Lao PDR - Rural life - Nam Ou river - Village relocation

A Laoseng ethnic minority man carries a piece of metal roofing material through the old village to his village of Ban Watai has been temporarily relocated away from the Nam Ou river, during the construction of the Nam Ou Cascade Hydropower Project Dam 6, Phongsaly province, Lao PDR. The Nam Ou river connects small riverside villages and provides the rural population with food for fishing. It is a place where children play and families bathe, where men fish and women wash their clothes. But this river and others like it, that are the lifeline of rural communities and local economies are being blocked, diverted and decimated by dams. The Lao government hopes to transform the country into “the battery of Southeast Asia” by exporting the power to Thailand and Vietnam.

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Filename: A0024588cc_1.jpg
Copyright: Tessa Bunney
Image Size: 4000x3000 / 1.2MB; Asia Bunney Lao Lao PDR Laos Laoseng Nam Nam Ou Ou PDR Phongsali Phongsaly Southeast Southeast Asia Tessa countryside ethnic ethnic minorities ethnic minority minorities minority remote river rural traditional village man male metal roofing material Ban Watai Watai roadless relocate relocation Chinese corporation China Sinohydro electric electricity hydropower reservoir Mekong tributary relocated dam construction
Contained in galleries: Lao PDR - Nam Ou River, Tessa Bunney - All pics

A Laoseng ethnic minority man carries a piece of metal roofing material through the old village to his village of Ban Watai has been temporarily relocated away from the Nam Ou river, during the construction of the Nam Ou Cascade Hydropower Project Dam 6, Phongsaly province, Lao PDR. The Nam Ou river connects small riverside villages and provides the rural population with food for fishing. It is a place where children play and families bathe, where men fish and women wash their clothes. But this river and others like it, that are the lifeline of rural communities and local economies are being blocked, diverted and decimated by dams. The Lao government hopes to transform the country into “the battery of Southeast Asia” by exporting the power to Thailand and Vietnam.