3rd Mekong Forum on Water, Food & Energy. Presentation from Session 17: Governance, institutions and decision-making about dams.

1. Session 17: Governance, institutions and decision-making about dams.
Governance, institutions and
decision-making
MK8 project:
Improving hydropower decision-making
processes in the Mekong Basin

2. MK8 project
Improving hydropower decision-making
processes in the Mekong Basin
• Explore some case studies of decision making across
the Basin;
• Have a discussion about how to improve decision
making.

3. Mekong Hydropower Decision Making
Stages and Actors
• Stages
– Policy and strategic
planning;
– Integrated river basin
planning;
– Dam project planning;
– Dam construction;
– Dam operation;
– Dam
decommissioning.
(Twyford and
Baldwin, 2006)
• Stakeholders:
–
–
–
–
–
–
States/decision makers
Investors
Academics
Local people
NGOs
Media

4. Is this decision-making process good
enough?
• 300 people had to resettled twice in the case
of Manwan dam;
• Flash flood caused by massive water release of
Yali Fall Dam in 2000 led to 39 people died,…
• Protests, demonstrations and confrontations
of affected people in Pak Mun project.
“There is a need to sacrifice if we want to
develop the country”
Cambodian governmental official

5. Today’s session
• Participation in decision making process of
five case-studies in Laos;
• Lessons learnt from Cambodian case-studies
(public participation, cooperation);
• Perspectives of different stakeholders on dam
development in China.