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AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF
Jennifer Corinne Veilleux for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography presented on
April 25, 2014.
Title: Is Dam Development a Mechanism for Human Security? Scale and Perception of the
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia and the Xayaburi Dam on
the Mekong River in Laos
Abstract approved: _____________________________________
Aaron T. Wolf
Human security is a framework related to the stability and sustainability of political,
environmental, economical, and socio-cultural areas of concern. Water resources around the
world are under increased pressure from increased development, growing populations, pollution,
and global climate change. Large-scale dam development while still popular for political and
economic development reasons, has been found to result in costs that outweigh benefits in
environmental and socio-cultural sectors.
This research assesses the human security impacts from dam development at three scales: the
international river basin, the nation-state, and the local affected communities. Human security
includes aspects of political, environmental, economic, and socio-cultural sectors. A combination
of quantitatively-derived parameters from global indices and field-generated qualitative
interviews and observations are employed to understand how perceptions of impacts change
dependent on scale and sector. Two case studies are analyzed to capture three scales of human
security impacts from dam development: the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile
River in Ethiopia and the Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River in Laos. A new human security
measurement is developed to consider qualitative aspects of interview data in order to compare
the human security stability of very secure, secure, slightly insecure, and insecure to the global
indexes. Comparisons between case studies, scales, and methods are drawn. Differences between
human security and human development are highlighted. The conclusions are that human
security impacts due exist from dam development, but are of a different magnitude depending
upon scale, sector, and perception, as well as the datasets used for analysis. For the international
scale, I combined publicly available datasets Human Development Index (HDI), Human Security
Index (HSI), and the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database Basin Country Units
(TFDDBCU) to create GIS based maps of watershed development and security ranking. For the
national scale I analyzed information provided through official documents, websites, and field
interviews. For the local scale I conducted empirical observation and field interviews in local
communities. I conclude that the best measurement of human security is from a combination of
scale, sector, and perception using qualitative and quantitative context and data for measurement.
© Copyright by Jennifer Corinne Veilleux
April 25, 2014
All Rights Reserved
Is Dam Development a Mechanism for Human Security? Scale and Perception of the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia and the Xayaburi Dam on the
Mekong River in Laos
by
Jennifer Corinne Veilleux
A DISSERTATION
submitted to
Oregon State University
in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the
degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Presented April, 25 2014
Commencement June 14, 2014
Doctor of Philosophy dissertation of Jennifer Corinne Veilleux presented on April 25, 2014.
APPROVED:
Major Professor, representing Geography
Dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, Atmospheric Sciences
Dean of the Graduate School
I understand that my dissertation will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State
University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my dissertation to any reader upon
request.
Jennifer Corinne Veilleux, Author
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to God for this opportunity and bringing me through this experience.
I am grateful for the generosity of so many religious Fathers, Mothers, Brothers, and Sisters in
the Catholic Community who gave me time, support, food, and shelter, and shared meals, prayer,
and laughter in practically every corner of the world. Over the last four years I have been hosted
and counseled by: Institute of the Incarnate Word, Missionaries of Charity, Capuchin
Franciscans, Medical Missionary Sisters, Comboni Missionaries, and St. John the Divine.
Special appreciate goes to Sister Incarnate Word, Sister Theotokos, Monsignor Pope, and Abba
Ayele for inspiring my heart on the toughest days, giving me eyes to see the beauty in the darkest
places, and reminding me why I am doing this.
This research would not have been possible without the financial support of Oregon State
University, the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, the Gray Family Fund, the
College of Science, the College of Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, and the generosity
and willing support of other institutions around the world.
I am especially appreciative of my advisor, Aaron Wolf, for so many things, but especially for
consistently getting behind my big ideas, narrowing my scope, and giving me that needed push
to go after my dreams. I am grateful to members of my committee Michael Campana, Bryan Tilt,
and Gregg Walker for the hours of invested time, coffee, and meals surrounded by that endless
conversation. I hope you know how vital your guidance has been for me. The constant logistical
support and laughter, remote and actual, offered by Stacey, Melinda, and Renee has been crucial
in keeping to this pursuit.
My field research in Ethiopia depended on the generosity, time, logistical support, hosting, and
endorsement of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation, the Ethiopian Ministry of Water and
Energy, and Ministry of Communications and Foreign Affairs. In particular I would like to thank
CEO Atto Meheret Debebe for believing in my work and opening the first door, Minister Barakat
Simone, Minister Alamayo Tengno and their hard working support staff for arranging my
research and travel from Addis Ababa to the Renaissance dam site. I’d like to thank the team at
the dam site: Engineer Semengnew, Ato Bubula, Ato Assefa, and Solomon for making my work
possible and efficient. Special appreciation goes also to International Water Management
Institute (IWMI) in Addis Ababa for sponsoring my business visa and providing office support.
My field work in Laos depended on the generosity, time, logistic support, hosting, and
endorsement of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Xayaburi Power Company, and the Provincial
Government of Sayabouli. In particular I would like to thank the Director General Daovong
Phonekeo, Khamkong Kongvongsa of the Xayaburi Electric Power Company, and Governor
Bounphak Inthapanya District Chief of Sayabouli City. Special appreciation goes also to Kim,
David, and others at the Naga House in Vientiane, Laos for logistical and office support.
Serving as the voice of the local people to the ears of an international audience are translators
Tesfaye Girma and Singkham Lueyeevang. Without their professional support, incredible
patience, and cultural awareness I would not have obtained the rich datasets used in this study or
been able to experience the life in the local riverine communities. Their roles were crucial and I
am grateful for their dedication to keep to my intense schedule and face the sometimes adverse
conditions and climate.
Special acknowledgement finally must go to the friends and strangers, who fed me, housed me,
financed me, carried me, and helped me keep my sanity and sense of humor these last four years.
There are too many people to list that I feel hugely grateful toward, but I must list a few: Aseel,
Jehan, & Mousa, Cecily, Amber, Maya, Roxy, Coos, & Blue, Marina & Dan, Andrew, Jason,
Laura & Matt, Joe & Sebastian, Donna, Paul & the kids, Robbie, Phil, Teri, Joe Spellman; Sarah,
Kerry, & Rustyk. These people consistently providing levity and safety on my journey
(especially to and from airports!) Dr. Dan Nelson, Dr. Kea Duckenfield, Dr. Keith Shawe, and
Colonel Merrick Krause never failed to be direct, insightful, empathetic mentors over the past
decade. I would not have attempted this without you. Thank you all for believing in me.
CONTRIBUTION OF AUTHORS
A huge thank you to all those who helped this PhD take form: Aaron Wolf helped shape, guide,
and form this work from the beginning. Bryan Tilt helped with brainstorming the human security
key and edits on the dissertation. Bojan Šavrič helped me with graphic design on tables and
formatting the dissertation, and helped me with creating the maps using ArcMap. Cecily Yates
and Katie Stofer helped with editing the first four chapters. Johannes Liem helped with
visualization tools and ArcMap. Matthew Zentner helped with information, pointers, and
encouragement. Marco Clark helped with translating the IDAM research model design.
Thank you for all of your effort, expertise, and time.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Structure ................................................................................................................................... 2
1.2. Chapter Preview ....................................................................................................................... 4
1.2.1. Chapter 2 literature review .................................................................................................... 4
1.2.2. Chapter 3 Case studies ........................................................................................................ 10
1.2.3. Chapter 4 Methods .............................................................................................................. 12
1.2.4. Chapter 5 results ................................................................................................................. 14
1.2.5. Chapter 6 Discussion .......................................................................................................... 16
1.2.6. Chapter 7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 17
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................... 18
2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 18
2.2. Scale ....................................................................................................................................... 18
2.3. International scale .................................................................................................................. 19
2.3.1. Complex adaptive systems .................................................................................................. 19
2.3.2. Politics sector ...................................................................................................................... 21
2.3.3. Environmental sector .......................................................................................................... 25
2.3.4. Economic sector .................................................................................................................. 31
2.3.5. Socio-cultural ...................................................................................................................... 35
2.4. National Scale ........................................................................................................................ 36
2.4.1. Politics sector ...................................................................................................................... 36
2.4.2. Environment sector ............................................................................................................. 39
2.4.3. Economic sector .................................................................................................................. 41
2.4.4. Socio-cultural sector ........................................................................................................... 43
2.5. Local Scale ............................................................................................................................. 47
2.5.1. Politics sector ...................................................................................................................... 47
2.5.2. Environment ........................................................................................................................ 48
2.5.3. Economic sector .................................................................................................................. 51
2.5.4. Socio-culture Sector ............................................................................................................ 52
3. CASE STUDIES ....................................................................................................................... 55
3.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 55
3.2. The International Scale: Transboundary River Basins .......................................................... 56
3.2.1. The Nile .............................................................................................................................. 56
3.2.2. The Mekong ........................................................................................................................ 65
3.3. National Scale: ................................................................................................................... 71
3.3.1. Ethiopia ............................................................................................................................... 71
3.3.2. Laos ..................................................................................................................................... 76
3.4. Local-level Scale ................................................................................................................ 79
3.4.1. Ethiopia Blue Nile Subsistence Communities: Spotlight on Gumuz.................................. 79
3.4.2. Local Mekong Subsistence Communities ......................................................................... 100
4. METHODS ............................................................................................................................. 106
4.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 106
4.2. Systems ................................................................................................................................ 106
4.2.1. Scale .................................................................................................................................. 107
4.2.2. Time .................................................................................................................................. 107
4.2.3. Sector ................................................................................................................................ 108
4.2.4. Perception ......................................................................................................................... 110
4.2.5. International Scale ............................................................................................................ 111
4.2.6. National Scale ................................................................................................................... 117
4.2.7. Local Scale ........................................................................................................................ 121
4.3. Data collection and analysis................................................................................................. 123
4.3.1. International Scale ............................................................................................................ 125
4.3.2. National Scale ................................................................................................................... 130
4.3.3. Local Scale ........................................................................................................................ 150
5. RESULTS ............................................................................................................................... 157
5.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 157
5.1.1. International: transboundary river basins.......................................................................... 157
5.1.2. National: national agenda ................................................................................................. 158
5.1.3. Local: subsistence communities ....................................................................................... 159
5.2. International Scale ............................................................................................................... 160
5.2.1. Global Maps ...................................................................................................................... 160
5.2.2. Transboundary Basins for case studies ............................................................................. 163
5.3. National Scale ...................................................................................................................... 170
5.3.1. Demographics ................................................................................................................... 170
5.3.2. Content Analysis ............................................................................................................... 172
5.3.3. Ethiopia ............................................................................................................................. 172
5.3.4. Laos ................................................................................................................................... 179
5.4. Local Scale ........................................................................................................................... 188
5.4.1. Demographics ................................................................................................................... 188
5.4.2. Content Analysis ............................................................................................................... 190
5.4.3. Ethiopia ............................................................................................................................. 192
5.4.4. Laos ................................................................................................................................... 196
5.5. Recurrence themes ............................................................................................................... 204
5.5.1. National ............................................................................................................................. 206
5.5.2. Local ................................................................................................................................. 212
5.6. Human Security Key ............................................................................................................ 220
5.6.1. International Scale ............................................................................................................ 225
5.6.2. National Scale ................................................................................................................... 225
5.6.3. Local Scale ........................................................................................................................ 238
6. DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................... 252
6.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 252
6.1.1. Scale .................................................................................................................................. 252
6.1.2. Sector ................................................................................................................................ 252
6.1.3. Perception ......................................................................................................................... 252
6.1.4. Discussion Highlights ....................................................................................................... 253
6.2. International Scale ............................................................................................................... 256
6.2.1. Global maps ...................................................................................................................... 256
6.2.2. Transboundary River Basins ............................................................................................. 256
6.3. National Scale ...................................................................................................................... 259
6.3.1. Ethiopia ............................................................................................................................. 260
6.3.2. Human Security Key ......................................................................................................... 269
6.3.3. Laos ................................................................................................................................... 271
6.3.4. Human Security Key ......................................................................................................... 279
6.3.5. Comparison of Ethiopia and Laos National Scale Case Studies ....................................... 280
6.3.6. Ethiopia Local Scale ......................................................................................................... 281
6.3.7. Human Security Key ......................................................................................................... 286
6.3.8. Laos Local Scale ............................................................................................................... 287
6.3.9. Human Security Key ......................................................................................................... 292
6.3.10. Comparison of Ethiopia and Laos Local Scale Case Studies ......................................... 293
7. CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................... 296
7.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 296
7.2. Research Answers ................................................................................................................ 296
7.2.1. Human security is not the same as human development. ................................................. 296
7.2.2. Development impacts security differently at international, national, and local scales. .... 298
7.2.3. Development impacts security differently in different sectors (political, environment,
economic, and socio-cultural). .................................................................................................... 299
7.2.4. Perception of what is important to human security changes depending on the scale of
respondents as well as sectors considered. ................................................................................. 300
7.2.5. Quantitative data is not enough to describe human security dimension impacts of dam
development on transboundary rivers. ........................................................................................ 301
7.3. Conclusions on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam ...................................................... 302
7.4. Conclusions on the Xayaburi Dam ...................................................................................... 304
8. PostScript ................................................................................................................................ 308
9. BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................... 318
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
Figure 1: Resilience-based model of river system change due to dam development. .................. 30
Figure 2: Least Developed Countries List 2008 with HDI parameters: South Sudan has since
been added .................................................................................................................................... 42
Figure 3: UN Human Development Index 2008 ........................................................................... 51
Figure 4: Blue Nile River Facing Upstream from the Renaissance Dam Project Site,
Benishangul-Gumuz State, Ethiopia ............................................................................................. 57
Figure 5: The Mekong River Upstream From Xayaburi Dam Project Site in Dry Season,
Sayabouli Province, Laos.............................................................................................................. 66
Figure 6: Mekong River water balance (SIWRR 2014) ............................................................... 68
Figure 7: Improved road on the north side of the Blue Nile River that is used to transport
equipment and people to and from the Renaissance dam project site .......................................... 74
Figure 8: Bridge under construction on Mekong River will make the local ferry obsolete ......... 78
Figure 9: Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project Site, facing south, September 2012.......... 80
Figure 10: Gumuz boys on the banks of the Blue Nile River, upstream of the Renaissance Dam
project site ..................................................................................................................................... 82
Figure 11: Gumuz woman on Market Day in China Camp .......................................................... 83
Figure 12: Gumuz relocation-affected family near to Renaissance Dam project site .................. 84
Figure 13: Founder of Wednesday Market and his second wife .................................................. 85
Figure 14: Extent of Gumuz Ethnic Group in Ethiopia and Sudan (Ahland 2012) ...................... 86
Figure 15: Lowland area that will be flooded by Renaissance Dam, Blue Nile (Abay) River in
background .................................................................................................................................... 87
Figure 16: Land-cover type in Benishangul-Gumuz State (Shete 2011) ...................................... 88
Figure 17: Catfish caught in the Blue Nile River and Gumuz fisherman ..................................... 89
Figure 18: Variety of birds near the Renaissance Dam Project site ............................................. 91
Figure Page
Figure 19: Gumuz boys pan for gold in the riverbank .................................................................. 92
Figure 20: Gumuz boy shows gold mined from the riverbanks .................................................... 93
Figure 21: Market at China Camp with locally produced goods and outside goods brought in
from Bahir Dar or Asossa ............................................................................................................. 93
Figure 22: Gold flakes and measuring scale at Wednesday Market ............................................. 94
Figure 23: Gumuz woman hauls harvested sorghum from her farm in the riverbank .................. 95
Figure 24: Gumuz woman pans for gold in the Blue Nile River .................................................. 97
Figure 25: Grinding area with mud base and river stones ............................................................ 98
Figure 26: Gumuz village woman................................................................................................. 99
Figure 27: Mekong River Sayabouli Province, near to Xayaburi Dam site ............................... 100
Figure 28: Relocated Sayabouli Province village with electrification and fish farms ................ 101
Figure 29: Mekong River bank with bananas brought from upstream for trading ..................... 102
Figure 30: Laotians fishing, panning for gold, and farming along the Mekong River ............... 103
Figure 31: Lao children playing in the Mekong River ............................................................... 104
Figure 32: Lao woman with her three great grandchildren ......................................................... 105
Figure 33: Map of the Nile River basin boundary and related national territories ..................... 114
Figure 34: Map of the Mekong River basin boundary and related national territories............... 115
