VN hydro dams threaten Cambodian food security
A report by Nordic hydro consultants warns that a comprehensive change in food production culture may be needed in Cambodian villages negatively affected by hydro operations upstream in Vietnam.
The study funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) predicts that hydro dams on the upper Srepok River in Vietnam will reduce fish stocks and make riverside agriculture impossible, with major negative impact on people's diets and livelihoods, especially the poorest households.
A draft final version of the study, "Environmental Impact Assessment on the Cambodian part of Srepok River due to Hydropower Development in Vietnam", was obtained by NGO Forum on Cambodia from the Swedish International Development Agency, which provided funding.
An estimated 11,000 people, mostly ethnic minorities, live along the Cambodian stretch of the Srepok River, and depend upon the river for fishing, drinking, household use, irrigation, livestock and transportation.
All these uses will be seriously disrupted by a series of dams Electricity of Vietnam plans to build on the Srepok within five years, according to the study by SWECO Groner of Sweden.
The largest dam, 280-MW Buon Kuop, has been under construction since 2003 and is expected online in 2008.
The study notes that food security is good for most of the riverside population. No children are undernourished due to the abundant fish in the river, providing the main protein sources. In most villages, households have enough cultivation land and even produce a rice surplus, which together with fish and animals can regenerate cash.
But protein deficiency especially in growing children can be anticipated since there seems to be no available alternative to replace fish as a major protein source, as wildlife hunting is regulated and domestic animals are raised mainly for selling and not for family food. The study concludes that a comprehensive change may be required in the riverside villages.
Unless mitigated, the expected fish decline in the river will have a major negative effect on the economy of fishing households, especially the poorest.
The solution, according to SWECO Groner, is: Changes both in the food habits (eating meat more often) and in economic resources (other sources of cash, or more efficient animal raising, demanding more pasture land, extension and training input and introduction of new fast-growing species, e.g. rabbits), to guarantee the future nutrition status of the riverside people.
Alternatively, Electricity of Vietnam could change the way its hydro dams are operated. The study notes that "daily peaking" is the most environmentally damaging mode of operation.
"A major reconsideration of dam operating schedules might be needed," writes SWECO Groner, "in order to avoid destructive effects on downstream areas."
The only way of trying to save as many [fish] species as possible is to try to keep [the river] as close as possible to the natural conditions, it says.
SWECO Groner also recommends building a specially-designed re-regulating dam near the Cambodian border that could even out flows to downstream Cambodia.
Sida has agreed to a public review of SWECO's recommendations in Phnom Penh later this year.
SWECO Groner is a subsidiary of SWECO, Sweden's leading engineering consulting firm and longtime hydro adviser to Electricity of Vietnam.
The writer is policy director for the Toronto-based Probe International, a citizens' group monitoring the environmental and economic effects of foreign aid.
By Grainne Ryder - The Bangkok Post - October 7, 2006.
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