AR+D Publishing

study estimated that the rate of construction would displace 300,000 people by 2020.5 The majority of people who live along the riverbank of the Mekong who have been displaced by the dams are ethnic minorities.6 A developing story strikingly similar to the Mississippi River Basin’s history, the past, present, and future damming of the UMRB will irreversibly change the character of the Mekong River Basin, privileging development, urbanization, and modernization above all else.

Territory 01 Section B-B

Steep and confined in a narrow gorge, the Upper Mekong River Basin is a formidable and impressive landscape. The upper Mekong River begins at an estimated elevation of 17,000 feet, descends 15,800 feet through the mountainous terrain in the Tibetan Plateau and Yunnan Province, then travels as the border between Laos and Myanmar, ending at the “Golden Triangle” intersection of Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. While the Upper Mekong River Basin only contributes 16 percent of the water to the entire basin, the steep slope grants the main-stem river a significant amount of hydroelectric potential. In Yunnan Province, it is estimated that the main stem of the river has the potential to generate up to 25,000 MW of hydroelectricity.7 By 2020, the seven completed hydroelectric projects were all located in Yunnan Province, and each one is different in size and typology. The hydroelectric projects in the Lancang form a staircase-like cascade of integrated reservoirs, designed to take full advantage of its water storage and maximize hydroelectric generation regardless of the seasonal water flow into the river.8 Together, the seven projects have a combined capacity of 17,000 MW. These projects are part of China’s goal to develop infrastructural projects in its western territories, and have a key role in the West-East Electricity Transfer (WEET) project, concurrently being developed.9 The WEET project consists of new transmission lines that will export power generated from China’s western territories to its urban centers in the east. The power generated in the UMRB will be exported to the southeastern provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong.10 For regional growth, the dams and reservoirs manage downstream flows to also facilitate improved irrigation, navigation, and flood regulation.11 Throughout the process of creating the dams, the projects were criticized for potentially disrupting or harming fish populations and water flows, especially downstream in the Lower Mekong River Basin.12 A recent study of sedimentation in the Mekong River between 1965 and 2003 concluded that mainstem Lancang dam construction decreased the sediment load being discharged into the Pacific Ocean by nearly 25 percent, and expects such phenomena to be worse in the future.13 As a result, the Chinese government has been intensely scrutinized by transboundary activists for its perceived irresponsible decisions.14 In a rare critique from a government leader, the Vietnamese president, Truong Tan Sang, implied of China’s Lancang developments, “Dam construction and stream adjustments by some countries in upstream rivers constitute a growing concern for many countries and implicitly impinge on relations between relevant countries.”15 While China has undoubtedly benefited from the damming of the UMRB, these infrastructural projects strain both the natural environment and political dynamics in Southeast Asia.