Figure 35: United Nations Least Developed Countries List and Year of Inclusion (UN 2014) . 117
Figure 36: Nile River basin Extent in Ethiopia ........................................................................... 119
Figure 37: Mekong River Basin Extent in Laos ......................................................................... 120
Figure 38: Local-scale Gumuz Local-scale Community in Benishangul-Gumuz, Ethiopia ...... 122
Figure 39: Laotian Local-scale Community in Sayabouli Province, Laos ................................. 123
Figure 40: Human Security Index Version 2.0 Data Breakout ................................................... 128
Figure Page
Figure 41: Ethiopia Map of the Populated Places Visited for Empirical and Interview Data
Collection .................................................................................................................................... 135
Figure 42: Lao Map of the Populated Places Visited for Empirical and Interview Data Collection
..................................................................................................................................................... 136
Figure 43: Example of a Mind Map from Laos National Scale Interview ................................. 138
Figure 44: Mind Map of Cumulative Economic Sector Themes at Ethiopia National Scale ..... 140
Figure 45: Venn diagram used to demonstrate sector overlaps of themes or statement ............. 142
Figure 46: Sector and subsector breakout for measurement of human security stability ........... 144
Figure 47: Breakout of water subsector in the Environment Sector ........................................... 146
Figure 48: Construction Work Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam September 2012 ................ 148
Figure 49: Construction Work Xayaburi Dam Project Site March 2013.................................... 149
Figure 50: Market Area with River-produced Food and Herbs, Gumuz Community Market,
Benishangul-Gumuz State, Ethiopia ........................................................................................... 153
Figure 51: Typical Village Center and Chief’s Administrative Tukul, Benishangul-Gumuz State,
Ethiopia ....................................................................................................................................... 154
Figure 52: Blue Nile Riverbank Where Local Gumuz Community Pans for Gold, Benishangul-
Gumuz State, Ethiopia ................................................................................................................ 154
Figure 53: Laotian Villages, Old and New Infrastructure .......................................................... 155
Figure 54: Riverbank Fishing and Artisanal Gold Panning Area ............................................... 156
Figure 55: Map of Global HDI by River Basin and Basin Country Unit ................................... 161
Figure 56: Map of World HSI by River Basin and Basin Country Unit..................................... 162
Figure 57: Map of Nile Basin HDI by Basin Country Unit ........................................................ 165
Figure 58: Map of Nile Basin HSI by Basin Country Unit......................................................... 166
Figure 59: Map of Mekong Basin HDI by Basin Country Unit ................................................. 168
Figure Page
Figure 60: Map of Mekong Basin HSI by Basin Country Unit .................................................. 169
Figure 61: Venn Diagram for Human Security........................................................................... 205
Figure 62: Ethiopia National-scale Cross-sector Theme Recurrence Diagram .......................... 207
Figure 63: Lao National-scale Cross-sector Theme Recurrence Diagram ................................. 210
Figure 64: Ethiopia Local Scale Respondents' Theme Recurrence ............................................ 215
Figure 65: Laos Local Scale Respondent's Recurrence Themes ................................................ 218
Figure 66: Human Security Key Scoring Colors and Numbers .................................................. 221
Figure 67: Human Security Key Model Breakout ...................................................................... 223
Figure 68: Decision tree for Political .......................................................................................... 224
Figure 69: Decision tree for Environment .................................................................................. 224
Figure 70: Decision tree for Economic ....................................................................................... 224
Figure 71: Decision tree for Socio-cultural ................................................................................ 225
Figure 72: Cumulative Ethiopia National Scale Word Cloud for Top 15 Words ....................... 268
Figure 73: Cumulative Laos National Scale Word Cloud for Top 15 Words ............................ 278
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
Table 1: Spatially scaled systems for this study. ........................................................................ 107
Table 2: Sectors used in this study and components of those sectors ......................................... 109
Table 3 Sector meaning for 3 scales of perception: International, National, and Local ............. 111
Table 4: Types of datasets used at different the three scales. ..................................................... 124
Table 5: Human Development Index Parameter Composition ................................................... 125
Table 6: Questions for National-level participants ..................................................................... 131
Table 7: Demographics on Respondents for Interviews at National Level ................................ 133
Table 8: Questions for local-level field interviews ..................................................................... 151
Table 9: Demographics of Local-level Respondents .................................................................. 152
Table 10: Resulting Sectors of most concern by Scale ............................................................... 157
Table 11: Km
2
and % area of Nile River basin countries from TFDD River Basin Registry..... 163
Table 12: River Basin Registry of % and area in km
2
of the Mekong River BCUs. .................. 167
Table 13: Demographics on Respondents for Interviews at National Level .............................. 171
Table 14: Questions for National-level participants ................................................................... 172
Table 15: Ethiopia National-level Themes Frequency in Political Sector .................................. 174
Table 16: Ethiopia National-level Theme Frequency in Environmental Sector ......................... 176
Table 17: Ethiopia National-level Themes Frequency in Economic Sector ............................... 177
Table 18: Ethiopia National level Theme Frequency in Socio-Cultural Sector ......................... 179
Table 19: Laos National level Theme Frequency in Political Sector ......................................... 182
Table 20: Laos National level Theme Frequency in Environmental Sector ............................... 184
Table 21: Laos National level Theme Frequency in Economic Sector ...................................... 186
Table 22: Laos National level Theme Frequency in Socio-cultural Sector ................................ 188
Table Page
Table 23: Demographics of Local-level Respondents ................................................................ 190
Table 24: Questions for local-level field interviews ................................................................... 192
Table 25: Ethiopia Local-Level Theme Frequency in the Political Sector ................................. 193
Table 26: Ethiopia Local-Level Theme Frequency in the Environmental Sector ...................... 194
Table 27: Ethiopia Local-Level Theme Frequency in the Economic Sector .............................. 195
Table 28: Ethiopia Local-Level Theme Frequency in the Socio-Cultural Sector ...................... 196
Table 29: Laos Local-level Themes Frequency in Political Sector ............................................ 198
Table 30: Laos Local-level Themes Frequency in Environmental Sector .................................. 200
Table 31: Laos Local-level Themes Frequency in Economic Sector ......................................... 202
Table 32: Laos Local-level Themes Emerged in Socio-cultural Sector ..................................... 204
Table 33: Security Indices Consulted for Human Security Key Development .......................... 221
Table 34: Ethiopia National Scale Median and Mode Human Security Key Scores.................. 227
Table 35: Ethiopia National Present: Political ............................................................................ 227
Table 36: Ethiopia National Present: Environment .................................................................... 228
Table 37: Ethiopia National Present: Economic ......................................................................... 228
Table 38: Ethiopia National Present: Socio-culture .................................................................... 228
Table 39: Ethiopia National Future: Political ............................................................................. 229
Table 40: Ethiopia National Future: Environment ...................................................................... 229
Table 41: Ethiopia National Future: Economic .......................................................................... 230
Table 42: Ethiopia National Future: Socio-culture ..................................................................... 230
Table 43: Ethiopia Official Future: Politics ................................................................................ 231
Table 44: Ethiopia Official Future: Environment ....................................................................... 231
Table 45: Ethiopia Official Future: Economic............................................................................ 231
Table Page
Table 46: Ethiopia Official Future: Socio-culture ...................................................................... 232
Table 47: Laos National Scale Median and Mode Human Security Key Scores ....................... 233
Table 48: Laos National Present: Politics ................................................................................... 234
Table 49: Laos National Present: Environment .......................................................................... 234
Table 50: Laos National Present: Economic ............................................................................... 234
Table 51: Laos National Present: Socio-culture ......................................................................... 235
Table 52: Laos National Future: Politics .................................................................................... 235
Table 53: Laos National Scale Future: Environment .................................................................. 236
Table 54: Laos National Future: Economic ................................................................................ 236
Table 55: Laos National Scale Future: Socio-culture ................................................................. 236
Table 56: Laos Official Future: Politics ...................................................................................... 237
Table 57: Laos Official Future: Environment ............................................................................. 237
Table 58: Laos Official Future: Economic ................................................................................. 238
Table 59: Laos Official Future: Socio-culture ............................................................................ 238
Table 60: Ethiopia Local Scale Median and Mode Human Security Key Scores ...................... 240
Table 61: Ethiopia Local Present: Politics .................................................................................. 241
Table 62: Ethiopia Local Present: Environment ......................................................................... 241
Table 63: Ethiopia Local Present: Economic.............................................................................. 241
Table 64: Ethiopia Local Present: Socio-culture ........................................................................ 242
Table 65: Ethiopia Local Future: Environment .......................................................................... 242
Table 66: Ethiopia Local Future: Economic ............................................................................... 243
Table 67: Ethiopia Local Future: Politics ................................................................................... 243
Table 68: Ethiopia Local Future: Socio-culture.......................................................................... 243
Table Page
Table 69: Ethiopia Official Future: Politics ................................................................................ 244
Table 70: Ethiopia Official Future: Environment ....................................................................... 244
Table 71: Ethiopia Official Future: Economic............................................................................ 245
Table 72: Ethiopia Official Future: Socio-culture ...................................................................... 245
Table 73: Laos Local Scale Median and Mode Human Security Key Scores ............................ 246
Table 74: Laos Local Present: Politics........................................................................................ 247
Table 75: Laos Local Present: Environment ............................................................................... 247
Table 76: Laos Local Present: Economic ................................................................................... 247
Table 77: Laos Local Present: Socio-culture .............................................................................. 248
Table 78: Laos Local Future: Politics ......................................................................................... 248
Table 79: Laos Local Future: Environment ................................................................................ 249
Table 80: Laos Local Future: Economic ..................................................................................... 249
Table 81: Laos Local Future: Socio-culture ............................................................................... 249
Table 82: Laos Official Future: Politics ...................................................................................... 250
Table 83: Laos Official Future: Environment ............................................................................. 250
Table 84: Laos Official Future: Economic ................................................................................. 251
Table 85: Laos Official Future: Socio-culture ............................................................................ 251
Table 86: Breakout of community by scale and case study and related primary concern .......... 255
APPENDIX
For additional material that includes a complete set mind maps for each interview, collective
mind maps for each case study scale, word clouds for each interview and case study scale, flow
charts for the human security key, high resolution maps of each basin, related publications by the
author, the author’s research blog, and photos of the project sites please visit:
http://www.transboundarywaters.orst.edu/research/Human%20Security%20in%20Nile%
20and%20Mekong/index.html
DEDICATION
Each journey has a beginning and, as far as I can recall, this one began during night courses I
attended at Naugatuck Valley Community Technical College, in Waterbury, Connecticut: It was
there, in those classrooms, that I met Professor William Foster III and Professor Lucy Anne
Hurston, who became my first academic mentors. Through their example, encouragement, and
enduring friendships, I learned to be brave enough to go further, to push harder, to question the
limits of my intellectual curiosity, to accept that there are many different perspectives and
different walks, and to search for the real reasons behind the reasons we are given. They
challenged me to live a richer life and to ‘jump at de sun’. I dedicate this work to both of them.
Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to "jump at de sun." We might not land on the
sun, but at least we would get off the ground.
- Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942.
1
1. INTRODUCTION
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find that it is hitched to everything in the
Universe” John Muir, 1911
Human security is a broadly defined term that, for the purposes of this study, serves as a
framework to capture multiple scales of present stability and future sustainability in political,
environmental, economical, and socio-cultural systems. Recent studies of dam development find
that impacts of large-scale dams include myriad costs that are overlooked due to expected
benefits (Ansar et al. 2014, Tullos et al. 2013, Richter et al. 2010, WCD 2000). These impacts
may become more complex when the dam is proposed for development on an internationally
shared river. The UN’s Millennium Development Goals (that target 2015) contain language that
pertains indirectly to the promotion of hydropower development as an answer to global energy
needs. The UN’s Human Development Report and associated Least Developed Countries (LDC)
list identifies countries most in need of development attention and aid. Due to global economic
shifts in resources during the last decade, some of the world’s LDCs are now able to secure funds
to realize large-scale dam development to address economic development efforts. This study
examines two of those projects, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Xayaburi Dam,
from perspectives of the Nile and Mekong transboundary river basins, the nations that are
constructing the dam, Ethiopia and Laos, and the local affected subsistence communities
geographically located near to where the dam is being constructed on these rivers. Perceptions
are analyzed through the multi-scalar and multi-sector framework of human security and
compared across sector and scale. Also, comparison is made between quantitative-data derived
global indices, and qualitative-data derived fieldwork and interviews.
Perception is based on access and availability of information, environment, belief, and
experience. Recent research suggests that the perception of large-scale dams as beneficial for
economies and societies is driving current decision-making in favor of this type of development
project more strongly than the actual economic and social benefits (Ansar et al. 2014). This
research finds three distinct communities of perception in the Nile and Mekong transboundary
2
river basins. These are described as the international river basin, the nation-state, and the local
subsistence communities.
When a dam is developed in a transboundary river basin that exhibits instable characteristics of
human security, as measured by global indices and/or interview-based responses in field work,
the resulting challenges may go beyond previously understood costs and benefits connected to
dam development. A dam development project may bolster, may destroy, or may have no
influence on local, national, or regional stability and/or sustainability in political, environmental,
economical, and/or socio-cultural systems at different time scales. In this study I collect evidence
of potential and actual change as reported by communities and their experience with
interdependent or dependent systems connected to the river through field interviews. I then
analyze this qualitative data and measure the responses through a Human Security Key
developed to assess content and empirical observation qualities in this study. I base the Human
Security Key on existing indices and rank the responses in reflection to the United Nations
Human Development Index (HDI). I then can compare and contrast this analysis with globally
accepted ranks of the HDI and the UN’s experimental Human Security Index. Through
comparison I can determine whether assessing human security at multiple scales is more
accurately captured by global indices, field interviews and empirical observation, or a
combination of both the quantitative and qualitative derived information. Whether development
of large-scale dam projects is appropriate for emerging economies is a topic of debate between
policy makers, environmentalists, economists, and social scientists because of perceived costs
and benefits.
1.1. STRUCTURE
In order to simplify the complexity of this study, the content is presented by scale, sector, and
case study throughout the text. The scale is in general described as international, national, and
local. The human security sectors are political, environment, economic, and socio-culture
systems. The detailed description of these bounded systems is given in Chapter 3. The two case
3
studies are, as mentioned, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River and the
Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River.
I use scale for the overall structure because of the significant difference present in analysis of the
gathered qualitative data from the indices from the quantitative content collected from field
interviews and empirical observation. This distinction is important because the different scales of
communities have different roles and influences connected with dam development.
- International-scale community concerns, perceptions, and attitudes toward human security
aspects of a transboundary river basin drive political decisions and financial investments in
development projects in developing countries.
- National-scale community concerns, perceptions, and attitudes toward human security
aspects of a transboundary river drive decisions to implement large-scale water resources
development.
- Local-scale community concerns, perception, and attitudes toward human security aspects of
a transboundary river are driven by direct dependence.
Though these different communities have different agendas and relationship to dam development
projects, their concerns, perceptions, and attitudes influence their decisions and result in impacts
throughout the different-scaled communities.
The study considers two case studies of major dam development projects on internationally
shared rivers in the Nile and Mekong River basins for three geographic scales and two time
scales. The international community perspective is captured through the application of the HDI
and the newer expanded Human Security Index (HSI) to basin country units (BCUs) taken from
the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database (TFDD). Time in this analysis, is subsumed.
The national and local scale community perspectives are based on 10 months fieldwork to
include official and unofficial interviews and empirical observations. These were collected in
Ethiopia and Laos from August 2012 through May 2013. A total of 104 official field interviews
are analyzed and measured for the 4 identified aspects of human security: politics, environment,
economics, and socio-culture. The interviews and empirical data were conducted in 10 Ethiopian
urban centers and 11 Ethiopian villages on the Blue Nile River, and in 4 Lao urban centers and 3
4
Lao villages on the Mekong River. The qualitative-based results are fed into a measurement tool
developed for this study termed “Human Security Key” to assess perception of interviewees and
official information for present and future time scales. This is the first such attempt to apply
human security as a formal concept on transboundary basins at multiple scales. This is also the
first independent research collected on the local communities who will be displaced by both the
Renaissance and Xayaburi dam projects.
This analysis can be used for policy makers, dam developers, decision makers, security analysts,
and civil society to engage in planning, management, and preparation for future uncertain change
resulting from dam development and potentially resulting related internal and external factors of
change to include regional instability, climate change, and natural disasters.
1.2. CHAPTER PREVIEW
1.2.1. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Approximately 45% of the earth’s terrestrial surface, excluding Antarctica, is covered by an
estimated 276 transboundary river basins (TFDD 2014, Wolf 1993). Transboundary rivers are
rivers shared by territory in more than one country (Wolf et al. 1999). Of the number of large
dams on rivers worldwide has grown from 5,000 in 1950, to 45,000 in 2000, and over 50,000 in
2006 (Richter et al. 2010), an unknown number of these are found in transboundary river basins.
Seventy percent of global rivers are dammed, for purposes of flood control, water storage, water
supply, (Kummu and Varis 2007) and are responsible for 19% of global energy generated by
hydropower (WCD 2000). Dam construction has increased accessible global water supplies by
28% (Kummu and Varis 2007), which is an estimated amount of 8,000 km
3
water (Chao, Wu
and Li 2008). This has provided water resources for 12%-16% of global food production
(Richter et al. 2010).
Dam development has displaced 40-80 million people (WCD 2000) and adversely impacted an
estimated 472 downstream river-dependent people (Richter et al. 2010). Dams damage
5
ecosystems and the environment in ways that are poorly understood and often overlooked.
However, social and environmental cost due to dam development has not deterred dam
development popularity. Despite anti-dam protests in the late 20
th
century and environmental
and social costs of dam development identified by the World Commission on Dams Report in
2000, the international community continues to embrace dam development as a positive and
beneficial type of global development for renewable energy and securing water supplies
(Bosshard 2010, Berga et al. 2006).
Although seven of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals subsume issues of water
development for basic supply and sanitation (Gleick 2004), the Goals also contains language that
promotes environmental sustainability (Van Koppen, Moriarty and Boelee 2006) which may
translate into renewable energy development in the face of growing energy demands worldwide.
Because of the large mega-watt output of hydropower, and renewable energy classification, dams
are an obvious development choice for developing countries rich in water resources with high
hydropower potential.
Dam development worldwide continues unabated, restricted only by financial constraints (Berga
et al. 2006). In the past, financing large dams came from limited financial sources, but this has
changed more recently. Global economic changes in the last decade have allowed for new
foreign direct investments from the emerging market economies, countries that were not as
financially significant in decades previous (Luo, Xue and Han 2010). This economic shift,
coupled with developing countries with unrealized hydropower potential, is leading to new
controversial dam development on rivers, some of which are found in transboundary river basins.
This is exemplified in the two cases of the Renaissance and Xayaburi dam projects.
River systems are as much ecological systems and natural resource systems as they are political,
economic, and social systems. However, water resources are requisite for all living systems
because there is no alternative. This is arguably a more immediate reality than the importance to
6
economic systems, political systems, and socio-cultural systems. At the start of the 21st century,
human consumption constituted 54% of all available renewable water resources and, with
population growth, this percent is projected to increase to 70% by 2025 and to 90% by 2030
(Krchnak 2013). These figures do not represent total potential global freshwater resource
demand as more than 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion people
lack access to proper sanitation (Gleick 2003) and the global population continues to grow
exponentially.
