![\"Dam](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Vuth-Khat-tours-his-village-flooded-by-the-Lower-Sesan-2-by-Gerald-Flynn-scaled.jpg\")
<\/div>The paint on his boat in Kbal Romeas is peeling in the heat and the sun has bleached the remains of trees to ashen grey stumps. The Lower Sesan 2 became a sore point among environmentalists and rights advocates, cutting off the intersection between the Sesan and Srepok rivers that feed the transboundary river and ensure the survival of the Mekong. But while the fate of Kbal Romeas \u2013 and that of Khat \u2013 has been sealed by Cambodia\u2019s pursuit of power, conservationists say there is still time to avoid further destabilisation to the intricate ecosystem of the 3S rivers: the Sesan, Srepok and Sekong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Survival of the Mekong uncertain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div>Recommended<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\nDespite attempts to bolster the Lower Sesan 2\u2019s public image, a Human Rights Watch report in August 2021<\/a> laid bare the failings of the project. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIn Cambodia alone, three more dams are planned along the Sesan, with a further three planned for the Srepok River and one more on the Sekong River. Movement has stalled on these projects for years, but analysts have suggested as many as 21 dams have been proposed, putting at risk the survival of the Mekong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"Dams]()
<\/div>Just one small patch of trees survives next to the reservoir of the Lower Sesan 2 (Image: Yeng Chheangly)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\u201cI would not say that these projects are abandoned, as there has been no clear announcement that the government has decided not to proceed with them, but I do think that they are deprioritised for a few key and pragmatic reasons,\u201d explains Courtney Weatherby, deputy director of the Southeast Asia programme at the Stimson Center, a US-based non-profit think-tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some 450 kilometres from the capital Phnom Penh, Stung Treng\u2019s remoteness may be its saving grace, Weatherby argues, as this increases the costs of linking potential hydropower projects to the grid via transmission cables. Therefore, Weatherby warns, all eyes are on the Sekong, the last undammed river on the Mekong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saving the Sekong, saving the Mekong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div>Recommended<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\nEvery year, the Tonle Sap lake produces an estimated 500,000 tonnes of fish. This is contingent on the 3S rivers contributing 25% of the Mekong\u2019s flow, prompting the annual river reversal that is key to the spawning of 150 species of migratory fish and to the survival of the Mekong ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFurther construction of dams on the mainstream of the Sekong would be additionally and profoundly destabilising to the free flow of fish and sediment that underpin food security downstream,\u201d Weatherby says, adding that the Sekong\u2019s role extends beyond Cambodia\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike the Mekong, which is subject to a degree of international cooperation and oversight in the form of the Mekong River Commission, developments along the 3S rivers are undertaken unilaterally. In September 2021, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature issued a statement<\/a> urging Vietnamese state-owned construction company Song Da 6 not to forge ahead with the Sekong A hydropower dam. It warned that the dam on the mainstream Sekong will disconnect the entire river from the Mekong and prevent fish from migrating upstream to spawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Dams]()
<\/div>A sign begging the authorities not to flood the village survives from 2017 (Image: Gerald Flynn)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe Sekong A would generate just 86 MW, but could reduce the total fish population of the Mekong basin by 20%, according to conservationists Gregory Thomas and Jake Brunner<\/a>, who estimated that half of the Mekong\u2019s fish are long-distance migratory species that require the length of the Mekong and its tributaries to become fully grown. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Lower Sesan 2 has already reduced the silt flow through the 3S rivers by two-thirds, down from 25 million tonnes in 1997. The Sekong A dam could further reduce the fertility of soils along the Mekong basin, threatening farmers across Cambodia and Vietnam. The survival of the Mekong basin is therefore at stake. In late 2016, the Royal Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government to construct the Lower Sekong hydropower dam in Cambodia, but little has been heard of the project since and Royal Group did not respond to interview requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Survival of the Mekong ecology in the balance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Both fishers and farmers are set to lose out if the 3S rivers\u2019 ecosystem is further destabilised, according to Milou Groenenberg, biodiversity research and monitoring manager with the World Wide Fund for Nature\u2019s (WWF) Eastern Plains Landscape Programme. But there is even more at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>Recommended<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\nIn late September 2021, WWF in conjunction with the Cambodian Ministry of Environment revealed their first ever photos of hatchling Siamese crocodiles<\/a> in Mondulkiri province\u2019s Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary. Eight hatchlings of the critically endangered species were recorded, giving conservationists hope for the crocodile species that is rarely found in the wild, but is farmed extensively across Southeast Asia for its skin and meat<\/a>. The prospect of further hydropower projects could pose a yet-to-be-realised threat for the crocodiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWildlife at risk along with survival of the Mekong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Horn Chanvoitey, a researcher currently doing her master\u2019s with a focus on water resource management, says that further dam development would have clear impacts on the 3S basin\u2019s wildlife. \u201cRegarding implications on biodiversity, dams also threaten water birds and other river-dependent species,\u201d she says, adding that the extent is not clear due to lack of data availability and accessibility challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/]()
