Lao PDR - Rural life - Nam Ou river village relocation

A Laoseng minority woman carries her baby whilst smoking tobacco in her home in the remote and roadless village of Ban Phouxom, Phongsaly province, Lao PDR, Ban Phouxom is situated along the Nam Ou river (a tributary of the Mekong) and will be relocated and joined with three other Laoseng villages following the construction of the Nam Ou Cascade Hydropower Project Dam 5. 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: A0020901cc_1.jpg
Copyright: Tessa Bunney
Image Size: 4000x3000 / 1.4MB; Asia Bunney Lao Lao PDR Laos Nam Ou PDR Phongsali Phongsaly Southeast Asia Tessa tributary Mekong village villages ethnic minority minorities environment rural river woman baby child son smoking tobacco carrying carry female portrait Ban Phouxom Phouxom relocation relocate village villages ethnic minority minorities Chinese corporation China Sinohydro electric electricity hydropower reservoir roadless remote countryside
Contained in galleries: Lao PDR - Nam Ou River, Tessa Bunney - All pics

A Laoseng minority woman carries her baby whilst smoking tobacco in her home in the remote and roadless village of Ban Phouxom, Phongsaly province, Lao PDR, Ban Phouxom is situated along the Nam Ou river (a tributary of the Mekong) and will be relocated and joined with three other Laoseng villages following the construction of the Nam Ou Cascade Hydropower Project Dam 5. 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.