Water resources-use is typically understood as divided between ecosystem, domestic,
subsistence, municipal, agricultural, industrial, energy, cultural, and commercial demands and
political and economic interest. But water resources are threatened by contamination, climate
change, groundwater exhaustion, uncoordinated and unsustainable development, political power
imbalance, lack of stewardship, aging or inadequate delivery and treatment infrastructure, and
increasing demand (Wolf, Yoffe and Giordano 2003, Zeitoun and Mirumachi 2008).
Several studies have examined how already-stressed vulnerable systems could be driven past a
tipping point by shifts in climate (Barnett, Adam and Lettenmaier 2005, Dabelko 2008, Mabey
2007). Themes in these studies suggest that securing, managing, and stabilizing water resources
is important for planetary health, human societies, and development efforts. Because water, as a
resource, is connected to ecosystems and environmentally, economically, politically, and
culturally to societies living along its banks, as well as to national communities that claim the
river within sovereign borders, and neighboring international communities that share the river
up- and down-stream, finding the right balance of use and conservation is an ongoing concern.
There are governments targeted by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and
Least Developed Countries list for water, energy, and economic development. LDCs with major
water and related natural resources are looking toward exploiting those natural resources to meet
the development targets. This development is measured most commonly economically by
7
increased GDP. Within this context there are benefits for society, politics, and economies from
dams. Chapter 2 is a literature review of the definitions, assumptions, and various frameworks
and history behind narratives and frames in human security, water resources, dams, development,
scale, and perception. The papers span multiple disciplines, primarily geography, anthropology,
water resources, security studies, philosophy, and political ecology. This research depends upon
an interdisciplinary approach to consider such complex and interconnected systems. Water
resources studies are, by nature, interdisciplinary because of the far-reaching aspects of use and
users. Some of the terms used in this research are new to the discourse and as such are still
poorly defined. I highlight this when it comes up.
Chapter 2 also covers the theoretical frames of resilience, modernization, and securitization, used
in the analysis, approach, and understanding of the subject. These theories are considered under
an umbrella of complex systems framework. The theories help identify both the strengths and
weaknesses of the systems considered, what parts of the system are important for what aspects of
human society, better understanding of the motivation toward development from national and
international values.
Resilience theory is applied to ecological and human systems as a way to understand system
adaptability, flexibility, or vulnerability (Holling 1973, Cosens and Williams 2012). In this
study, measuring resilience of the river and dependent systems is a way to understand how dam
development can impact human security. Resilience theory is applied most often to
environmental change, but also has application to social systems and human psychology
adaptations. The theory helps describe and understand how change can be absorbed by a system
or can alter that system to reconfigure in a new state. Change, in this context, is understood to be
an altering or driving internal or external force, such as impacts on different scales of
communities and in different sectors from dam development. I apply this theory to identify
strengths and weaknesses of river and dependent systems in the face of change.
8
Modernization theory states that human society must undergo a natural evolution of development
to progress and reach a more politically evolved (read: democratic) and peaceful international
and intranational (or sub-national) state (Rostow 1960). W.W. Rostow, who popularized a linear
model theory of modernization, was instrumental in the establishment of US AID (Mikesell
1970, Sidaway 2006). His theory reflected the attitude of the international community at the
time, and in many ways, still does. The theory again gained popularity in the post-9/11 discourse
about the importance in the spread of democracy. This theoretical perspective offers one basis
for persistent decisions to build dams in the 21
st
century based on mid-20
th
century assessments
of rivers. This perspective runs contrary to late-20
th
century studies that found long-term costs of
dams can outweigh short-term benefits (WCD 2000). Securitization theory gives the basis for the
four sectors of focus in human security.
Global economies are compared through indices like the UN’s HDI. The strength of a country’s
economy is thought to depend on the state of that country’s development. For the HDI, this is
measured by a combination of a country’s import and export activity, domestic trade, GDP, and
human resources. A country’s development is not based directly on its infrastructure, but
indirectly because of success in the above mentioned areas, which are dependent upon
infrastructure to support import/export, trade, GDP, and human resources. Dams are a form of
infrastructure that enables success in these other areas directly and indirectly.
Theory has evolved for centuries to address why one country succeeds where another fails. The
popular impetus behind today’s development discussions is based on modernization theory.
Although the theory is considered imperfect and even controversial in academic circles, it was
popular at the time of the formation of agencies such as the USAID and continues to leave its
mark on the way we understand how to address issues related to poverty. This theory posits that
a country must go through a natural linear process of social and political development, through
economic development. It further puts forward that the ideal society is a democratic one and that
peace may follow if all countries evolve through the five stages.
9
The modernization theory goal results in evolution of society and cultures through development.
Improved water and sanitation systems can improve human morbidity from water-borne diseases
and diarrhea by 25% and 32% respectively (Sanctuary et al., 2004). Dam development, as
mentioned previously, allows for increases in access to electricity and water for agriculture.
Dams may also compete with other water uses, especially felt in river-dependent subsistence
communities, and like what happened in countries like the United States, can result in complete
obliteration of indigenous or traditional societies and/or cultures.
Securitization theory considers possible threats that extend beyond traditional national-level
political and economic to include threats to and from social and environmental security concerns
(Buzan 2001). This theory offers the basis for the identified categories for human security used
in this study. Understanding the extent of changes brought about by development to rivers and
their dependent systems through these three theories is important for understanding the detailed
security of society and nature, as well as understanding the future stability of the river system
after a big dam change. Nations are concerned with political stability and overall economic
stability. Subnational and supranational communities, the international aid and donor community
included, are concerned with social and environmental stability. However, both nations and these
communities are concerned with infrastructural or development stability. Dams are both a type of
infrastructure and a type of development, so of concern at many levels and for many people.
Human security is contested interdisciplinary body of literature that spans security studies,
international relations, water resources, human rights, human health, international development,
political science, and military studies discourse. Acceptable definitions of the term vary from
very narrow to very broad and so there is no one acceptable definition of the term (Edson, 2001;
Elderling 2010). The understanding within securitization studies helps shape the framework for
this particular study and application of the concept. For this study, the term “human security”
refers collectively to political security, environmental security, economic security, and socio-
cultural security. These are explained in detail in Chapter 4. I see human security as a versatile
10
framework that can have application across complex systems in these above mentioned sectors at
various scales, but points back to the sustainability and stability of the system in question (i.e.
national scale; socio-culture sector).
1.2.2. CHAPTER 3 CASE STUDIES
Chapter 3 covers backgrounds of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River
in Ethiopia and the Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River in Laos. I present the political, natural,
economic, and historic and cultural context at three scales: the international basin, the countries
of Ethiopia and Laos, and the subsistence riverine communities, focused on the Gumuz ethnic
minority in Ethiopia, and Laotians in Laos.
Due to the geographic orientation and size of the Nile River and Mekong River basins, there are
a variety of climates in the basin. The evaporation rate in the Nile basin is high and in some
places there is more than 70% water loss well before the river reaches the Mediterranean Sea
(WCC 1999). Though the 1959 Nile basin Treaty lists the average flow of the river as 84
BCM/yr and 10 BCM/yr loss to evaporation and seepage (TFDD 2014). These figures need to be
updated to reflect current climate and infrastructure. Though the waters of the Nile River are
100% allocated to Egypt and Sudan under an international treaty, there are 9 other countries in
the basin with development plans. The waters of Mekong are shared and there is no specific
allocation by country.
Both the Nile and Mekong Rivers experience monsoon-pulse precipitation patterns.. This means
that their waters are refreshed by cyclical wet seasons of high precipitation and followed by dry
seasons of relatively low or no precipitation. The Nile River is the longest river in the world with
a transboundary basin that experiences continual volatile political unrest, harsh environmental
conditions, poor economies, and rapidly increasing populations (Veilleux 2013). The Mekong
River is the world’s most biologically (fish) productive river with a transboundary basin that
spans oppressive communist governments and political unrest, rapidly changing land-use and
11
related localized climate change, developing economies, and increasing populations (Pech and
Sunada 2008). Both transboundary river basins, at the international scale, are experiencing
political and diplomatic changes driven by economic development opportunities in countries on
the UN’s Least Developed Countries list. These are reflected in changes in development on the
river and related natural resources systems. Chapter 3 explains the details of the international
political influence and impact on the river systems historically, presently, and speculates on
possible future outcomes.
Both dams in this study are the largest water resources development projects for the respective
governments, and are just the first of several dams planned on the international rivers. Both
countries are using non-traditional forms of funding for the respective dam projects. Ethiopia is
raising the money for the dam domestically and from the Diaspora through donation and selling
bonds. Laos is receiving foreign direct investment from Thailand – a termed “south-south
transaction” (Aykut and Ratha 2004).
The Renaissance Dam is Ethiopia’s first development megaproject with a projected installed
capacity of 6,000 MW. The project cost is estimated at $4.6 billion USD (Veilleux 2013).
Ethiopia currently has only about 2,000 MW of installed capacity and 80% of that comes from
hydropower (Bartle 2002), though as recently as 2000 an estimated 90% of Ethiopians used
biomass burning for cooking and heating (Mekonnen 1999). The dam is being developed on the
Blue Nile, domestically referred to as the Abay, River in the remote Benishangul-Gumuz State
near to the Sudan border. The watershed of the Blue Nile River accounts for 50% of all surface
water resources in Ethiopia, but it is highly seasonal. The majority of the 80 million nationals
live under the poverty line and annually Ethiopia is the recipient of food aid due to an extended
drought and food insecurity. The local population where the dam is being developed is majority
ethnic minority group called the Gumuz. This marginalized community is located predominantly
in the remote Blue Nile River valley and do not have access to basic infrastructure, historically
subsist on the river and related natural resources, and are some of the poorest people in Ethiopia.
12
The Xayaburi dam is the first dam developed on the Lower Mekong River and largest dam
project in Laos. The dam is being constructed near to the Thai border in a remote part of Laos.
The Xayaburi Dam will have an installed capacity of 1260MW and an estimated cost of $3.6
billion USD (Vaidyanathan 2012). Though the dam is being constructed in Laos, 80% of the
energy will be exported to meet Thailand’s growing domestic energy needs. Laos is on the LDC
list and revenue from the dam is expected to help boost national GDP to allow for the country to
take itself off of the list. The local population where the dam is being developed is traditional
subsistence communities. The communities did not have access to basic infrastructure before the
dam project began.
Both dam projects had been a full year underway at the time of this research and both had caught
attention of international media criticism. Both dams are the first water resources development
projects of significance and this scale for their governments. The Renaissance Dam is Ethiopia’s
first megaproject with a projected installed capacity of 6,000 MW and located on the contentious
Blue Nile River. The Xayaburi dam is the first dam developed on the Lower Mekong River. The
success of each project will alter regional, as well as national, politics and economies and
Chapter 3 sets the background for what the dams may alter.
1.2.3. CHAPTER 4 METHODS
Chapter 4 gives an overview and description of my hypotheses, research design, research
questions, methods, and analysis. The overall hypothesis that dam development is a mechanism
for human security is dependent on the following three sub-questions:
1. Is dam development a mechanism for human security?
1. Does human security stabilization from dam development change
according to the scale considered?
2. Does human security stabilization from dam development depend
upon the sector considered?
3. Relevant development costs and benefits are determined by a
dominant value system, does this change according to
international, national, or local perceptions?
13
In order to answer these questions, appropriate methods need to be identified and used. Due to
the multi-scale and multi-sector nature of the study, several methods are considered and used.
This leads to the following question:
Are quantitative proxies enough to understand change to security from development? Or is
qualitative data needed for context and capturing systemic complexity?
Measuring different types of information, whether quantitative economic values or qualitative
educational context, at only one scale or with one predominant system of human security in
mind, the overall impacts of dams can be masked or missed entirely. As already stated, the
present study attempts to capture both quantitative and qualitative data for the political,
environmental, economical, and socio-cultural systems at three scales. This is accomplished by
building two case studies through qualitative data method collection and analysis that describe
the general perceptions of international, national, and local communities in each case as well as
quantitative data based Human Security Index (HSI), an index built from the United Nations
Human Development Index for international and national scaled communities.
I describe how I geographically and ideologically bound the systems for research by scale and
sector. I present the methods I use to collect and analyze the separate datasets used in this study.
Several datasets are used, depending on scale, and several analytical methods are used
appropriate to the type of data being analyzed. For the international scale, I use ArcGIS mapping
and retain the method of ranking from the HDI and assign ranking for the HSI data sources.
For both the national and local scale qualitative field interviews, I use mind maps to deconstruct
each interview and then create collective mind maps to group themes into the four human
security sectors. I build theme tables for each of the four human security sectors to measure
frequency of information narrated. I identify which of these themes occurs across different
sectors and express this in Venn diagrams. Lastly, I take the combination of narrative and
empirical observations gathered during fieldwork to answer questions in the Human Security
Key. The Key is developed to measure the qualities of the narratives as they relate to the same
14
ranking scale of the HDI – very secure, secure, slightly insecure, and insecure. These results can
be compared with the results of the HDI and HSI.
For each case study I consider the international, national, and local community scales separately.
The international scale is described through quantitative datasets used to generate the Human
Development and Human Security Indices. I combine these indices with the TFDD BCUs to
project HDI and HSI by transboundary basin. Each basin is described by BCU ranking and then
given an overall ranking can then be compared across global basin rankings.
The national and local scales are described through qualitative context derived in field
interviews, empirical observations, and information from official documents. The national scale
is collected from the state capitals, and other major towns and cities. The local scale is collected
from villages near to the dam development sites. Comparing the three scales reveals differences
and similarities between the perspectives, values, and priorities related to the four human
security sectors.
1.2.4. CHAPTER 5 RESULTS
The results of the analysis and assessments of the case studies are presented by international,
national, and local scales. The global and transboundary basin-wide HDI and HSI scores are
given. Each set of results is described in detail and then compared across scale, sector, and case
study. Frequency tables are described for the most interesting or significant trends in each sector.
From this, recurrence themes are isolated and analyzed for their contribution to resilience or
vulnerability to the overall human security system. This is important to note as the recurring
themes are likely hinged upon the dam development.
The Nile River basin has a collective low HDI and HSI scores. The Mekong River basin has a
collective mid HDI and HSI score. Comparing these scores with the internal country perception
from the national-level interviewees reveals a difference in results by scale. The Ethiopian
15
national-scale perception reveals a higher human security score in some areas than the
international-scale ranking. The Lao national-scale perception reveals a lower human security
score in some areas than the international-scale ranking.
The most relevant themes at the national level for Ethiopia are particularly concerned with
economic importance and the social important of the Renaissance Dam. The most relevant
themes at the national level for Laos pertain to environmental concerns, economic concerns, and
lack of political transparency. At the local level, both Ethiopia and Lao respondents indicate the
importance of the respective rivers to everyday life in all sectors, especially in both cases, for
flood recession agriculture. In Laos respondents indicate that fish, after water, is the most
important river resource environmentally, economically, and socially. In Ethiopia respondents
indicate that gold, after water, is the most important river resource environmentally,
economically, and socially. In both cases, dam development will change the local access to
water, fish, and gold.
The Human Security Key is used to analyze qualitative data for present and future time scales
according to the interviewees and official documents and interviews. The general trends of
similarities and differences between the perceptions are highlighted and compared across case
study and scale. For Ethiopia, the national perception taken from the interviews is more in line
with the official perception than in Laos. In Laos, perception between national-level respondents
and the official perception deviates most markedly in the areas of politics and environment. In
both Ethiopia and Laos, the national and official perception of the future economies is most
similar.
The local scale perception of the future in Ethiopia is more similar to the official perception of
the future, in general, than it is in Laos. The locals in Ethiopia are completely in line with the
official perception of the future environment. The biggest deviations are in economics and socio-
culture, but not very big differences. The locals in Laos are most dissimilar to the official
16
perception of the environment. There is also a difference of perception of future politics. The
biggest similarities of Lao local and official perceptions are in economics.
1.2.5. CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION
Chapter 6 discusses the entire body of work in the context of the hypotheses, and presents
whether the initial questions have been answered by this methodology and inquiry. Discussion
for the international scale explores the information given in the global and regional river basin
maps of HDI and HSI. The additional parameters in the HSI allows for change to the country
rankings in the Nile River basin. Comparatively, the additional HSI parameters do not change
much in the Mekong River basin rankings.
The national scale explores the interview data results by case study and draws comparisons
across the Ethiopian and Laotian national responses. The most distinct differences between the
case studies are that in Ethiopia the national scale interviewees are supportive of the dam and
feel less interested in environmental and social impacts at the local level. In Laos the national
scale interviewees are not expressly supportive of the dam and feel more interested in
preservation of the environment and protection of the local populations from negative social
impacts. In both case studies respondents are supportive of development and alleviation of
poverty. In both case studies the officials support their decision to build the dam in order to
respond to issues of poverty, to elevate the country from the Least Developed Country status,
and to become the regional center for energy supply.
The local scale explores the interview data results by case study and draws comparisons across
the subsistence communities’ responses. These responses appeared more similar across case
study as both communities use the river resources in a similar way: farming, fishing, mining,
domestic use, and transportation. The biggest change in both communities will be the loss of
traditional knowledge in how to live on the natural river systems and practice flood recession
17
agriculture. For the Gumuz communities a big change will be the loss of gold panning. For the
Laotian communities a big change will be the loss of river fishing.
The significant difference in these communities is that Laotians recognize a difference in fish
catch and climate changes over the last five years. This change is so significant that local are
changing their traditional livelihoods and seeking other forms of employment. The Gumuz
community is more remote and marginalized in Ethiopia and there are little to no alternatives to
their traditional livelihoods at the moment.
