6.11.1 Hydropower-sponsored development for poverty alleviation
Both ADB and the GoL give poverty alleviation the highest priority in their rural development programmes. The impact of hydropower development on the rural poor will depend largely on the existence of concrete mechanism that would guarantee that affected villagers are benefiting directly from the revenue earned by hydropower projects through formal benefit-sharing mechanisms, such as particular development programmes, truly tailored to the needs of the local, mostly ethnic-minority communities. The GoL needs to be encouraged to integrate social, economic and environmental development plans into their hydropower development planning to allow local communities to reap benefits. These development programmes and mitigating measures for hydropower-affected communities need to be requirements for development, preferably as parts of concession agreements. These agreements should have, among others, the following general features:
• Relocation of communities should be carried out under the guidance of Resettlement Actions Plans that meet international acceptable social safeguard standards, and should be disassociated from the “Focal Area Development” policy;
• Local peoples’ livelihood strategies need to be recognised from their own perspectives, valued and included into development interventions;
• Poor farmers’ interest in their own food security, before venturing into income- generating activities, should be taken seriously;
• Readjusting the present shifting-cultivation eradication policy towards “stabilisation of shifting” to better match the goal of poverty alleviation (e.g. through improved crop rotation/fallow systems);
• Supporting crop diversification that favours a balance between subsistence and cash cropping;
• Supporting productive activities that do not deplete/degrade soils, waterways, forests and;
• Supporting financially sustainable activities that do not expose farmers to critical levels of risks, such as eco-tourism endeavours.
• Avoid promoting hydropower development that severely affects on-going socio- economically positive developments such as river-based eco-tourism.
6.11.2 Linking development with safeguarding traditional cultures and belief systems
A not uncommon but unwanted impact from large-scale infrastructural projects is often a breakdown of traditional culture and belief systems, with disempowerment of traditional leadership, increased inter-generational conflicts, loss of community identity, disorientation and an increase of socially deviant/risky behaviour as results. To protect the rural community’s identity, it is important that the developers’ management programmes combine economic programmes for improved livelihoods with a cultural and community programme that:
• Analyses and recognises the cultural impact of development interventions;
• Recognises the inseparability of material and spiritual culture in agricultural work;
• Recognises indigenous knowledge in its full meaning to better understand the complex relationship between culture and poverty and;
• Recognises, in principle, ethnic groups’ right to their ancestral land, the basis of their culture and survival.
6.11.3 Gender issues
With respect to gender, the necessary livelihood improvement programmes that should be required of each project developer should:
• Recognise women as farmers, and provide them with credit and training opportunities for new production techniques to reduce their work burden and increase their labour productivity;
• Address special vulnerability related to migration (sexual exploitation, HIV/AIDS, trafficking networks);
• In education: Provide incentives to encourage female attendance and reduce girls’
drop-out rates (through scholarships, school-feeding programmes, more local provision of schools and flexible timing) and;
• In health: Support to the development of appropriate health care programmes that integrate nutrition, sanitation, education and preventive measures aiming at improving women’s and children’s health status, particularly that of ethnic minorities.
6.11.4 Health issues
The most serious threats to long-term health status in the NNRB are malnutrition and HIV/AIDS. The responsibility for all actions rest with the project developers/owners, but it is realistic to assume that many of the health interventions needed would be more successfully implemented if co-ordinated by a central (MoH) authority, preferably supported by money channelled though the EPF.
The most important actions to be taken in this context are:
• That all concerned development projects (specifically the hydropower ones) make early contact, well before the start of construction activities, with the Lao Ministry of
Health in order to set up effective co-operation between project sponsors and the Ministry. This has to be done both at the national and at the provincial/local levels;
• It is of paramount importance that the health mitigation programmes are monitored and evaluated by a third-party organisation, which should be independent of the project sponsors;
• Regular reporting from such M&E activities should guide further work by the project sponsor and the MoH. This work should be funded from the developers’ funds, and budgets should be adjusted according to repeated needs assessments;
• To maintain a preparedness for malaria outbreaks caused by new reservoirs;
• Establish a preventive health-education programme for the schools.
6.11.5 Planning and implementing social safeguards’ programmes in line with GoL and international standards
Mitigation and compensation planning in general, and resettlement planning and implementation in particular has, until now, suffered from a lack of clear criteria for the assessment of losses of livelihoods and assets for the project-affected population.
Resettlement Plans, such as the one prepared for the NN2 Project, do not meet internationally acceptable standards of social safeguarding. There is a great deal of mistrust regarding the implementation of mitigation and compensation programmes, apparently based on previous negative experiences.
• WREA is recommended to utilise the experiences provided by the NT2 project as a background for developing more detailed binding environmental and socio-economic guidelines and standards.
6.11.6 Improved monitoring system
GoL guidelines for socio-economic monitoring still lack a clear system of indicators and criteria for good or acceptable social practices against which implementation results can be measured.
• GoL is recommended to establish independent and empowered monitoring systems (including impartial grievance mechanism) for all hydropower projects. These monitoring systems/programmes will provide much needed quality control of the implementation of socio-economic as well as environmental safeguards.
• WREA should take the lead on the development of a set of generally acceptable indicators for monitoring.
6.11.7 Consultation, participation
Guidelines for the consultation and public participation process need to be more precise and comprehensive in order to meet international standards for local people’s participation, with particular emphasis on the inclusion of vulnerable groups – women and ethnic minorities.
Although national safeguard documents cover, to some extent, public consultation and participation, the directions they provide are formulated in only general terms, and it is left relatively open as to what type of methodology and approach shall be used during those consultations. Little is said about the scope and extent of consultations other than that they shall provide “adequate opportunity to provide their opinions on and inputs into the planning and implementation of the project”. Moreover, the consultation process should not be carried out only for determining the actual extent of compensation, but also appraise indirect and
long-term impacts as well as future development opportunities for alternative livelihood planning. (Norplan 2004).
6.11.8 Other stakeholder participation
More efforts are needed to extend the participation of the public sphere, and involve other stakeholders at regional, national and international levels in an open discussion of the potential environmental and social impacts of hydropower development. Involvement of such groups will enhance transparency, accountability, have feedback functions and will allow learning from other experiences. The annual Stakeholder Workshop organised by NTPC, the operator of the NT2 Project, may serve as an example.
7 Bibliography
The bibliography below covers both quoted sources and material of a general-information nature, for both this main report, as well as the appendices.
A note on policies and manuals of the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank: We have given the web sites of the two multi-lateral banks as the source of their respective operational manuals and policies in the list below. All such documents are available in their latest version at these sites.
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Integrated Watershed Management Unit, 2007: Watershed Management and Development Plan – Nam Chat, Nam Thoum Kha Pieng, Nam Kho.
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