Lao PDR - Rural life - Nam Ou river village relocation

A Laoseng minority woman outside her home in remote and roadless Ban Watai, Phongsaly Province, Lao PDR. The villagers of Ban Watai wait to hear when and where they 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: A0020889cc_1.jpg
Copyright: Tessa Bunney
Image Size: 3000x4000 / 1.4MB; Asia Bunney Lao Lao PDR Laos Nam Ou PDR Phongsali Phongsaly Southeast Asia Tessa tributary Mekong relocation relocate village villages ethnic minority minorities Chinese corporation China Sinohydro electric electricity hydropower reservoir Ban Watai Watai environment rural river remote bamboo house home doorway dam construction woman
Contained in galleries: Lao PDR - Nam Ou River, Tessa Bunney - All pics

A Laoseng minority woman outside her home in remote and roadless Ban Watai, Phongsaly Province, Lao PDR. The villagers of Ban Watai wait to hear when and where they 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.