<\/div>A bird flies over dead trees in the Lower Sesan 2 reservoir (Image: Gerald Flynn)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\nCambodia is home to several vulnerable bird species including the beach-nesting small pratincole<\/a> and river terns. Tonle Sap, which has had unpredictable flooding for years now, is home to 30%<\/a> of the global population of spot-billed pelicans. Chanvoitey claims that the construction of further hydropower dams could lead to more displacement among local communities within the 3S basin.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHydropower big business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For Cambodia, little can be done to control dams erected in upstream Laos, but state monopolies determine the fate of Cambodia\u2019s 3S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMany, many projects that get onto the books don\u2019t get built. Being on the map doesn\u2019t mean that much, but secondly, a lot of projects die away and then rear their ugly heads\u2026 and then they are built,\u201d says Ian Baird of the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison, who has been involved in studies of the 3S rivers and the Mekong for more than a decade. He adds that Vietnam would be unlikely to revive planned dams in Cambodia, following its reluctance to be involved in the Lower Sesan 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China, Baird suggests, could be a viable source of funding, but he notes the concessions process is not always successful and in the case of Cambodian dams planned along the 3S rivers, there may not be political will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Lower Sesan 2 was never a very viable project to begin with. In many ways the Lower Sesan 2 was developed for political reasons more than anything else.<\/blockquote>Ian Baird, University of Wisconsin-Madison<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe Lower Sesan 2 was never a very viable project to begin with. In many ways the Lower Sesan 2 was developed for political reasons more than anything else,\u201d says Baird. The project very nearly fell apart after Vietnam Electric pulled out, retaining only a 10% stake for studies already conducted. Kith Meng, chair and chief executive of the Royal Group, was unable to finance the project himself, so China agreed to take over 50% of the Lower Sesan 2\u2019s, \u201ca big political favour to [Cambodian prime minister] Hun Sen,\u201d Baird says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe problem is that if [Lower Sesan 2] is a failure, and there\u2019s significant evidence to suggest it is, then they\u2019d never admit it, at least not openly,\u201d says Baird, adding that neither low power generation nor low fish catches would prompt such an admission. Neither the Ministry of Environment nor the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology responded to questions about further damming along the 3S rivers, but none of the seven dams believed to be in the planning stages are listed in the Electricity Authority of Cambodia\u2019s 2020 annual report<\/a> detailing upcoming power projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFuture of energy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Despite attempts to bolster the Lower Sesan 2\u2019s public image, a Human Rights Watch report in August 2021<\/a> laid bare the failings of the project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Cambodia alone, three more dams are planned along the Sesan, with a further three planned for the Srepok River and one more on the Sekong River. Movement has stalled on these projects for years, but analysts have suggested as many as 21 dams have been proposed, putting at risk the survival of the Mekong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would not say that these projects are abandoned, as there has been no clear announcement that the government has decided not to proceed with them, but I do think that they are deprioritised for a few key and pragmatic reasons,\u201d explains Courtney Weatherby, deputy director of the Southeast Asia programme at the Stimson Center, a US-based non-profit think-tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some 450 kilometres from the capital Phnom Penh, Stung Treng\u2019s remoteness may be its saving grace, Weatherby argues, as this increases the costs of linking potential hydropower projects to the grid via transmission cables. Therefore, Weatherby warns, all eyes are on the Sekong, the last undammed river on the Mekong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every year, the Tonle Sap lake produces an estimated 500,000 tonnes of fish. This is contingent on the 3S rivers contributing 25% of the Mekong\u2019s flow, prompting the annual river reversal that is key to the spawning of 150 species of migratory fish and to the survival of the Mekong ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFurther construction of dams on the mainstream of the Sekong would be additionally and profoundly destabilising to the free flow of fish and sediment that underpin food security downstream,\u201d Weatherby says, adding that the Sekong\u2019s role extends beyond Cambodia\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike the Mekong, which is subject to a degree of international cooperation and oversight in the form of the Mekong River Commission, developments along the 3S rivers are undertaken unilaterally. In September 2021, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature issued a statement<\/a> urging Vietnamese state-owned construction company Song Da 6 not to forge ahead with the Sekong A hydropower dam. It warned that the dam on the mainstream Sekong will disconnect the entire river from the Mekong and prevent fish from migrating upstream to spawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sekong A would generate just 86 MW, but could reduce the total fish population of the Mekong basin by 20%, according to conservationists Gregory Thomas and Jake Brunner<\/a>, who estimated that half of the Mekong\u2019s fish are long-distance migratory species that require the length of the Mekong and its tributaries to become fully grown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lower Sesan 2 has already reduced the silt flow through the 3S rivers by two-thirds, down from 25 million tonnes in 1997. The Sekong A dam could further reduce the fertility of soils along the Mekong basin, threatening farmers across Cambodia and Vietnam. The survival of the Mekong basin is therefore at stake. In late 2016, the Royal Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government to construct the Lower Sekong hydropower dam in Cambodia, but little has been heard of the project since and Royal Group did not respond to interview requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both fishers and farmers are set to lose out if the 3S rivers\u2019 ecosystem is further destabilised, according to Milou Groenenberg, biodiversity research and monitoring manager with the World Wide Fund for Nature\u2019s (WWF) Eastern Plains Landscape Programme. But there is even more at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In late September 2021, WWF in conjunction with the Cambodian Ministry of Environment revealed their first ever photos of hatchling Siamese crocodiles<\/a> in Mondulkiri province\u2019s Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary. Eight hatchlings of the critically endangered species were recorded, giving conservationists hope for the crocodile species that is rarely found in the wild, but is farmed extensively across Southeast Asia for its skin and meat<\/a>. The prospect of further hydropower projects could pose a yet-to-be-realised threat for the crocodiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Horn Chanvoitey, a researcher currently doing her master\u2019s with a focus on water resource management, says that further dam development would have clear impacts on the 3S basin\u2019s wildlife. \u201cRegarding implications on biodiversity, dams also threaten water birds and other river-dependent species,\u201d she says, adding that the extent is not clear due to lack of data availability and accessibility challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cambodia is home to several vulnerable bird species including the beach-nesting small pratincole<\/a> and river terns. Tonle Sap, which has had unpredictable flooding for years now, is home to 30%<\/a> of the global population of spot-billed pelicans. Chanvoitey claims that the construction of further hydropower dams could lead to more displacement among local communities within the 3S basin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Cambodia, little can be done to control dams erected in upstream Laos, but state monopolies determine the fate of Cambodia\u2019s 3S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMany, many projects that get onto the books don\u2019t get built. Being on the map doesn\u2019t mean that much, but secondly, a lot of projects die away and then rear their ugly heads\u2026 and then they are built,\u201d says Ian Baird of the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison, who has been involved in studies of the 3S rivers and the Mekong for more than a decade. He adds that Vietnam would be unlikely to revive planned dams in Cambodia, following its reluctance to be involved in the Lower Sesan 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China, Baird suggests, could be a viable source of funding, but he notes the concessions process is not always successful and in the case of Cambodian dams planned along the 3S rivers, there may not be political will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Lower Sesan 2 was never a very viable project to begin with. In many ways the Lower Sesan 2 was developed for political reasons more than anything else,\u201d says Baird. The project very nearly fell apart after Vietnam Electric pulled out, retaining only a 10% stake for studies already conducted. Kith Meng, chair and chief executive of the Royal Group, was unable to finance the project himself, so China agreed to take over 50% of the Lower Sesan 2\u2019s, \u201ca big political favour to [Cambodian prime minister] Hun Sen,\u201d Baird says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe problem is that if [Lower Sesan 2] is a failure, and there\u2019s significant evidence to suggest it is, then they\u2019d never admit it, at least not openly,\u201d says Baird, adding that neither low power generation nor low fish catches would prompt such an admission. Neither the Ministry of Environment nor the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology responded to questions about further damming along the 3S rivers, but none of the seven dams believed to be in the planning stages are listed in the Electricity Authority of Cambodia\u2019s 2020 annual report<\/a> detailing upcoming power projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Dams](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/A-small-patch-of-trees-survive-in-the-reservoir-of-the-Lower-Sesan-2-by-Yeng-Chheangly-scaled.jpg\")
<\/div>Saving the Sekong, saving the Mekong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Dams](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/A-sign-begging-authorities-not-to-flood-the-village-survives-from-2017-by-Gerald-Flynn-scaled.jpg\")
<\/div>Survival of the Mekong ecology in the balance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Wildlife at risk along with survival of the Mekong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/A-bird-flies-over-dead-trees-in-the-Lower-Sesan-2s-reservoir-by-Gerald-Flynn-scaled.jpg\")
<\/div>Hydropower big business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Lower Sesan 2 was never a very viable project to begin with. In many ways the Lower Sesan 2 was developed for political reasons more than anything else.<\/blockquote>Ian Baird, University of Wisconsin-Madison<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Future of energy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/The-fate-of-Old-Kbal-Romeas-is-sealed-but-the-3S-rivers-can-be-salvaged-by-Gerald-Flynn-scaled.jpg\")
<\/div>![\"Dams](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Phut-Yorn-says-the-Lower-Sesan-2-has-brought-no-benefits-to-her-community-by-Yeng-Chheangly-scaled.jpg\")
<\/div>