The Human Security Key results for the case studies are also discussed. In general, the key
reveals a relative harmony in the Ethiopian perceptions between the interviewed communities
and the official information and a dissonance in the Laotian perceptions between the interviewed
communities and the official information.
1.2.6. CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION
The chapter describes an overall review of the work, highlights useful suggestions about moving
forward, and identifies areas in need of further research and consideration. The original questions
are revisited and presented as answers:
- Human security is not the same as human development.
- Development impacts security differently at international, national, and local scales.
- Development impacts security differently in different sectors (political, environment,
economic, and socio-cultural).
- Perception of what is important to human security changes depending on the scale of
respondents as well as sectors considered.
- Quantitative data considered on its own is not enough information to describe human security
impacts of dam development on transboundary rivers.
Each case study conclusion is also presented by scale with recommendations.
18
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
“If I have seen further it is by standing on [the] shoulders of Giants.” Sir Isaac Newton
2.1. INTRODUCTION
The following literature review presents the academic basis for this study. The literature I cite
here is not exhaustive, but it helps to define terms, give academic history of concepts, and is
either directly or indirectly relevant to the terms and concepts I use in this study. As stated in
Chapter 1, the question of whether dams are mechanisms for human security is broken into three
sub-questions of scale, sector, and perception. This section defines what scale is, of what the
sectors are composed, and philosophic and sociologically grounded ideas of perception.
Initially, the concept of scale is introduced. Thereafter, the chapter is organized by international,
national, and local scales and within each scale, the sectors of politics, environment, economics,
and socio-culture. There are overlaps and redundancies, but I have attempted to fit the
appropriate set of papers with the appropriate scale and sector.
2.2. SCALE
There is debate within geographic literature about the existence of and relevance of scale
(Christopher Brown and Purcell 2005), though even those who discount still define scale as a
nested hierarchy of different sized and bounded space that is socially constructed and sometimes
alterable (Marston, Jones and Woodward 2005; Marston 2000). Without getting involved about
why scale is in debate in this study scale refers to the above definition. Scale is bounded in this
study by international, national, and sub-national or local communities. There is a shift in
perception, orientation, identity, and platforms for communication within the three scales that I
use in this work, identified as separate physical scales and nested in the larger international river
basin context.
19
Three general levels of scale are employed to describe and understand interactions concerning
the security of water resources: the individual, national, and international systems (Buzan and
Wæver 2009). This study and the structure of its presentation are organized by scale. As already
introduced in the structure of the introduction, each chapter reflects a grouping of the text based
on international, national, or local scale as a general concept. Within each scaled section, the
information is further grouped by the particular sector it is most relevant to: political,
environment, economic, or socio-cultural. These sections reflect the breakdown of human
security as introduced in the previous chapter. There are some natural overlaps in this method,
and where important, the overlaps are highlighted or subsumed.
2.3. INTERNATIONAL SCALE
2.3.1. COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS
Complex system theory is an interdisciplinary method of understanding a concept, such as an
ecosystem or an institution, as a series of non-linear relationships (Lansing, 2003). The theory
spanned ecology, mathematics, and computer sciences initially, then gained popularity in the
natural and social sciences as an attempt to integrate theory between disciplines to cover
sustainability issues (Gunderson, Holling and Allen 2009, Holling 1973, Holling 2001). The
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) describes the factors that impact a
system to include factors such as “social, political, ecological, economic…foreign debt,
structural poverty, global environmental problems, and social/political/economic conflicts”
(Holling 2001). I use this approach as an overarching conceptual perspective framework in this
research. This approach is echoed in resilience and securitization theories and geographic studies
in human relation to place and resources.
The “adaptive” modifier in complex adaptive systems refers to adaptive cycles of change in
response to “growth, accumulation, restructuring, and renewal” from internal and external
drivers (Gunderson et al. 2009). These factors come from the IUCN framework (Gunderson et al.
2009).This adaptation takes place at several interconnected scales (Holling 2001). The systems
20
have a process of feedback and learning and response, but must have the potential to change, a
relationship of controlling variables, and capacity to adapt. Feedback loops, whether naturally
occurring or man-made, will change and enhance or degrade the system, depending on the
driver. Drivers are agents of change, such as a dam, community, or weather. The Human
Security Key analysis of the case studies in this work examine the adaptive capacities present,
while the dam is being constructed, and future, when the dam is complete, through the perception
of the stakeholders involved at the local and national levels.
This research examines human security and dam development on river systems, all of which are
themselves complex systems, as well as scale. Human security as a system is broken out in the
next section, but for this study covers issue areas of politics, environment, economics, and socio-
cultural sectors. Dam development as a system is understood as human engineered landscape
(HEL) alteration. River systems are complex combinations of hydrologic, geologic, and biologic
factors. The transboundary rivers in this study are layered also with socio-cultural uses of water
and related resources, the politics that form diplomatic relationships between riparian countries
and govern the socio-cultural uses of the resources, and the economies that drive the resources
use. The above breakout of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) identified
sustainability factors overlaps with many of the factors that comprise this study.
The authors Lance H. Gunderson and C. S. Holings wrote the most cited work on complex
systems, as applied to ecological and social systems and coined the term “panarchy” to describe
how those systems function. I work in this study to simultaneously preserve the system
complexity of overlapping factors, drivers, and sectors, and simultaneously attempt to simplify
those relationships so they are understandable and meaningful, as well as measureable. Through
this I attend to pinpoint issues of interest for resilience, vulnerability, adaptive capacity, and false
assumptions about security and development.
21
2.3.2. POLITICS SECTOR
Human security
The term relatively new term “human security” is used across disciplines, in and out of
academia, and does not have one accepted definition. The prevalence of the use of “human
security” speaks to the popularity of the term. More recent studies have attempted various types
of measurement by narrowing the definition to encompass one aspect of the vague defining
language: freedom from fear, freedom from want (Eldering 2010, Khong 2001). Critics from
disciplines to include human rights, security, gender, development, environment, political
science, and international relations argue that the weakness and strength of the term is
simultaneously the ambiguity of its use and definition (Paris 2001, Thomas and Tow 2002).
Human security can be understood, in essence, as a term employed to describe security concerns
that cover issues as far ranging as local to global scales and from economic to military
insecurities. The term appears in governmental policy, academic literature (Paris 2001), and the
international development community (Eldering 2010).
The term has come under fire in the literature as being too vague to prove useful for
measurement, analysis, or academic research (Eldering 2010, Paris 2001). Though to date, there
are several measurements used for human security, including the United Nation’s 2008 Human
Security Index, built upon the existing Human Development Index with added categories of
social and environmental parameters (Hastings 2010, Eldering 2010). In some of the literature,
human security is synonymous with international development (Paris 2001, Duffield 2006).
Mark Duffield identifies the merging of security and development and following this post-1990s
development is a form of conflict prevention (2001). He identifies the idea of the ‘liberal peace’
concept, the idea that development follows liberal economic theory, social reconstruction, and
conflict resolution and that warfare is treated as consequence of underdevelopment and accuses
the international community of operating under pseudo-scientific principles (Duffield 2001).
22
Recently though, some scholars address and challenge the separate nature of these concepts
(Eldering 2010).
It is argued that the term human security is useful for non-state actors, such as non-governmental
organizations or the international development community, to draw attention away from
traditional security concerns of the state and toward the concerns of development in health,
society, and the environment (Paris 2001). Thomas & Towe (2002) and Paris (2001) suggest that
human security allows for thinking about security as transcending national territories and to
tackle issues of global importance. When studying transboundary river systems, this application
is quite appropriate.
The human security concept generally emerged in the post-Cold War era of security discourse
with Dr. Mahbub ul Haq’s contributions in the 1994 United Nations Development Program’s
Human Development Report (Ul Haq 1996). In his assessment of poverty and development ul
Haq concluded that it is too narrow to continue to focus on nation states rather than security
concerns of individual people (1996). This idea is echoed in academic papers in the early 2000s
that discuss a need to shift from state security to that of the individual. States proved increasingly
unable to protect individual citizens, and in some cases the states were failing to do this
altogether and the international community stepped up to fill that role (Axworthy 2001).
The UNDP document suggests two general expectations of individuals in relation to human
security for freedom from want and freedom from fear (Eldering 2010). The idea of fear is quite
easily connected with security; the idea of want is more closely connected with ideas of
development. In 2001, Kofi Annan is quoted as stating, “…lasting peace requires …
encompassing areas such as education and health, democracy and human rights, protection
against environmental degradation…” (Eldering 2010). The HDI Report identifies seven areas of
global human security threat to include food, economic, health, environmental, personal,
23
community, and political sectors (Gomez and Gasper 2012). Looking back in the literature, the
idea of human security appears much earlier, though not explicitly identified as such.
The concept, but perhaps not the term, precedes the 1994 emergence by a few decades in the
works of W.W. Rostow in the 1960s. In his important 1960 book, The Stages of Economic
Growth: A Non-communist Manifesto, Rostow puts forward the founding ideas that eventually
define Modernization Theory, a theory presented in more detail later in this chapter. Rostow’s
idea was centered on the belief that improved economic stability through industrialization, or
modernization, will, in turn, stabilize political systems and result in the promotion of democracy
and peace (Rostow 1960). Modernization Theory is explored further in this chapter.
The idea that economic investment encourages development and in turn this is important for
global security has been a prevailing concept since the conclusion of World War II, inspiring the
establishment of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Rostow and Millikan of the
MITCIS in 1957 state, “the amount of additional money needed [for economic aid] would be
small compared with what we shall have to spending emergency efforts either to salvage
situations which have been permitted to degenerate, such as South Korea and Indo-China, or to
put out additional brush-fires if they got started. The total costs of such a program would be
insignificant compared with the costs of waging limited wars,” (Baber 2001). This idea is
reflected in current US Department of Defense discourse regarding Phase Zero Operations, a
term that refers to the phase that comes before the four official military phases followed in time
of conflict (Wald 2006).
The general concept of security started shifting since the 1980s from national security focus to
encompass instead wider issues of environment, economics, and culture(Khong 2001). One
shifting paradigm within security studies from national security is referred to as critical security
studies. This area began in the early 1990s, most dominantly from the Copenhagen School
including authors such as Ole Waever, Jaap de Wilde, and Barry Buzan (Robinson 2008). These
24
scholars posit that security concerns in the post-Cold War era include subnational economics,
politics, environments, and military (Buzan and Wæver 2009, Buzan and Little 2001). This is
explored further in the securitization theory section of this chapter.
The international community responsibility toward protection of people, that people ought to
have the right to personal freedom, beyond the guarantee of a nation’s sovereignty, is officially
derived from the Nuremberg trials at the conclusion of World War II and reflected in related
documents such as UN’s Charter, Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and the Geneva
Convention (Axworthy 2001).
The previous definitions of human security establish that the global threat to human security has
surpassed that of simply examining the relationship a nation has to its people in the act of war,
human rights, or genocide. Our present condition of natural disasters attributed to global climate
change, of seemingly unregulated natural resource exploitation, and of economic development
movements toward globalization – all of these actions threaten lives, livelihoods, biodiversity,
cultural traditions, local economies, politics, and certainly the environment. Some authors ask
whether appropriate action from and roles of the international community toward sovereignty
rights of a nation should be reassessed (Axworthy 2001).
Given the vague definition of human security, along with the definite leanings of the term and
related post-Cold War security studies toward inclusive issues of economics, environment, social
issues, as well as national politics, and also along with Post-World War II development goals, I
determine that the term is an appropriate frame for assessing myriad changes due to dam
development. Human security in this study examines the extent to which the systems of politics,
environment, economics, and socio-culture change at different scales because of dam
development. These sectors are selected out of the securitization literature as described below,
with the exception of military.
25
Securitization theory
Post Cold-war security studies define two general concerns for security – traditional and non-
traditional security studies. Traditional security studies consider impacts to economic and
political stability on a national scale, whereas non-traditional security studies focus on potential
threats that originate from such diverse sectors health and the environment from territory defense
and military intervention (Buzan, Wæver and De Wilde 1998, Paris 2001). The challenge of
widely held security studies grew into study of a greater security complexity through
securitization theory, with best known scholars connected to the Copenhagen School (Buzan,
Wæver and De Wilde 1998). Securitization theory addresses the concerns found in combining
the issues of traditional and non-traditional security covering issues related to politics,
environment, economics, culture, and military (ibid).
The theory addresses the areas of responsibility typically addressed by national governments and
local community as separate but related issues. The idea is that these scales offer two different
levels of stability. One level of stability is based on the national-level economics and political
power, the other level of stability is based on health, education, wellbeing, and the environment
(ibid).
2.3.3. ENVIRONMENTAL SECTOR
Water and Environmental Resources Security
Water resources are necessary for all living things and myriad processes important for society.
This includes food and energy production, industry, transportation, recreation, municipal use,
and the delineation of political boundaries. More than one billion people lack access to safe
drinking water (Frederick and Gleick 1999, Loftus 2009) and more than 2.4 billion lack access to
sanitation worldwide (WHO and Organization 2002). International interests, through the creation
of agreements, such as the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), seek to
reduce this number through international development and aid. Domestic policies in Ethiopia and
Laos also reflect this goal. The central place of water resources, and the challenges with human
26
and environment interactions, makes water security a vital component of human security. Water
resources security in reference to changing supplies are discussed in recent papers (Gleick and
Palaniappan 2010).
Access, availability, quality, and quantity of water directly and indirectly impact politics, the
environment, economics, and society and culture. The term “water security” is loosely-defined in
literature of security studies, geography, political science, political economy, development, and
water resources sciences. For the purposes of this study, “water security” is defined as access and
“availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems
and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks to people, environments
and economies” (Grey and Sadoff 2007). Though this definition is focused on water resources
use, it speaks to the complexity of water systems posed by the temporal and spatial nature of
water.
Water resources are requisite for living systems, economic systems, political systems, and socio-
cultural systems. Securing, managing, and stabilizing water resources are important for planetary
health, human societies, and development efforts. Literature about water security and human
security describe challenges presented by the complexity of this relationship, but water security
and human security have multiple definitions and applications in theory and practice, as already
touched upon in this chapter. This prerequisite lends itself well to a study of system complexity
in the relationship between dam development and human security. The relationship between
changes to the physical environment and political and social instability is covered by numerous
scholars, with shifts in freshwater resource access, quality, and quantity often noted as being a
key change and influence on societal and political stability (Nelson, Adger and Brown 2007,
Büntgen et al. 2011, Barnett 2003, Nordås and Gleditsch 2007).
In the late twentieth century, water and related environmental resources became central to
predicting future conflict (Homer-Dixon 1991, Homer-Dixon 1994, Gleick 1993, Kaplan 1994,
27
Dalby 1996). Security concerns of this nature are not necessarily bound by nation-states, but
rather by natural systems. This demands regional or international approach, divorced from
traditional security studies (Dalby 1992). The idea of water wars was challenged by Aaron Wolf
in his collaborative work on basins at risk (2003). He and his team found that water may be used
as a diplomatic platform between international neighbors. Global climate change and pollution
pressures as well as increased population demand has pushed water resources past sustainable
use in many places (Vorosmarty 2000). Several studies have examined how already-stressed
systems that are vulnerable could be driven past a tipping point by shifts in climate (Barnett
(Barnett 2003, Dabelko 2008, Mabey 2007). Some suggest that resources security is another way
to describe resources vulnerability (Barnett 2001). Discussion of security and stability at
different scales and for different sectors is especially useful in the context of freshwater
resources and climate change (Buzan and Little 2001). The impact of freshwater stress is of
concern for all sectors of society, sometimes indirectly, with consequences that are largely
unpredictable (Costello et al. 2009).
Water interacts with broader national security concerns and can contribute to state instability and
social disruptions. Three levels of scale can be employed to describe and understand interactions
concerning freshwater resources: the individual, intranational, and international systems (Buzan
and Wæver 2009). For individuals, water security can be considered a factor of “life, health,
status, wealth, and freedom” (Stone 2009). For states, water security can have larger, more
complicated considerations, to include large-infrastructure such as dams, and a shifting hierarchy
of requirements in often overlapping political, military, environmental, economic, and societal
sectors (Buzan et al. 1998, Buzan and Wæver 2009). Water specific issues of seepage, pollution,
landslides, water-borne epidemics are relevant to water security (Smith 2013). Environmental
security discourse collectively describes risk to humans and the larger ecological system through
alterations to local environmental systems - such as a water system - that potentially result in
human casualty, economic loss, loss to biodiversity, migrations, famine, disease, political unrest
(Homer-Dixon 1994). Global attention was redirected after the conclusion of the Cold War
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toward the importance of water resources as crucial for human health and wellbeing ((Liverman
1999).
The importance of managing and conservation in water resources is not a new concept.
Geographer George Perkins Marsh in 1864 stated that it is apparent that in many systems,
negative impacts on the ecosystem or environment will also have negative impacts on the
humans using that same environment. Also in the 1800s, Alexander Von Humbolt determined
that South American colonial exploitative practices for economic gain were causing extinction of
a traditional ways of life and environmental damage. From the time of Hippocrates to
contemporary water geographers, much thought has been given to how water has shaped and
continues to influence human societies. Water as central to political power and political security
was postulated in the early and mid-twentieth century (Whittlesey 1935, Wittfogel 1956);. The
idea of hydraulic civilizations a theory that suggests engineering water resources is important to
further political and economic power as the central force to develop civilizations (Wittfogel
1956) is still an acceptable perception in dam development today. Changes in water resources
can alter the relative wealth of countries and cause shifts in relative power. In many ways, water
is one of the most important components holding societies together. When the rate of change to a
water system exceeds its capacity to adapt, the myriad connections to overall security and
stability soon become evident (Veilleux & Zenter 2014).
For this study, the changes derived from large-scale water infrastructure and other human
engineered landscapes that change water resources are highlighted within water security context.
This is due to the competing use posed by large-scale development that render all other water
resources use altered beyond recognition.
