Hydropower Development in the Mekong Region: Political, Socio-economic and Environmental Perspectives

by Nathanial Matthews (Editor), Kim Geheb (Editor)

Overview

The Mekong Basin is home to some 70 million people, for whom this great river is a source of livelihoods, the basis for their ecosystems and a foundation of their economies. But the Mekong is also currently undergoing enormous social, economic, and ecological change of which hydropower development is a significant driver. This book provides a basin-wide analysis of political, socio-economic and environmental perspectives of hydropower development in the Mekong Basin. It includes chapters from China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. 

Written by regional experts from some of the region's leading research institutions, the book provides an holistic analysis of the shifting socio-political contexts within which hydropower is framed, legitimised and executed. Drawing heavily on political ecologies and political economics to examine the economic, social, political and ecological drivers of hydropower, the book's basin wide approach illuminates how hydropower development, and its benefits and impacts, are linked multilaterally across the basin. 

The research in the book is derived from empirical research conducted from 2012-2013 as part of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food's Mekong programme.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317964124
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/13/2014
Series:	Earthscan Studies in Water Resource Management
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	202
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Nathanial Matthews is Global Research Coordinator of the CGIAR Consortium Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. Previously, he was a lecturer in the geography department at King’s College London, UK.

Kim Geheb is the Mekong Regional Coordinator for the CGIAR Consortium Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems, and is based in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

Table of Contents

1. On Dams, Demons and Development: The Political Intrigues of Hydropower Development in the Mekong 

Nathanial Matthews and Kim Geheb 

2. Framing a Political Ecology of Mekong Basin Hydropower Development 

Nathanial Matthews and Kim Geheb 

3. A Political Ecology of Hydropower Development in China 

Zha Daojiong 

4. From Manwan to Nuozhadu: the political ecology of hydropower on China’s Lançang Jiang 

Xing Lyu 

5. From Pak Mun to Xayaburi: The Backwater and Spillover of Thailand’s Hydropower Politics 

Jakkrit Sangkhamanee 

6. The Invisible Dam: Hydropower and its narration in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic 

Kim Geheb, Niki West and Nathanial Matthews 

7. Whose Risky Business?: Public–Private Partnerships (PPP), Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and Large Hydropower Dams in the Mekong Region 

Carl Middleton, Nathanial Matthews, and Naho Mirumachi 

8. The Politics of the Lower Sesan 2 Dam in Cambodia

Kimkong Ham, Samchan Hay and Thea Sok 

9. Rethinking development narratives on hydropower in Vietnam 

Nga Dao and Bui Lien Phuong