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

A Laoseng ethnic minority woman returns to the old village to collect firewood after her 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: A0024675cc_1.jpg
Copyright: Tessa Bunney
Image Size: 4000x3000 / 1.5MB; 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 woman female collect collects collection firewood relocate relocated relocation Chinese corporation Sinohydro electric electricity hydropower reservoir Mekong tributary dam construction
Contained in galleries: Lao PDR - Nam Ou River, Tessa Bunney - All pics

A Laoseng ethnic minority woman returns to the old village to collect firewood after her 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.