Resilience Theory
Resilience theory can be employed to explain an individual or a system response to change (Van
Breda 2001). The theory examines how a system has the ability to absorb change and maintain a
29
constant state only to the tipping point, at which time it will reconfigure and continue in a new
state (Walker and Salt 2006). The theory is an application of systems thinking and is one of the
main ways to understand change in environmental literature (Berkes and Ross 2013). Resilience
theory has been successfully applied to the biological sciences for some time, though it has its
origins in psychology and speaks to individual’s ability to absorb change and trauma (Berkes and
Ross 2013, Van Breda 2001). I use the theory in this research to consider both the scaled
communities and the environmental system of the river.
Systems are in constant flux of changing states based on inputs from external and internal change
(Meadows 2008). Systems can be used to describe ecosystems, but also to describe human
systems and components of human systems as previously mentioned (Innes and Booher 2010).
I consider the systems in this study to be in a more or less steady state at the time of the data
collection and for dam development as a driver of change that could potentially change the state
of the system. For example, the two case studies I examined result in a simplified and
generalized resilience model for the river system in the following figure.
30
Figure 1: Resilience-based model of river system change due to dam development.
Resilience is described as “the ability of a system to absorb disturbance and still retain its basic
function and structure,” in the Walker and Salt (2006) book Resilience Thinking. This definition
does not exclude the importance of understanding the issues of concern through the lens of
complexity. This is done in order to better describe the total system – and consider how leverage
points can be identified for intervention and learning by identify parts of that system that absorb
change and parts that are permanently altered by change (Meadows 2008). The vulnerabilities
and strengths of the separate components in a complex system are important to the overall
stability and resilience of the entire system. Better understanding of all these components of the
system is important to understand how to manage the system – and to inform decision-makers in
situations such as dam development.
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2.3.4. ECONOMIC SECTOR
Modernization theory
Modernization theory states that, foreign direct investment, industrialization, and general
economic development lead to positive social and political change (Lipset 1959, Zakaria 2004,
Rostow 1960, Arat 1988, Berman 2001). This is a controversial theory, but I am including it in
my study because it is the backbone to most foreign policy strategies in the United States,
European Union, the international development community, and developing countries’ policy.
Born mainly of 19
th
century European ideas and American idealism following the Second World
War, the theory suggests how and why societies develop politically, socially, and economically
and it is the underpinning for a myriad of subsequent social science theories which explains the
reasons for differences between developed and less developed nations (Meyer et al. 2009). The
application of modernization theory to this study speaks to the reasons for development efforts in
Ethiopia and Laos through the platform of dam development.
Modernization and subsequent development are thought to lead to, “increased tolerance, rational
choices, trusting societies, and public participation” (Inglehart and Baker 2000). In all attempted
explanations, one thing is assumed: that anything modern is superior to anything traditional
(Haskell and Mamlyuk 2009). The account of how and where modernization theory was born
and thrived is debated in academic papers. Some theorists credit the birth of the theory with
Rostow and Lipset in 1950s American social science (Baber 2001, Meyer et al. 2009). While
other theorists reach back to Karl Marx and Max Weber (Inglehart and Baker 2000). Some
influence is attributed to colonial economics of Great Britain (Baber 2001). And yet others
consider the Victorian age or even the age of Enlightenment as the breeding ground for the
ideology (Baber 2001, Haskell and Mamlyuk 2009). The theory is echoed in Foucault’s thesis on
power-knowledge supports “structures of power and domination” as a means to achieve
development; and gives merit or legitimacy to authoritarian rule to impose development schemes
before democratic ideas can be brought into practice (Limongi Neto and Przeworski 1997, Baber
2001).
32
“Modernization” as a term is understood as the idea that technology and economies are
connected to societies through cultural drivers and that each works to positively develop the
other over time, leading to an end goal of overall development and moral betterment of mankind
(Baber 2001, Inglehart and Baker 2000). Marx stated that economically developed societies are
the future of less economically developed societies, societies measured by their material qualities
(Inglehart and Baker 2000). In the case of the 1950s MITCIS crowd, modern meant: “a dynamic
process occurring through the interaction of the economic, political, social, and psychological
forces in a society,” (Baber 2001). Nils Gilman, who worked with the MITCIS crowd and
particularly one social scientists named Edward Shils, credits Shils with stating “modern means
democratic and equalitarian, scientific, economically advanced and sovereign,” (Haskell and
Mamlyuk 2009). Modernization is linked with a historic process that allows societies to “catch-
up” with the rest of the world technologically and economically or is just another word for
industrialization (Meyer et al. 2009). Modernity is linked with freedom and prosperity (Haskell
and Mamlyuk 2009). Modernization theory allows for us to see into the future of an
industrialized society (Inglehart and Baker 2000). Modernization and subsequent development
are thought to lead to increased tolerance, rational choices, trusting societies, and public
participation (Inglehart and Baker 2000). In all attempted explanations, one thing is assumed:
that anything modern is superior to anything traditional (Haskell and Mamlyuk 2009).
The idea of less developed countries and developed countries – and as the language suggests, one
is in a state of becoming, while the other has arrived. The first official wave of modernization
theory in the accepted literature is that of the Cold War and anti-communist driven ideology that
was adopted by the US Government (Haskell and Mamlyuk 2009). Looking at scholars such as
W.W. Rostow and Seymour Lipset, as well as the work of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology’s Center for International Studies (MITCIS), one sees a birth of the American
contribution to Modernization theory (Jiafeng 2009). This arm of MIT was constituted of leading
minds in social science tackling issues of an international scope, and making recommendations
to policy makers. Rostow served under both the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations to advise
33
foreign affairs, including the Vietnam War, and especially on the establishment of The 1961
Foreign Assistance Act that formed what is now the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID). According to USAID’s website, “the economic development theory of
W.W. Rostow, which posited "stages of economic development," most notably a "takeoff into
growth" stage, provided the premise for much of the development planning in the newly-formed
U.S. Agency for International Development,” (USAID 2011).
Rostow’s modernization suggests a move away from “traditional” (“backward, despotic,
intolerant, undeveloped”) society toward more “modern” (“free, prosperous, open, developed”)
society (Haskell and Mamlyuk 2009). Rostow’s The Stages of Economic Growth: An Anti-
Communist Manifesto is one of the baseline texts for modernization theory. This book outlines
the linear movement a society makes from traditional to modern through a series of five phases
described by economic growth radiating out to cause cultural and political changes (1960). He
created a model called the “Stages of Growth” or Take-off Model, describing five stages as:
traditional society, preconditions for take-off, take-off, drive to maturity, age of high mass
consumption (Rostow 1962). This sort of sentiment creates backlash amongst the critics of the
theory for obvious reasons. Regardless, when the theory was first popular in 1950s United States,
even President Kennedy quoted Walt Whitman Rostow’s idea of economic take-off (Baber
2001).
In his 2006 paper, Charles Wald states that Phase Zero is a military approach that can prevent
conflicts from developing though “…promot[ing] stability and peace by building capacity in
partner nations…” The author goes on to argue that economic investment up front in a nation is
far less expensive than the cost of an all out operations in the tens of thousands (Wald 2006).
Similar sentiment is found in the work of Rostow and Millikan of the MITCIS in 1957, “the
amount of additional money needed [for economic aid] would be small compared with what we
shall have to spending emergency efforts either to salvage situations which have been permitted
to degenerate, such as South Korea and Indo-China, or to put out additional brush-fires if they
34
got started. The total costs of such a program would be insignificant compared with the costs of
waging limited wars, [Italics added for emphasis]” (Baber 2001).
In the 1960s backlash to the modernization theory gave more visibility to theories such as
dependency theory or world systems theory, which had less idealistic and optimistic approaches
to the state of development in the developing world and the theory fell out of favor (Huntington,
1968). Consideration of how development plays out in practice in relation to the theory of
development has come under criticism (Rondinelli 2013). The theory also suggests economic
development stabilizes the political climate to allow for democratic societies to flourish,
something in turn thought to lead to stronger global security (Limongi Neto and Przeworski
1997, Zakaria 2004, Lipset 1959). Some scholars suggest that there is no evidence that economic
development promotes democracy (Limongi Neto and Przeworski 1997, Knack 2004).
Regardless, the current mission of the United State Government’s Foreign Policy is to promote
democracy globally partially through investment in international development and capacity
building.
Zakaria states that it is important to see that constitutional liberalism is not necessarily linked
with democracy, citing Hong Kong as an example, though many people equate liberal
constitutions with democratic governments (2004). He also states that culture impacts
economics, as does Huntington in his famous work on Civilizations, but deemphasizes culture’s
role in development by citing similar cultures with very different economic outcomes
(Huntington 1996, Zakaria 2004). Francis Fukuyama stated in his book The End of History and
the Last Man liberal democracy was indeed the highest and last stage of political rule
(2006).This idea of democratic connection linked with economics is a popular one and following
the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the theory has gained new momentum in Washington, D.C. (Haskell
and Mamlyuk 2009). It connects ideas of democracy and free society with economic
development (ibid).
35
In a qualitative assessment of the World Values Surveys, authors Ronald Inglehart and Wayne E.
Baker of the University of Michigan found that while economic development does result in
changes to culture, traditional cultures persist (2000). Criticism of the theory include the
promotion of westernized culture as the ideal type of culture at the expense or exclusion of other
cultures, especially Eastern cultures, the model may not work in countries with high levels of
corruption, that bringing modernization to other states is a cover for ulterior motives, and that the
theory in practice has failed to deliver results and has even caused more poverty in the world by
trapping less developed countries in a world market where they cannot compete (Meyer et al.
2009, Zaman and Zaman 1994, Huntington 1968, Huntington 1971, Baber 2001). Though
modernization appears to be the opposite of tradition, traditional culture persists regardless of the
development of a country. This is an important point as one Chinese scholar points out that
although modernization or development are moving in one general direction, this direction has
many paths (Peng 2009).
2.3.5. SOCIO-CULTURAL
Development
There are many understandings of the word “development”. The term development is used in
modernization theory, as previously discussed, Human Development, as touched upon in the
human security section, and Sustainable Development as discussed later in this chapter. Human
Development ideas have been formed by Amartya Sen and Mahbub ul Haq, who in turn created
the United Nations Human Development Index (Gasper and Truong 2005) This index, while
imperfect, was a catalyst for scholars to critiqued and improve development aims, as well as the
HDI itself (Hastings 2009).
For the purposes of this study, development is taken to be the general concept to include the
existence and accessibility of choice and opportunity, physical infrastructure, health and
education, economics, and humanly engineered alterations to landscapes and natural resources.
36
Dams, as an issue of development, fall neatly between traditional and non-traditional security
studies, having at once a political and economic tool at a national level as well as with potential
to change society, culture, economics, and the environment at a local level. I employ the term
human security to understand the dam development complexity question because the term can
merge both traditional and non-traditional security concerns (Eldering 2010).
2.4. NATIONAL SCALE
2.4.1. POLITICS SECTOR
Dams
On the surface, the economic and societal benefits of dams, to include hydropower generation,
irrigation supply storage, and flood control, outweigh the understood costs of dams. Dams are
traditionally thought of as a tangible symbol of modernization and development (Whittlesey
1935, Wittfogel 1956). Whittlesey states that power secures a landscape allowing for alteration
and change, and highlights the example of national level dam development as a physical
manifestation of political power (1935). Wittfogel’s work about the central importance of water
to development proved controversial, but suggests civilizations that harnessed and dominated
water systems are able to gain political power as well as economic and political advancement
(1956). Wittfogel uses the example of large-scale water infrastructure, such as dams, to
exemplify his theory (ibid).
However, deeper understanding through continual studies on the costs of dams impacts have
resulted in damage to ecosystems, displacement of people, and disrupted cultures continues to
emerge as time allows for observable measureable changes (WCD 2000, Richter et al. 2010).
Over 75 years of difficult experiences and negative consequences have led to changes in how the
lending institutions that fund dam development approach dam projects by adopting the triple
bottom line approach. Funding infrastructure for large-scale dam development has changed to
reflect these findings (Baghel and Nüsser 2010, Dubash et al. 2001). Understanding the
37
importance and costs of dams began well before the World Commission on Dams Report of
2000.
The consequences of dams began appearing in geography literature after the seminal work by
Gilbert White in 1945. White introduced concepts about the hazard that dams posed to people,
the economic loss of floods, and how human assessment of risk affects decision-making (White
1945). Papers written by other scholars at the time considered human-altered water systems and
their environmental challenges (Kates 1976, Ackermann et al. 1973).
Dam construction has resulted in visible changes to most of the world’s rivers hydrology, species
and sediment transport, as well as global sea level (WCD 2000, Vörösmarty et al. 2003, Kummu
and Varis 2007, Chao et al. 2008). Not only do dams alter natural aspects of the river system, but
they potentially eliminate previous water uses by traditional fishing, farming, and mining
communities immediately in the proximity of the dam, upstream, and downstream. Identified
drawbacks of dams include loss of culture and tradition, loss of arable land, degraded ecosystems
and water quality, localized extinctions, loss of aquatic biodiversity, and negative changes to
water quantity downstream (Richter et al. 2010, WCD 2000).
Some argue that motivation for investment in dam development is not usually directly related to
the water itself (Yoffe 2001). Indirect reasons for foreign investment include electricity, industry,
politics, economic returns, food production, national identity, and access to raw materials.
Leading investment agencies today manage flow of capital from wealthy countries to countries
in need in order to keep the global economy functioning, which is thought to prevent further
conflict. Despite research findings about the negative impacts of dam development on the
environment and people, development projects continue in many of the world’s poorer countries
(Richter et al. 2010).
38
Contemporary dam development includes south-south development exchanges. The so-called
BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) have both the human resources and capital
resources to invest in infrastructural projects internationally (O'Neill and Goldman 2001). China
is engaged in this process through export development banks as well as engineering firms and
are responsible for almost half of all global large dams as well as holding the majority of the
world’s hydropower (McDonald, Bosshard and Brewer 2009). The Merowe Dam in Sudan is one
example of the unforeseen consequences of this new south-south exchange of capital and
technology (ibid). In a soon to be published novel about personal experience of a displaced
family, Ali Askouri states:
"During the twentieth century a number of dam projects were built in Sudan and Egypt.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by these dams. The experiences of the
displaced communities were disastrous. More than half a century since their displacement, none
of the displaced communities was able to regain its pre-dam standard of living. [The people] still
remain impoverished, ignored and marginalized by governments, and still fighting to get their
compensation. Indeed, the experience of Merowe dam affected communities in northern Sudan is
the worst of all. Thousands of people have been relocated to windblown desert locations. Experts
who visited those locations confirmed that, it is a matter of decades for the communities to
produce something out of that sand" Askouri is himself a refugee from Merowe living in
London, UK.
Political Ecology
The issue of how water is valued by individuals and the state, as well as political dynamics,
unequal power distribution and the power relationships are explored through political ecology
(Bryant 1998, Budds 2003, Budds and McGranahan 2003, Paulson et al. 2004, Loftus 2009,
Molle, Mollinga and Wester 2009, Pelling 1999, Swyngedouw 1995). In Swyngendou’s 1995
paper on water systems in Ecuador, he states that it is the power of the state that decides who has
access to water and that water itself represents a “flow of social power”.
39
My study may be informed by political ecology because I am attempting to analyze the human-
environment interface with regard to water resources and fundamental changes to water
resources, and the related environmental systems, through dam development. These changes
impact water and human security issues with regard to geographic scale, are driven by
perceptions of social construction of nature through dam development and human settlement and
perhaps the absence of complete understanding of how water, the greater environment, and
human systems are linked and dependent, and finally, the role that power plays in the human-
environment use, change, and development through dominant cultural norms and theories,
political decisions, and economic intentions. My analysis of the situation of dam development on
international rivers and the influence this has on the environment and local and global
communities would be incomplete if I did not consider the complex reasons behind the reasons
why humans continue to build dams, and why water is so central to identity, culture, economics,
politics, and biologic sustainment of life.
2.4.2. ENVIRONMENT SECTOR
Water resources
Works on the complexities of interrelationship of humans, water, and geography were written as
early as the publication On Airs, Waters, and Places by Hippocrates in approximately 400 BCE.
In this work, Hippocrates considers the important differences between the quality, weight, and
aspects of water systems dependent upon where the water is located and how, accordingly, this
will have different impacts on human civilization, particularly on the health of humans.
Historically, water, as with other natural resources, was considered something to be exploited by
human civilizations for multiple uses, functioned as a natural barrier to expansion or invasion, or
had to be contained to prevent flooding disasters. The availability of water has been the limiting
factor in human societal development historically.
Due to the complexity at different scales and different types of competing uses, managing
international river systems offers unique challenges to decision-makers and water managers. The
40
complexity is apparent when decision-makers and water managers attempt to mesh multiple
ever-fluctuating state water security aims and goals with neighboring countries water security
aims and goals (Petersen-Perlman et al. 2012). Internationally shared freshwater resources, such
as transboundary rivers, are subject to a myriad of uses that may lead to cooperation, conflict,
official and unofficial agreements, and watershed management (Wolf et al. 2003, Earle 2010).
These rivers have received a great amount of attention over the last century as dynamics
involving borders, politics, agriculture, economics, climate, natural resources, technology, and
societies change over time (TFDD 2014). Governments and industries have altered many
international rivers by constructing large-scale dams in order to serve the needs of societies
(Richter et al. 2010). These needs include agriculture, energy generation, and industry, as well as
flood control.
The first marked paradigm shift in human perception of water resources through policy influence
and a consciousness movement came from a very influential paper published in 1864 by George
Perkins Marsh entitled Man and Nature: or Physical Geography as modified by human action.
