of the displaced, protecting wildlife, and forestry and the commons. An important book." —Michael Goldman, author of Imperial Nature: The World Bank and Struggles for Social Justice in the Age of Globalization
"Offers a new understanding of Laos in a difficult period of nation building and development [and] a vital lesson to policy planners, scholars, and INGOs encountering the illusory success of a globalizing economy." —Yos Santasombat, from the foreword
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword: Dams and Dreams in Lao PDR
Yos Santasombat
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: Stepping into the Current
William Robichaud and Bruce Shoemaker
Part 1. The World Bank Promotes a New Model of Hydropower
1 Nam Theun 2’s Winding History: Studies, Setbacks, and Rebrandings
Bruce Shoemaker and William Robichaud
2 Independent Guidance and International Credibility: The Panel of Experts
Dave Hubbel and Bruce Shoemaker
3 The Promises and Pitfalls of Nongovernmental Organization Consultation and Engagement
Bruce Shoemaker and Dave Hubbel
Part 2. Social and Environmental Context and Outcomes
4 Ethnicity in the Nam Theun 2 Theater: A Sense of History
James R. Chamberlain
5 Broken Pillars: The Failure of the Nakai Plateau Livelihood Resettlement Program
Glenn Hunt, Satomi Higashi, and Marika Samuelsson
6 Social Change in the Nam Theun 2 Catchment: The Kri Experience
N. J. Enfield
7 Elusive Conservation in the Nam Theun 2 Catchment
William Robichaud
8 Troubles Downstream: Changes in the Xe Bang Fai River Basin
Ian G. Baird, Bruce Shoemaker, and Kanokwan Manorom
9 Revenues without Accountability: National Poverty Alleviation and Nam Theun 2
Bruce Shoemaker
Part 3. Nam Theun 2’s Wider Legacy
10 Nam Theun 2 and the Transformation of Institutions and Public Debate in Laos
Sarinda Singh
11 Nam Theun 2, the Xe Bang Fai, and Thailand’s Electricity Network
Ian G. Baird and Noah Quastel
12 Overpowered: Limiting Liability within Thailand’s Nam Theun 2 Electricity Deal
Grainne Ryder and Witoon Permpongsacharoen
13 Branding Dams: Nam Theun 2 and the Discourse of “Sustainable Hydropower”
Carl Middleton
Conclusion: Transforming Loss
Bruce Shoemaker and William Robichaud
Afterword
Philip Hirsch
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
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Dead in the Water: Global Lessons from the World Bank's Model Hydropower Project in Laos
edited by Bruce Shoemaker and William Robichaud foreword by Yos Santasombat Philip Hirsch
University of Wisconsin Press, 2019 Paper: 978-0-299-31794-2 Cloth: 978-0-299-31790-4 eISBN: 978-0-299-31793-5
For decades, large dam projects have been undertaken by both nations and international agencies with the aim of doing good: preventing floods, bringing electricity to rural populations, producing revenues for poor countries, and more. But time after time, the social, economic, and environmental costs have outweighed the benefits of the dams, sometimes to a disastrous degree. In this volume, a diverse group of experts—involved for years with the Nam Theun 2 dam in Laos—issue an urgent call for critical reassessment of the approach to, and rationale for, these kinds of large infrastructure projects in developing countries.
In the 2000s, as the World Bank was reeling from revelations of past hydropower failures, it nonetheless promoted the enormous Nam Theun 2 project. NT2, the Bank believed, offered a new, wiser model of dam development that would alleviate poverty, protect the environment, engage locally affected people in a transparent fashion, and stimulate political transformation. This was a tall order. For the first time, this book shows in detail why, despite assertions of success from the World Bank and other agencies involved in the project, the dam's true story has been one of substantial loss for affected villagers and the regional environment. Nam Theun 2 is an important case study that illustrates much broader problems of global development policy.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Bruce Shoemaker is an independent consultant on development and natural resources who has conducted extensive research on the impacts of the Nam Theun 2 dam. His books include The People and Their River: River-based Livelihoods in the Xe Bang Fai Basin in Laos. William Robichaud is a conservation biologist who has worked in Southeast Asia for twenty-five years. One of his main areas of focus has been conservation of the globally significant forests and wildlife of the Nam Theun 2 catchment.
REVIEWS
"Extremely insightful and succinct, this volume shows how badly the Nam Theun 2 dam project has failed across the areas of indigenous rights and development, sustaining fisheries and river life, livelihoods of the displaced, protecting wildlife, and forestry and the commons. An important book." —Michael Goldman, author of Imperial Nature: The World Bank and Struggles for Social Justice in the Age of Globalization
"Offers a new understanding of Laos in a difficult period of nation building and development [and] a vital lesson to policy planners, scholars, and INGOs encountering the illusory success of a globalizing economy." —Yos Santasombat, from the foreword
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword: Dams and Dreams in Lao PDR
Yos Santasombat
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: Stepping into the Current
William Robichaud and Bruce Shoemaker
Part 1. The World Bank Promotes a New Model of Hydropower
1 Nam Theun 2’s Winding History: Studies, Setbacks, and Rebrandings
Bruce Shoemaker and William Robichaud
2 Independent Guidance and International Credibility: The Panel of Experts
Dave Hubbel and Bruce Shoemaker
3 The Promises and Pitfalls of Nongovernmental Organization Consultation and Engagement
Bruce Shoemaker and Dave Hubbel
Part 2. Social and Environmental Context and Outcomes
4 Ethnicity in the Nam Theun 2 Theater: A Sense of History
James R. Chamberlain
5 Broken Pillars: The Failure of the Nakai Plateau Livelihood Resettlement Program
Glenn Hunt, Satomi Higashi, and Marika Samuelsson
6 Social Change in the Nam Theun 2 Catchment: The Kri Experience
N. J. Enfield
7 Elusive Conservation in the Nam Theun 2 Catchment
William Robichaud
8 Troubles Downstream: Changes in the Xe Bang Fai River Basin
Ian G. Baird, Bruce Shoemaker, and Kanokwan Manorom
9 Revenues without Accountability: National Poverty Alleviation and Nam Theun 2
Bruce Shoemaker
Part 3. Nam Theun 2’s Wider Legacy
10 Nam Theun 2 and the Transformation of Institutions and Public Debate in Laos
Sarinda Singh
11 Nam Theun 2, the Xe Bang Fai, and Thailand’s Electricity Network
Ian G. Baird and Noah Quastel
12 Overpowered: Limiting Liability within Thailand’s Nam Theun 2 Electricity Deal
Grainne Ryder and Witoon Permpongsacharoen
13 Branding Dams: Nam Theun 2 and the Discourse of “Sustainable Hydropower”
Carl Middleton
Conclusion: Transforming Loss
Bruce Shoemaker and William Robichaud
Afterword
Philip Hirsch
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE