Hydropower Governance and

Impact Assessment in the

Mekong Region

John Dore, PhD Senior Regional Water Resources Sector Specialist

Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) 12 September 2013

Hydropower Governance

more than government

Impact Assessment

part of governance,

more than EIA

Mekong Region

more than Mekong River, more than Mekong Basin

Mekong Region the territory,

ecosystems, people,

economies, politics

of:

Cambodia Laos Myanmar Thailand Vietnam China’s Yunnan

Hydro expansion

82 existing + 179 under study (MRB ~140) Mekong River mainstream, 17-19 China, 11 LM local, provincial, national, transboundary impacts

Energy

Eg. Regional grid and power

trading?

Hydropower Governance a social process of

dialogue, negotiation and decision-making

MRC office, Vientiane, Laos

Formal - National & transboundary

legal frameworks

Informal

Dialogue

Many actors

Impact Assessment

part of governance,

more than EIA

EIA (red)

CA (green)

Construction (blue)

EIA critique

“EIAs are often an exercise in rationalising pre-determined outcomes, rather than providing independent and rigorous analysis upon which sound decisions should be made”.

Impact Assessment

1. Environmental IA

2. Social IA

3. Hydrological IA

4. Integrated IA

5. Vulnerability Assessment (VA)

6. Cumulative IA

7. Strategic (Environmental?) Assessment (SEA)

8. Transboundary (Environmental?) IA

9. People’s EIA

Plus…..

a. IFC Sustainability Framework & Bank Safeguards

b. Scenarios, options assessment, risk assessment

c. Industry tools eg. IHA Protocol, MRC RSAT etc..

CIA Cumulative Impact Assessment

CIA is identifying and evaluating the significance of effects from multiple activities Examples Yunnan Lancang cascade (Adamson 2001) Nam Theun 2 (ADB 2004) Nam Ngum 3 (ADB 2008)

SEA versus EIA

SEA … anticipating and addressing the potential environmental consequences of proposed initiatives at higher levels of decision-making, and evaluating the interlinkages with economic and social considerations (Sadler 1995; OECD/DAC 2006).

People’s EIA eg. Hua Na Irrigation 2008-2009

Method:

• Step I: Agreement on issues to be studied

• Step II: Data collection, analysis and rechecking

• Step III: Consensus building on impacts, mitigation plans and measures

• Step IV: Implementation of mitigation measures

• Step V: Decision making

• Step VI: Long term impact monitoring

Mekong Region

• More than Mekong River

• More than Mekong River Basin

Hydropower governance

• More than government

• A social process of dialogue, negotiation and decision making.

Impact assessment

• A part of hydro governance

• More than “EIA”

IA in hydro governance

In your experience: - What is it now? - What could it be?

Thanks for your attention

Acknowledgements

Keskinen, M. and M. Kummu (2010). Impact assessment in the Mekong: Review of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA), Water and Development Research Group, School of Science and Technology, Aalto University, Finland. Manorom, K. (2011). Peoples' EIA as a new approach for water governance: Case of Hua Na irrigation project in northeast Thailand. Ubon Ratchatani University, Thailand Mekong Region IA practitioners