This paper is credited with popularized the concept of modern environmental conservation,
including launching the conservation movement in the United States. Marsh emphasizes the
importance of how human impact on water resources can have destructive results on water
systems by describing issues such as how deforestation causes sediment load to enter river
systems, how civilizations have altered water courses to drain lakes, rivers, marshes, and swamps
in an engineered process of reclaiming land for agriculture, causing damage to the species living
within aquatic systems, and how canals and other movements of waters can have lasting impacts
on local ecosystems. Marsh suggests that damage to the water system is damage to human
civilization. Other topics he includes about water are on precipitation, groundwater, the water
cycle, and floods. (Marsh 1864)
41
2.4.3. ECONOMIC SECTOR
The United Nations has various methods by which to describe and compare countries across the
world. One way in which countries are measured is by economic development. The United
Nations Human Development Index is an index that measures three things: life expectancy,
literacy, and GDP (Hastings 2009).
Similarly, the UN’s Least Developed Countries (LDC) list is described by three sets of
parameters. The countries are weak in human resources, have high economic vulnerability, and
have low income. The weak human resources are measured by a combination of health and
economic figures – child mortality rate and caloric intake coupled with secondary school
enrollment and adult literacy. The high economic vulnerability is measured by food, number of
people, and type of national economic activity captured in agricultural production, exports and
services, population, percentage of GDP in manufacturing and services, and concentration of
merchandise export (ibid). The low income is measured by GDP. The following figure from
2008 LDC lists the countries and gives parameters that reflect the three HDI measurements, plus
population, and represents about 700 million people: For example, Cambodia, a country in the
Mekong River basin, scores a GNI of $310, life expectancy of 54 years, and adult literacy rate of
69.4%. Comparably, other developing countries average GNI of $4000, life expectancy of 70
years, and adult literacy rate of 90% (Cuervo-Cazurra and Genc 2008).
The LDC list does change due to some countries scoring off of the list and other countries
dropping down into the parameters that describe the list due to conflict, disaster, or, as in the case
of South Sudan, fledgling statehood. The LDC list is important to this study because countries
are represented in each of the case study basins, and the case study countries of Ethiopia and
Laos are on the list. In the Nile basin, 9 of the 11 countries are on the list: Burundi, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
In the Mekong River basin half of the countries are on the list: Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.
42
Figure 2: Least Developed Countries List 2008 with HDI parameters: South Sudan has
since been added
43
2.4.4. SOCIO-CULTURAL SECTOR
In this study, I examine how dam development impacts on human security vary widely across
scale and are dictated by politics, the environment, economics, and society and culture. Similar
studies have been centered around resource use (Arnold 2009, Lansing 2012).
The environment limits water use as described in Harding’s Tragedy of the Commons (1968).
Climate, seasonal changes, and resource availability can dictate the level of resource extraction
and use. In societies where water fluctuates based on climatic and seasonal variability, people
will alter water systems to store or move water for more consistent use or move their settlements
to places of water abundance. They will also alter agricultural practices or settlement locations
based on availability of water and growing periods of certain crops or appearance and migrations
of certain animals.
Economics are a measure of human consumption (Haenn and Wilk 2006) water, food, and
shelter. Economic value of resources drives human decision-making on environmental impacts.
Resources with a high or significant economic value are targets for exploitation and if no other
factors are considered, the risk of overexploitation at the cost of the environment is high. In local
or regional markets, economic value of resources is dictated by culture, preference, tradition, and
practical reasons such as longevity or usefulness. Local and regional economics can also be
driven by demand for a specific resource, competition for a specific resource, or abundance of a
specific resource in a season or a cycle. Something like a specific type of fish or shell may be in
abundance one year and scarce in the following year. The value of this fish would increase
economically in the scarce year due to its scarcity and resulting increased demand. These
necessities are either provided by their immediate environment or gained through trade and
economics from the global environment. When it comes to water and related resources in
globalized society’s economics are much more complex and their impact on environments can
follow an irrational pattern due to the complexity. Economic values of natural resources can be
set by outside influences that do not take the “real” value of the environment into consideration,
44
such as in stock markets, established by decisions made by corporations or governments, or
impacted by a process called price-fixing. This may result in artificial economic values set for
some natural resources and can be a driver for environmental system damage. When an
economic value for a natural resource is artificially reduced it can cause heavy exploitation
pressure upon that particular natural resource. Global markets are focused on turning a profit for
societies and individuals, and reflect the type of behavior described in Hardin’s Tragedy of the
Commons, an inexhaustible appetite for taking more. These markets may have little regulation or
no maximum take causing complete local depletion/extinction of a natural resource.
Economics plays a second very important role in human impact on the environment. Societies
that have weak economies rely more intensely on their immediate environment for survival.
Societies that have strong economies can offset their environmental impacts to locations outside
of their immediate vicinity to meet their survival needs and luxury wants. Both situations can
have detrimental impacts on environmental systems when exploitation practices are not
regulated. Societies with weak economies and abundant resources can have a smaller “footprint”
on their environmental resources because of low-scale economic needs of that society. Societies
with weak economies and limited resources have larger and often irreversible negative
environmental impacts. Water systems can be multipurpose, used for sewage, irrigation, and
household needs. When these water systems are limited, the multipurpose use can render them
polluted and contaminated with disease. Without treatment, this can cause illness and death in
societies. Timber is another example of visible resource-use impact. In societies without access
to reliable electricity or other forms of energy, timber is harvested for fuel with which to cook or
heat homes. If harvesting practices are not sustainable or the resource is limited, whole
ecosystems can be devastated creating compounded impacts on food sources, landscape
(erosion), and water systems.
Society and culture dictate how people in a society perceive their environment, where they
understand the extent of their environment ends, what value the environment has, and what is
45
true in reference to the environment. In globalized societies, where needs are met indirectly by
the societal structure rather than directly on the immediate environment, economics play a
leading role in environmental use. A strong economy allows for resource exploitation to take
place in concentrated areas or geographic locations far removed from human settlements. The
immediate environments in these cultures can be used for recreational or aesthetic purposes
rather than farming or resource extraction. Parks and refuges are established to protect
environmental systems from human disturbance and for human enjoyment. Private property is
maintained for recreation and/or growing small amounts of food. Examples of this type of
society are found in places like the United States and Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand,
and Japan. People found in these societies buy environmentally based resources like food or
wood with money earned through other activities in markets that are connected through
complicated networks of trade and transportation.
Separately technology can be described as a limiting factor, devastating impacts on the
environment can be achieved through little to no advanced technological means include climate
and aspects of natural resources availability including the type, frequency, proximate,
abundance, and access. According to William Balee (1998) basic human use of the environment
is neither inherently good nor bad, but nevertheless, impact on the environment occurs.
When a society is governed by a power structure that reflects the local or regional community,
decisions may reflect that community’s values or understanding of their ecosystems and in many
cases be less destructive on the environment. Decisions may be made by that power structure are
in touch with the experiences of what that community has had with their relationship with the
natural environment. This is demonstrated by some of the customs upheld in the Balinese water
system. The water priests who hold power carry out traditions and customs that allowed for the
continual successful maintenance of the water system and rice crop (Lansing 2012). Also in Bali,
the subak system of local control of water maintenance allowed for successful water
management. Religious observance can have positive environmental impacts (Arnold 2009).
46
Societies that have national or international power structures governing how they impact the
environment appear to have many more problems. This could be because of a lack of local
knowledge about particular environmental systems, or because of different priorities that are
looking toward national or international markets rather than sustainable resource use.
Belief systems to include societal collective values can play a significant role in human impact
because beliefs can drive decision-making in a society. In the examples given in the books, when
considering the indigenous cultures, religious observance appears to be an important factor to
human-environment interactions. People in the two societies viewed the important aspects of
their environments – water in the case of Bali, fish in the case of Alaska – with religious
reverence. Human societies rely on the global and local environments to fulfill basic needs to
survive, and have built up rituals, traditions, and action based on belief systems surrounding the
acquisition of these needs. There are rituals surrounding when to plant and harvest, how much to
harvest, how much to give back. These belief systems can in some cases keep environmental
impacts regulated, in other cases, they can cause the elimination of certain species from the
environment – such as the wolf in North America.
The factors involved with human societal impact on the environment include satisfying survival
needs (primarily water, shelter, and food), existing power structures that govern the limits of
resource use and exploitation, economics that drive use and exploitation beyond subsistence, and
beliefs that allow people to make particular decisions outside of the above reasons. The ranking
of the most influential factor is different to each society, though survival is the first factor in
every society it is not the leading driver for environmental impacts every society.
If there is a second factor that must be identified, political structure is also very important to this
discussion. Whatever the political system, the political decisions and regulations will dictate how
the environment is impacted by the society. Capitalist societies put an emphasis on economic
drivers for environmental impacts, and communistic societies put an emphasis on governmental
47
control as a driver for environmental impacts. Both political structures have altered local or
national environmental systems to meet the needs of their societies. But, politics are usually a
reflection of the beliefs of a society. Politics and economics are social constructions based upon
the ideas and values of the people that make up a given society.
In all cultures the need for survival is paramount in use of the environment. How societies use
water, food resources, landscapes, and other natural resources is dependent upon daily
consumption needs. Beyond this, if societies, for example, rely too heavily upon their immediate
environment to satisfy global economic markets, they may engage in unsustainable practices to
do so. There are many examples from around the world where environments cannot sustain the
needs of a society and if the leaders of that society fail to provide its people with these
necessities by other means, the society suffers, people die, and/or the societal system collapses.
Whether the environment has the capacity to support a given society is dependent on many
factors, but several of these factors have to do with human use of the environment.
2.5. LOCAL SCALE
2.5.1. POLITICS SECTOR
The Fourth World is a term used originally to describe the political domain in which Indigenous
Peoples are taken on the basis of their own culture and traditions and that these people cannot be
contained within national borders (Manuel and Posluns 1974, Alia 2009). The term came about
in the 1970s following the pan-African movement of independence. The idea is that Indigenous
Peoples or Aboriginal communities do not have the same political or economic power as the
Western or globalized system because core values are different (Manuel and Posluns 1974). The
peoples of the Fourth World are connected to the natural resources that sustain them; are wedded
to the land and water (ibid). The relationship between people and place and resource use is
markedly different from the globalized market.
48
If the nation within which Indigenous people live is ethnically diverse, meeting the needs of each
ethnic group becomes complex. This study highlights local communities that subsist on river
systems. The Gumuz society in Ethiopia is a marginalized society that falls into this category.
The lifestyles of the Laotians living on the Mekong River may currently fall into this category.
2.5.2. ENVIRONMENT
Sustainable development
The concept “sustainable development” was first introduced to global parlance in 1987 in the
United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development publication, Our Common
Future otherwise known as the Brundtland Report (Sneddon, Howarth and Norgaard 2006). The
Commission called upon the global community for development efforts in tandem with
environmental mindfulness. Sustainable development as a concept is vague and has been debated
ever since in the academy and international development community (ibid). According to a list
compiled by Annie Pearce and Leslie Walrath there are over 200 definitions of the term
sustainable development in literature. This list spans two decades of papers and reports.
Although there are several acceptable definitions, the ideas are similar in international
development: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” from the
United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and Development, as well as in private
industry: “creating long-term stakeholder value by integrating economic, social, and
environmental responsibility into everything we do,” from the Dell Corporation (Litten 2005).
John Elkington, the man who coined the term “triple bottom line” in business jargon in 1994,
used the concept of sustainability as a model for his idea (Elkington 2004). The same man also
coined the concept of “people, planet, and profits,” to emphasize the change in business as
socially and environmentally responsible, counter to the negative character big business was
suffering from environmental movements of the 1970s (Elkington 2004). Elkington believes that
business, more often than governments and non- governmental actors, will drive change in the
49
world now and in the future. Dam development in the post-World Commission on Dams Report,
is experiencing foreign direct investment from countries that formerly were not in the position to
do so, like Thailand’s investment in Laos’ Xayaburi Dam from the 2
nd
case study in this
research, or China’s international investments globally (McDonald et al. 2009).
Sustainable development uses another term, three-legged stool, to describe the “pillars” of the
concept (Dawe and Ryan 2003). Dawe and Ryan’s critique of the three-legged stool concept in
sustainable development found over 4000 uses in the literature, though they see the concept as
based on faulty logic (2003).
Sustainable Institutions
A sustainable institution, sometimes referred to as an innovative institution, is an approach to
institutional design that takes into consideration non-traditional forms of capital investment
through environmental, social, and economic considerations (Pitt, Schaumeier and Artikis 2011,
Jones 2011, Engels 2010). The concept is being embraced by organizations from religious, to
banks, to academia (Trent and Chavis 2009, Jones 2011, Engels 2010). Non-traditional forms of
capital are sometimes referred to as the triple bottom line of social, environmental, and as well as
traditional economic considerations (Berkes, Colding and Folke 2003). To consider social
dimensions, institutions are embracing polycentric management, an approach that involves
partnering with, integrating/hiring, and empowering local-level groups or institutions, sometimes
in place of dealing with national level bureaucrats (Lankford and Hepworth 2010). In this
decentralized and inclusive manner, involvement of stakeholders is thought to promote attitudes
of vested interest, insuring more buy-in and, in turn, promote more sustainability to the
institution/project in question (Berkes et al. 2003). Institutions are recognizing that every system
has both environmental and human dimensions (Berkes et al. 2003). This type of institution is
well suited for the complex challenges faced in the developing world (Trent and Chavis 2009,
Engels 2010).
50
To understand how this model is well suited for the developing world, we can cite sustainability
science for a better understanding of how the institution itself must function. The institution
should have a management or policy practice that is flexible and adaptive to change (Berkes et
al. 2003). In this way, the previous article cited in the human security section by Wald is calling
for a sustainable institutional approach to US military engagement (2006). This need for
flexibility and adaptive capacity are necessary when dealing with human-natural systems. These
systems are nonlinear and complex in nature, as well as characterized by long time-lags between
cause and effect (ibid). Traditional linear models of economic or scientific analysis have resulted
in incorrect projections, misunderstandings, and overall failure to manage or predict systems. For
the developing world, system complexity includes things like lack of transparency in political
acts and diplomatic agreements, corruption of public officials, degraded ecosystems, neglected or
non-existent infrastructure, or informal economies (Trent and Chavis 2009, Wald 2006).
Western-based models of traditional institutional development have not navigated this
complexity well and have resulted in numerous failures. There are measureable standards for
sustainable development for corporations and international organizations (Litten 2005).
A sustainable institution should have the ability to adapt and persist through biophysical impacts
such as flood and drought, geopolitical impacts such as elections, coups, and political instability,
and socioeconomic impacts such as failed local or regional economies. The stresses associated
with these impacts will be considered separately, and strategies will be suggested to put in place
prior to the formation of the institution to ensure resilience and sustainability of that managing
body.
Redefining how an institution functions and how to approach a systems by establishing a triple
bottom line can assist sustainability of that institution. Integrating recognition of complexity
through creating flexible and adaptive policy is also essential for a sustainable institution. Given
the myriad of challenges in all sectors of the developing world, this approach is not only popular,
but thought to be more effective. This approach allows for an institution to have a greater
51
connection to place, understanding of and presence people at the grass-roots level, and to be able
to react and respond with better responsiveness to environmental realities, and perhaps create a
more vested attitude in the institutions themselves.
2.5.3. ECONOMIC SECTOR
Figure 3: UN Human Development Index 2008
Poverty
There are an estimated 980 million people that live on less than one dollar a day worldwide
(Risley 2008). The above map shows a global display of the percentage of people, by country,
living on less than $2 per day. For reference, 980 million people are more than all the people
living on the continent of Africa today or approximately three times the legal number of people
living in the USA. Seventy-five percent of poor people live in rural areas (Otte and Upton 2005),
far away from the health, education, and transportation services that typically centers in urban
areas. Issues of concern in human security are considered amplified in these populations (ibid).
52
The general measurement of wealth is based on exchanges of currency in a society. The GDP of
a country is a number that is very popular in news media and government policy, but GDP is not
a simple or well-understood measurement tool. Criticism of GDP as a measurement tool has
resulted in similar quixotic tools such as PPP or GNI. In all of these measurement tools, people
who subsist on resources that are found in and along the river year round are by this standard of
measurement considered impoverished. Poverty is measured with several economics-derived
tools that have expanded to include social nuance, but are imperfect (Foster, Greer and
Thorbecke 1984).
Impoverished communities are targeted for development and change so their lives and
livelihoods can be enhanced (Otte and Upton 2005). Although some scholars, like Jeffrey Sachs
of Columbia University, contend that poverty can be reduced by intervention from Western
efforts in models of development, several other scholars have written novels and papers about
the failures and short sightedness of rural poverty solutions (Otte and Upton 2005, Easterly and
Easterly 2006, Smith 2005). The debate continues.
2.5.4. SOCIO-CULTURE SECTOR
Perception, Risk, and Hazards
Perception is an important but vague element in this work. Perception drives how people view
themselves, the world around them, and themselves in relation to the world around them.
Philosophers such as Plato, Michel Foucault, and social scientists such as Gilbert Fowler White
and Paul Slovic, speak of the human perception as a driving force of human understanding of
reality. Plato’s Theory of Forms is a metaphysical text that describes the abstract concept or
perfect form of a thing, like water, versus the actual manifestation of that thing, water, in our
external or sensory world. Plato goes so far as to suggest that the world in which we inhabit is a
mere shadow of the world of Forms, the place where the perfect thing is located. This concept is
reflected in Buddhism and Christianity, the two dominant religions in this study.
53
This suggests that we are living in between two worlds – the world of the visible, understood
with the senses, and the world of the intelligible, understood with our minds – abstract. This can
be applied to the dams and the rivers in this study. The word “dam” or the word “river” evokes
different ideas by the communities at different scales. The words may even evoke different ideas
within one community depending on which one of the four sectors is being discussed. This may
depend on the individual’s experience or relationship with the concept in question: have they
seen a dam before, do they live on the river?
Foucault takes this concept further to suggest that our idea of things is not only shaped by the
essence of that thing – given in Plato’s philosophy by the World of Forms – but also by dominant
discourse and how the idea is framed. Dominant discourse is defined as a way of speaking about
a topic from a place of power, and repeating this, until it is an acceptable way to speak about the
topic. This creates the frame. The frame is the words associated with the one word, term, or
concept spoken about in the dominant discourse. Foucault sees power as centered in the
government and its related or regulated institutions such as ministries, military, universities,
media. (McHoul 1993, Hall 2001)
As an example for this study, I can say the Nile River to an Egyptian and to an Ethiopian and this
means two very different things. (This can get too complicated if we consider different scales or
communities within the countries.) The Nile River objectively is a water body that flows through
territory in both of these countries. However, the concept of the Nile River has been and
continues to be shaped by the dominant discourse in both Egypt and Ethiopian political debate.
For an Egyptian, the Nile River is a state-related issue, a necessary water resource for current
agriculture, energy, and transportation. Historically it is linked with a rich heritage and culture.
For an Ethiopian, the Nile River is an undeveloped water resource that takes the fertile soils of
Ethiopia away to downstream countries. Historically it is linked with power and unfair colonial
agreements. These two disparate views are shaped by dominant discourse repeated on news
media, in the classroom, between individuals. The perception becomes reality. Foucault then
54
suggests that whoever controls the discourse, controls reality. This is important when it comes to
understanding human perception of risk associated with change and core to stability and
sustainability of human security.
Gilbert Fowler White in his seminal geographic work introduced concepts about the hazard that
dams posed to people, the economic loss of floods, and how human assessment of risk affects
decision-making (White 1945). White suggests that people take risks within the confines of
social acceptance – governmental-sponsored human alteration of the landscape and insurance
companies’ willingness to economically insure real estate. This suggestion indicates that when it
comes to dams, people feel generally more confident about the risk than the hazard that
infrastructure actually poses. Although social scientist Paul Slovic and his colleagues have
developed methods to analyze risk, the concept of risk is still ambiguous and is not appropriate
for policy-making (Slovic 2000). Slovic contends that perception has impacts on judgment
(2000). Both White and Slovic find that rational thinking about hazards and risk is overshadowed
by people’s perceptions of hazard and risk. This suggests that the philosophers, while their
analysis is quite dense, are correct in their assumption that a person’s frame or the dominant
discourse about something, such as a dam, may be based more on perception of reality than on
reality itself.
55
3. CASE STUDIES
“In the past Egypt and Sudan acted bilaterally to exclude Ethiopia from negotiations [on the
Nile]. They cannot now stop Ethiopia. We follow suit and act unilaterally.”
- Professor from Addis Ababa University
“Everyone shares this river. No one can stop us from using this river.”
– Subsistence farmer from Gumuz community in Blue Nile Valley
“The dam will last 30 years, 300 years, 3000 years! Who cares! In a few years they will develop
a new form of energy and we won’t need this[dam] anyway.”
- Employee at Xayaburi Electric Power Company
“The river is changing. People are leaving off fishing and farming to work at the project.”
- Subsistence farmer from Mekong River
3.1. INTRODUCTION
This chapter describes background of the two case studies examined for this research: the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Nile River basin and the Xayaburi Project Dam in the
Mekong River basin. As the chapters preceding, the case studies are organized by scale and
sector. The international scale describes the transboundary Nile River basin and the
transboundary Mekong River basin. The national scale describes Ethiopia and Laos. The local
scale describes subsistence communities on the Blue Nile and Mekong Rivers, with specific
attention given to the Gumuz People in Ethiopia and the Khmu People in Laos. The presented
information comes from literature, interviews, and empirical observations. The literature is
limited on information about the local level in both case studies.
The questions of scale, sector, and perception are touched upon in this chapter as they relate to
the actual case studies. These concepts are explored more concretely in the following chapters.
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3.2. THE INTERNATIONAL SCALE: TRANSBOUNDARY RIVER BASINS
3.2.1. THE NILE
During the summer of 2013 the governments of Egypt and Ethiopia fought a subtle battle of wills
in the international news media over a large dam Ethiopia is constructing on the Blue Nile River,
near its western border with Sudan (Malone 2013). The controversy followed release of the
International Panel of Experts Report in May 2013. The report was compiled by experts from the
three countries in the Blue Nile basin, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, as well as four international
experts. The controversy in the international media during the summer of 2013 came from
Ethiopia’s unilateral decision to divert the Blue Nile water for further construction of the dam.
This activity elicited statements of protest and calls for negotiations by the Egyptian government
in the international media (Natsios 2013, Maasho 2013, Malone 2013). A meeting between
officials in Cairo was mistakenly leaked to the press through an open microphone, recording
officials stating that they would do whatever it took to stop Ethiopia from building the
Renaissance Dam (Stack 2013).
The conversation halted, and war-drums ceased, due to the deposing of Mohammed Morsi,
Former President of Egypt in July 2013. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a 6,000 MW
project currently under development on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia, is giving Egypt cause
for concern. Completion of the dam threatens to change development plans and hydropower
politics within the Nile Basin. Discussions resumed between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan in
October 2013 and have moved into closed door meetings about cooperation on the dam.
57
Figure 4: Blue Nile River Facing Upstream from the Renaissance Dam Project Site,
Benishangul-Gumuz State, Ethiopia
Political Sector
The Nile River, reputably the longest river in the world, is shared by 11 countries: Sudan, Egypt,
Ethiopia, and Eritrea in the Eastern part of the basin; Uganda, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, South Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania in the Equatorial part of the basin
(Cascão 2009).
The basin is a complex system with many climates, topographies, ethnicities, economies,
politics, social challenges, histories, regional betrayals and alliances, and environmental
limitations, at various scales. Ongoing changes to the political, environmental, economic, and
58
social systems have resulted in regional tensions and disagreements. Most recently international
attention has been focused toward brokering a new water sharing agreement for the basin states.
Development plans of the basin states are not coordinated. In 2011, Ethiopia moved forward with
large-scale development plans on the Blue Nile unilaterally, and Egypt has been calling for a halt
to this development. The political, environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of the
Nile River basin are complex subsystems that, when taken separately, inform the total system for
development and conservation needs.
The geopolitical situation in the Nile basin has consistently been in flux between peace and
conflict, and the current state of affairs is no exception. Two issues paramount in most Nile-
oriented minds are: the ongoing political unrest in Egypt and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance
Dam. The Egyptian conflict does not show signs of predictable resolution. Egyptian politics are
tied to issues related to Nile water resources security and Ethiopia’s development threat to that
security (Natsios 2013). Most recently the tenor on the Egyptian streets changed, reflecting the
amplified media coverage, to anger and fear surrounding Ethiopia’s development plans to build a
large dam on the Blue Nile River. In 2011, Ethiopia unilaterally began constructing the mega-
dam hydropower project, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The timing of Ethiopia’s
political decision corresponded with Egypt’s ongoing political upheaval. Although Ethiopian
officials state that it takes many years to plan a dam and this timing is more coincidental than
intentional, the sense of loss of control for Egypt, while it is politically vulnerable, is visceral
(Ethiopian government official, 2012).
Conflict, cooperation, and power-relations in the Nile basin have changed remarkably over time,
but leave a historic legacy on present-day geopolitics. Dispute over control of Nile waters has
historic roots between Ethiopia and Egypt. During interviews taken in the fall of 2012, one
respondent recounted a story of Ethiopian Kings who threatening to dam the waters of the Blue
Nile in reaction to violence of Egyptian Muslims against Coptic Christians in the 1100s
(anonymous, 2012). The river remains largely undeveloped in upstream countries, but this is
59
starting to change. Several of the basin countries have emerged from decades of violence and
stifled economic growth. Egypt is moving into a new political era after the coup that deposed
leader Mubarak.
Recent years have seen new discussions on the Nile Treaty. Contractually, the countries of the
basin, with the exception of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and South Sudan, are bound by the colonial-era
motivated and designed 1929 Nile treaty, modified in 1959 by Sudan and Egypt (Swain 2011).
The treaty was designed before many of the riparian countries were independent states apart
from colonial rule. In decades since updates in 1959 changes in politics, security, economics,
populations, globalized practices, and push for development of the riparian countries has
combined to put pressure on the Nile River water resources. Attempts at reform in Nile Basin
water rights began in 1999 with the Nile Basin Initiative (Swain 2011). This initiative was
created by the riparian countries and supported by the international community as a response to
the inequitable distribution of water within the basin. The intention appears to have been
identification of sustainable development as well as formation of a new water sharing agreement,
the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA). The CFA is a document produced through the
Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) with the aims of replacing the existing Nile Treaty with a more
equitable and reflective water sharing agreement for the upstream basin countries. The CFA has
now been signed by all basin countries except for Sudan and Egypt. The next step is to ratify the
CFA, which Ethiopia has just done in conjunction with ongoing construction of the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (BBC 2013). Once the CFA is ratified by all the countries, the Nile
River Commission will be established and function to coordinate plans for developing Nile basin
water resources in upstream countries and help with cooperation (Nicol and Cascão 2011).
Once the countries ratify this CFA, the Nile River Commission will be established. This will be
an international body charged with coordinating river development. Another River Commission,
the Mekong River Commission is a body which functions as an advisor and facilitator to some of
60
the Mekong basin countries, excluding upstream China and Burma, and serves an important
function of gathering objective scientific data about aspects of the water resources.
The prevailing attitude of the international community about Egypt and the Nile is that the Nile
represents practically the only source of freshwater supply for Egyptian people, and for this
reason, upstream countries should tread carefully. As often is the case with water resources,
economic use of the resource is promoted more than conservation. Two uses in Egypt can be
considered for water budget and water loss: the 2 years of storage water behind Aswan Dam in
Lake Nasser with an incredible evaporation rate, and water used for industrial or commercial
agriculture, such as cotton, especially with water transfers to the desert.
The existing Nile Treaty legitimizes Egypt’s water resources rights. Egypt’s economic, military,
and social development throughout the 20
th
century reflects that privilege. The Aswan High Dam
allows for controlled flow of Nile water resources for enhanced agricultural sector, flood control,
as well as a source for energy generation. The former Egyptian president, Mohammed Morsi,
stated just before he was deposed, that Egypt would bleed for the Nile and stated publicly to
Ethiopia that ‘all options are open [for Egypt regarding this situation]’ (Malone 2013). One of his
last official acts was to call for the formation of a water security council. Water security is an
issue that sparked Egyptian objection to the 2007 CFA.
The Renaissance Dam represents the first development project that can significantly alter the
basin status quo (Ethiopian official, 2012). There is a perception among Egyptians on the street
that Ethiopia’s project will directly threaten Egypt’s share of water resources. There is a
perception among Ethiopians on the street that Egypt would halt the Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam if they could, but that Ethiopia needs this development for electricity in order
to end domestic poverty (anonymous 2012, anonymous 2013).
There are approximately 238 million people living in the Nile basin, and approximately 437
million in the basin countries (NBI 2013). Egypt and Sudan, downstream countries, are
61
dependent on Nile River water resources almost exclusively for domestic consumption,
agriculture, industry, power generation, and national economies (Cascão 2009). The economies,
development, and infrastructure of the 11 countries are varied, and of those, 9 are listed on the
UN’s Least Developed Countries list (see Figure 2). Poor economies cause related problems in
human and national securities, namely heavy reliance on environmental resources for survival,
lack of infrastructure, lack of access to markets, health care, education, water, issues of food
security, as well as development opportunities. All Nile basin countries have mainly
agriculturally-based economies, and agriculture accounts for about 75% of Nile water resources
use (in Sudan this is as high as 94%) although almost 98% of the irrigation infrastructure exists
in Sudan and Egypt while Ethiopia has developed only about 5% of their arable land in the Nile
basin (Swain 2011, Block and Strzepek 2010).
Colonial control of the states in the Nile basin dictated the first series of modern power play on
the Nile waters and culminated in the present day treaty. During the Cold War, the US Bureau of
Reclamation’s surveyed the Nile River and its tributaries to identify development opportunities
and the Soviet Union assisted Egypt in building the High Aswan Dam.
The significance of the Renaissance Dam for downstream countries is that it threatens to upset
the status quo. It will change the absence of development directly on the Nile in upstream
riparian countries, and can pave the way toward uncoordinated future water development
schemes. The reason this is problematic for the downstream countries of Egypt and Sudan is
their refusal to coordinate and collaborate on this dam development, as well as almost exclusive
dependence on Nile water as a freshwater resource for agriculture, domestic use, industry, and
power generation. Upstream riparian arguably have other water resources aside from the Nile
river.
62
Environment sector
The Nile basin accounts for 10% of all freshwater resources in Africa and is one of the world’s
longest rivers, flowing an estimated 6,670 km from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean (Cascão
2009, Koutsoyiannis et al. 2009). The Blue Nile River basin is a transboundary basin that
originates in the highlands of Ethiopia before coursing through the deserts of Sudan to join the
White Nile in Khartoum. From Khartoum the unified Nile River flows through Sudan and the
Nubian region of Egypt, past major cities and historic places of significance, and eventually
empties into the Mediterranean Sea. The majority of the water resources in the Nile basin
generate from the Ethiopian highlands; some estimated 82% - 95% annual contribution sourced
in the Blue Nile, Atbara, and Sobat tributaries (Cascão 2009, Waterbury 2002). The 1529 km
long Blue Nile River alone contributes from 59% to 68% water flow to the basin; the variation is
due to the fluctuations between rainy and dry seasons (Waterbury 2002, Swain 2011)
The river’s hydrologic system is dominated by a monsoon pulse of flood and drought, and carries
high amounts of sediment eroded from the Ethiopian highlands. The evaporation rate is high;
more than 85% of the water is lost in the basin before it reaches the Mediterranean Sea
(anonymous 2012). There are several dams and irrigation infrastructure on the Nile in Sudan and
Egypt. Most significant of these are Aswan High Dam in Egypt, and Roseires and Merowe dams
in Sudan, which are all used primarily for hydroelectric power generation. The complex river
system has two major tributaries, the White Nile that mostly originates in the Great Lakes system
of Equatorial countries and the Blue Nile that originates in the highlands of Ethiopia. The
remaining 14% originates in the White Nile River sourced in the Equatorial countries; the
majority of the water resources are lost in the Sudd, swamps in South Sudan (Swain 2011).
Mining and agricultural practices in the Blue Nile State of Sudan have caused environmental
damage to the watershed in the form of pollution and erosion (ICG 2013). There are natural
resources in the Nile basin in Sudan like oil, fertile soils for large-scale agriculture, and gold and
63
chromium mining. Approximately 75% of Sudan’s electricity is generated by the Roseires dam
on the Blue Nile (ICG 2013).
Egyptian concerns about the Nile have to do with quantity and quality. The Aswan Dam has
stopped normal flow to allow for more predictable water resource, and reduction of flood events,
but has also reduced the nutrient recharge of floodplains, reduced sediment to recharge the delta
which in turn has caused salt intrusion and loss of land to the sea. There is no joint cooperative
management scheme for water development or management – between countries. In Ethiopia
there are uncoordinated efforts in the basin for watershed management at the local government
level, the state government level, and the federal government level. This is complicated by a
myriad of international agencies at work on various water based projects in the basin.
Economic Sector
There are approximately 300 million people living in the Nile basin. The economies,
development, and infrastructure of the 11 countries are varied, and of those, 9 are listed on the
UN’s Least Developed Countries list (see Figure 2). Poor economies cause related problems in
human and national securities, namely heavy reliance on environmental resources for survival,
lack of infrastructure, lack of access to markets, health care, education, water, issues of food
security, as well as development opportunities. All Nile basin countries have mainly
agriculturally-based economies, and agriculture accounts for about 75% of Nile water resources
use (in Sudan this is as high as 94%) although almost 98% of the irrigation infrastructure exists
in Sudan and Egypt while Ethiopia has developed only about 5% of their arable land in the Nile
basin (Swain 2011, Block and Strzepek 2010).
Existing water development infrastructure exists on the Nile to support economic activities. The
Aswan High Dam was constructed in Egypt in the 1960s. Sudan’s Khasm El-Girba, Sennar, and
Roseires dams were also built in the 1960s with Egyptian support (Kalpakian 2004). Some other
potentially significant water resources infrastructure projects are the Jonglei canal in South
64
Sudan and Western desert irrigation projects in Egypt. Intended as a way to reduce evaporation
losses in the Sudd wetlands, the canal was started, mostly constructed, and abandoned by Egypt
and Sudan in 1978 and 1984 respectively (Swain 2011). The Western desert irrigation projects
are ongoing. Sudan also recently built the Merowe Dam with Chinese assistance and raised the
height of the Roseires Dam in order to deal with sediment deposition. The Merowe Dam,
commissioned in 2007, has a 1,250 MW generating capacity (McDonald et al. 2009). Ethiopia’s
Tekeze Dam was completed in 2009, becoming the tallest dam in Africa (MWH 2013).
Sudan has recently built the Merowe dam with Chinese assistance, and also raised the height of
the Roseires Dam in order to deal with sediment deposition. Rumor states that Sudan would like
to expand their irrigation networks and that the GERD will enable this expansion to occur
(anonymous, 2013). The GERD will allow for flood control during the rainy seasons and a more
reliable and consistent flow during the dry season.
Egypt’s economic wealth depends largely on the Nile River and claims of historic precedence for
regional foreign policy justification (Swain 2011). Large corporate farms produce cotton to allow
Egypt to be the 2
nd
largest cotton exporter in the world, just after the heavily subsidized United
States cotton industry. Between 1952 and 2007, land reclamation for cultivation added about
126,000 km2 more to the already cultivated Nile Delta and the Nile River Valley, and by 2030,
the government planned to expand this much again (Barnes 2012). To accomplish this Egypt
must transfer water from Lake Nasser to the Western Desert and pump ground water resources
(ibid). Most of Egypt’s 80 million citizens have some economic tie to the Nile River, and the
Nile River Valley in Egypt has one of the densest populations in the world (Cascão 2009). Egypt
also receives billions from the USA each year in aid.
Socio-cultural Sector
The Nile River is legendary and conjures images of the pyramids and ancient pharonic
civilization in Egypt, Moses in the papyrus reeds, and more recent European expeditions to find
65
the source. For those who live in the basin, the river evokes historic, cultural, poetic, religious,
spiritual, political, environmental, economic, and social feelings and concepts of fiction and fact.
There are dozens of local names for the river, dozens more stories, mythologies, ceremonies,
identities, and songs revering its romance and power for life and death, and numerous national
economies, local economies, agriculture, livelihoods, ethnic communities, industrial uses,
commercial enterprises, and political power associated.
Many local-scale riverine peoples in the basin are subsistence farmers, pastoralists, fishermen,
and hunter gathering communities (ICG 2013). During the 20
th
century Nile basin development
in Egypt and Sudan, as well as the ongoing conflict in Sudan, resulted in hundreds of thousands
of people’s internal displacement and refugee status (ICG 2013). The Aswan High Dam
displaced more than 100,000 people, mostly Nubian ethnic group, the Roseires Dam displaced
more than 200,000 people, and the most recent Merowe dam, completed in 2008, displaced
50,000 people. Many of the displaced people from these dams are still in protest of failed
compensation today (Allam 2012). The Renaissance Dam will displace an additional 20,000
people within Ethiopia, and unaccounted for numbers in downstream affected communities of
Sudan (official documents, 2012).
3.2.2. THE MEKONG
In July 2011 the International Rivers Network, a San Francisco based Environmental NGO,
released a news statement that the country of Laos was moving ahead with the proposed
Xayaburi Dam Project on the Mekong River (IRN 2011). Construction was moving ahead
despite claims that the project would be suspended. The IRN subsequently posted unauthorized
photographs on the internet in February of 2012 showing construction of support roads and
buildings. The organization claimed that the Lao government was taking land from locals
without compensation and started noise in the international community about the inevitable
development changes to come in the Lower Mekong River. Plans to develop the water resources
of the Mekong River through construction of a cascade of large hydropower dams were
66
established just after WWII with the help of external interests, such as the USA (Sneddon et al.
2006). General regional development plans were put on hold due to the escalation of the
Indochina (Vietnam) War, but modern-day Indochina is developing at a rapid rate, and along
with economic growth comes higher energy demand. Higher energy demand means a revisiting
of dam plans designed more than 50 years ago.
The Xayaburi Project is one of several large investment projects for energy development in Laos
funded by neighboring countries. The scope of my research into the Xayaburi Project is to
examine the impacts such development has on local, national, and regional security issues in the
range of sectors previously identified as the realm of human security.
Figure 5: The Mekong River Upstream From Xayaburi Dam Project Site in Dry Season,
Sayabouli Province, Laos
67
Political Sector
The Mekong River is shared by 260 million people in the territory of Cambodia, China, Laos,
Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam (Dore, Lebel and Molle 2012). Approximately 80% of the
people living in the Lower Mekong River basin rely on the river for food or their livelihoods
(Orr et al. 2012). There is cooperation of the countries in the Lower Mekong through the
Mekong River Commission. Development plans for the river’s water resources include several
mainstream and tributary hydroelectric projects to harness the potential 53,000 MW in the basin
(ibid.). Yunnan, the province where the Mekong River is found in China, has one of the highest
hydropower potentials and the highest biological and cultural diversity in China (Wang et al.
2013).
The basin is a complex system with many climates, topographies, ethnicities, economies,
politics, social challenges, histories, regional betrayals and alliances, and environmental
limitations, at various scales. Ongoing changes to the political, environmental, economic, and
social systems have resulted in regional tensions and disagreements. Most recently, international
attention has been focused on development of the main stream Mekong River, and this has
caused controversy and division of interested parties into two groups – those who are for
regional development and modernizing the local standard of living, and those who are for
preserving traditional lifestyles and protecting the environment. The political, environmental,
economic, and socio-cultural aspects of the Mekong River basin are complex subsystems that,
when taken separately, inform the total system for development and conservation needs.
The Mekong River’s watershed includes territories of China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand,
Cambodia, and Vietnam. Regional traditional life on the Mekong features subsistence fishing,
hunting, and harvesting.
68
Environmental Sector
The Mekong River is one of the world’s great rivers, rising in the Tibetan Plateau at 5,000
meters above sea level and plunges 4,600 meters in just 1000 km, to an altitude of 400 meters
above sea level by the time it leaves Chinese territory (Dore et al. 2012). The river has extreme
variability and aquatic biodiversity. The Mekong River is 4900 km long and terminates in the
South China Sea from Vietnam. The catchment is approximately 795,000 km
2
and about 18% of
the overall hydraulic inflow comes from the Upper Mekong countries of China and Myanmar
(Orr et al. 2012). Yunnan Province holds the highest biological diversity in China (Wang et al.
2013).
Figure 6: Mekong River water balance (SIWRR 2014)
The above figure gives estimates that are slightly different from the figures used from the TFDD
because of the imprecision of the square kilometers used in the area of the basin breakout.
However, I have included this chart to demonstrate the breakout of the water balance in the
69
basin. Though China has constructed and commissioned five storage dams upstream in the basin,
China only accounts for 16% of the water contribution in the Mekong. The water budget
contribution of the Chinese part of the basin to Laos is not identified, but considering the
downstream contribution of Cambodia and Vietnam at almost 30% of the water budget, the
contribution to the Laotian portion of the basin must be higher than 16%. The upstream dam
impacts on Laos’ environment are not clear and the topic is politically sensitive because China
does not release water data across the border during the dry season.
The Mekong River basin is a complex hydrological system that covers 795,000 km
2
of extreme
and varied climates (van Zalinge et al. 2003). The Mekong River is one of the world’s longest
rivers, beginning in the Tibetan Plateau, flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand,
Cambodia, and Vietnam before it empties 4,800 km later into the South China Sea. The physical
geography of the Mekong basin is increasingly shaped not only by natural features, but also by
the human engineered landscapes. Generally academic literature and present-day politics in
development divide the river into two distinct parts: the Lower Mekong that starts at the Golden
Triangle in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam; the Upper Mekong in Myanmar and China
(van Zalinge et al. 2003). The Mekong River and its tributaries are the most significant source of
water and related resources in Laos, Cambodia, and the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam.
The river’s hydrologic system is dominated by a monsoon pulse of flood that provides (van
Zalinge et al. 2003), and carries high amounts of sediment eroded from the Tibetan highlands
and upper Laotian tributaries More hydrologic influence comes from storm events in the upper
tributaries of the Mekong rather than from snow melt in the Tibetan plateau. There are several
dam infrastructure built on the Mekong and its tributaries. The most significant of these
commissioned dams are found in China’s Yunnan Province: (list of dam names and MW output
or storage capacity).
70
Economic Sector
The economic policies in the Mekong River basin countries have experienced rapid change since
the 1990s (Rigg, Promphaking and Le Mare 2014, Galipeau, Ingman and Tilt 2013). Over 70
million people live in the Mekong River basin and approximately 55 million people rely on the
diverse fishery (MRC 2003). The fisheries account for more than $1.7 billion USD annually (van
Zalinge et al. 2003). Southeast Asian countries experienced aggressive economic growth in the
last two decades to elevate the economies to middle income status (Rigg et al. 2014). The
Association of Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN) includes 10 growing economies in SE Asia
and is moving toward formation of a free trade region by 2015 (Kao 2014). This change through
ASEAN is thought to allow for more connectivity in infrastructure and energy for the region.
China has commissioned five dams on the upstream portion of the Mekong, called the Lancang
River in China. There is a high potential for hydropower on this reach of the Mekong in China
and it is part of China’s national energy plan to exploit the hydropower potential.
Officially, the Xayaburi Dam project began construction in November 2012, though exploration
of the site started in 2011. The dam is one of many planned for the Lower Mekong River
mainstream in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam and is reputed as a benchmark for future change in
the region.
Socio-cultural Sector
The Mekong River is a romantic river, inspiring the aesthetic of artists because of mountainous
backdrops, raging waterfalls, and emerald rice paddies. For those who live in the basin, the river
evokes historic, cultural, religious, spiritual, political, environmental, economic, and social
feelings and concepts of fiction and fact. The name Mekong means “mother water” in Thai and
Lao languages. The ethnically diverse population living in the basin includes large numbers of
subsistence communities.
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There are dozens of local names for the river, dozens more stories, mythologies, ceremonies, and
identities related to its power for life and death, and numerous national economies, local
economies, agriculture, livelihoods, ethnic communities, industrial uses, commercial enterprises,
and political power associated. The Mekong is very heavily associated with the diverse and
plentiful fishery. Wonderful tales of the playful Naga spirits tell of dragon-like creatures that
control the flow of the waters.
3.3. NATIONAL SCALE:
3.3.1. ETHIOPIA
Political Sector
Ethiopia has experienced significant population having doubled to 80 million from 1990
(Matthews, Nicol and Seide 2012). Ethiopia has several federal institutions that handle water
resources: Ministry of Water and Energy; Ministry of Agriculture; and under the Ministry of
Water and Energy, the Ethiopian Electric Power Company (EEPCO). Ethiopia heads the regional
Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD). There are many international agencies
working within Ethiopia on water resources issues, but must vet through these Ministries in order
to conduct research and projects. Of these influential international organizations, the ILRI
campus, International Livestock Research Institute, includes several non-governmental research
groups from the CGIAR network working within the Blue Nile basin.
Ethiopia Nile basin water resources development plan includes two main visible components –
hydro-electricity development and leasing of large tracts of land (tied to water resources) to
foreign direct investment in plantations – agriculture through land acquisitions or land grabs.
Land grabs are said to be on the increase since the global food security scare of 2008. Land grabs
are occurring in the Gambela region, part of the White Nile River watershed and also in the
Benishangul-Gumuz region, part of the Blue Nile River watershed. The activity to date is not
very public, but the available information suggests that private contracts have been drawn
between the Ethiopia government and Middle East countries and India. News reports and rumor
72
in Ethiopia states that there has been some conflict between local landholders and foreign
corporations as well as local governments, which has resulted in fatalities. Ethiopian researchers
I met stated that the government was not allowing them to investigate this phenomenon (as of
2012 fieldwork). Though, I did encounter researchers from foreign NGOs in the region
investigating land-use changes and who said that their reports are forthcoming.
The Ethiopian Electric Power Company along with the Ministry of Water and Energy recently
changed its name from Ministry of Water to include water and energy. This ministry has plans to
build dams on many rivers in Ethiopia. Much of this work has already been commissioned or
contracted out. The Power Company has made sure to have Ethiopian engineers on site and
under the contracting companies in order to capitalize on knowledge transfer. They have also
contracted with Chinese company to extend the existing power grid network. The plans for these
dams are typically available on the website of EEPCO.
Environment
The following information was communicated to me through meetings at the Ministry of Water
and Energy: The Blue Nile accounts for close to 50% of all surface freshwater resources within
Ethiopia, but to date has remained domestically underdeveloped. There is currently no
comprehensive integrated water resources management plan for the Blue Nile basin, nor
adequate monitoring infrastructure, though erosion prevention efforts and small scale irrigation
projects are managed through the federal ministries, local governments, and international
development organizations. Given information provided by a US Bureau of Reclamation survey
conducted in the 1950s, the Blue Nile has the potential to provide about 10,000 MW of
hydropower generation through a series of dams (Consulate General of Ethiopia, 2013). The
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is the first such dam attempted, though rescaled through
subsequent assessments. The dam site is located less than 20 km from the Sudan border. The
resulting reservoir will contain approximately 60 billion cubic meters of water, a volume twice
that of Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia and source of the Blue Nile.
73
This potential change exacerbates the existing environmental concerns of high levels of topsoil
loss due to erosion, lack of sanitation, reliance on flood recession and rain-fed agriculture, 5% of
arable land is cultivated, and less than 1% arable land irrigated (Block and Strzepek 2010).
Reliance on biomass burning contributes to watershed erosion. There is no Blue Nile basin
management plan for Ethiopia, though one is being developed in the Ministry of Energy and
Water. Ethiopia does not currently have the ability to monitor change, instead using data
provided by Sudan. There are two working flow gages in Ethiopia and one rain gage (Ethiopian
government official 2012). Since Ethiopia relies primarily on burning of biomass and rainfed
agriculture, it is particularly susceptible to changing water availability due to climate change.
Ethiopia has already experienced major human disaster events in the famines of the 70s and 80s
and has since received food aid for millions of people each year. This is not just political
maneuvering. Although subsistence farmers may have plentiful food in one season, they may
have nothing in other seasons.
The valley is a transitional climate as the topography slopes from the river gorge in the Ethiopian
highlands to the lowland desert in Sudan. Temperatures can exceed 40 degrees Celsius in the dry
season. EEPCO conducted both an environmental and social impact assessment to catalogue the
people and species in the area. The thorough social impact assessment was done with EEPCO
employees while the environmental assessment was conducted by an outside contractor and was,
at the time of my reading it, incomplete.
Economic Sector
In 2000 Ethiopia had only about 380 MW of installed capacity in the country (Teklemariam and
Beyene 2005). By 2002, only 13% of Ethiopians had access to electricity (Teferra 2002). In
2012, Ethiopia had about 2000 MW of installed capacity and 80% of this is from hydroelectric
power. Ethiopia’s government has built policy to address the mainly subsistence agricultural
economy and in some years since 2005, Ethiopia’s GDP has increased significantly, some years
the growth has seen 11% increases (Admassie and Abebaw 2014).
74
Figure 7: Improved road on the north side of the Blue Nile River that is used to transport
equipment and people to and from the Renaissance dam project site
The last decade has seen some major economic as well as political changes in countries of the
Nile basin. Since 2005, internal stability has allowed Ethiopia to grow the annual GDP by leaps
and bounds. This is evident in cities around the country with new construction of roads and
buildings, and new traffic on the roads. This is also a reason for the Renaissance dam project.
The Renaissance dam will have a 6,000 MW potential, and is one of four dams planned for the
Blue Nile (Block and Strzepek 2010). To date Ethiopia has 2,000 MW available to about 48%
coverage in a country of 80 million people, but up until 1995, there was only 200 MW available
(EEPCO official 2012; (Matthews et al. 2012). There is a domestic plan called the Goals and
Transformation Plan that includes expansion of the existing network to 10,000 MW and 75%
75
coverage by 2020. Ethiopia also has aims to become the green energy hub of East Africa.
Contracts have already been signed between Ethiopia and neighboring countries of Kenya, South
Sudan, Sudan, and Djibouti regarding the export of electricity. The Blue Nile constitutes almost
50% of all water resources in Ethiopia. “Agriculture accounts for 40% of the Ethiopia’s gross
national product (GNP), 90% of the export income and provides employment to 85% of the
population” (Swain 2011).
In Ethiopia’s Blue Nile Valley, communities rely on flood-recession and rain-fed agriculture.
Aside from the city of Bahir Dar, villages are remote and amenities are basic. In fact, residents of
communities near to the dam site had not previously seen electric lights (anonymous, 2012). The
economies of these communities are based on agriculture, hunting, fishing, and artesian or
subsistence, gold panning.
Since 2005, the Ethiopian government has moved their attention away from inter- and intra-
national conflict and toward national-level economic development The national economy has
seen figures of 8% and 10% annual growth in recent years, though the economy is still largely
agriculturally dependent (Maasho 2013). Construction began in the fall of 2011. Development
related to the dam includes bridge and road construction, electricity grid expansion, and town
expansions with facilities for the displaced communities. There are approximately 20,000 people
who will be displaced by dam project. About 5,000 employees of the dam live onsite and this
number will increase to 12,000 employees at the peak of construction. The Ethiopian Electric
Power Company (EEPCO), the organization that administers all of Ethiopia’s hydropower
generating facilities, manages the project.
From interviews at EEPCO the following information was relayed: The Renaissance Dam will
have an installed generating capacity of 6,000 MW, 16 turbines with 375 MW capacity each. The
project plans to have initial generation as early as 2014, with aims to complete the entire project
in 2017. Ethiopia intends to be the green energy hub of East Africa. To reflect this EEPCO has
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already signed contracts with Kenya, Djibouti, South Sudan, and Sudan regarding the sale of
electricity. Dams and alternative energy generating schemes are being developed across the
country, to include solar, wind, and geothermal, as well as the construction of the transmission
lines to move the electricity, through a Chinese firm. Eighty million Ethiopians have only 2,000
MW in a grid that covers less than 48% of the country. In 1991, there was only about 200 MW
online.
Socio-cultural Sector
The population in Ethiopia doubled between 1990 and 2010 to exceed 80 million people
(Matthews et al. 2012). Ethiopia’s growing economy and population, coupled with national
issues associated with widespread poverty, has resulted in a growing demand for development,
and specifically, for energy. The formal governmental vision, the Goals and Transformation Plan
(GTP), identifies several development plans to elevate the population at large out of poverty
before 2025, including an increase of domestic clean-energy electricity generation to 10,000 MW
(Ethiopian Ministry of Finance, 2013). The Renaissance Dam is presently part of the GTP. The
Renaissance Dam costs are in excess of $4 billion USD, and to date, funds have been generated
through domestic bond selling and donations from the Ethiopian people both in Ethiopia and the
Ethiopian diaspora abroad.
This is a malaria area. The Ethiopian government supplies free nets and medicine for treatment
of malaria through rural health outreach. Since the dam development started, a new clinic at the
dam provides free health services to the local communities.
3.3.2. LAOS
Political
Laos is a landlocked country of 6 million people on the Southeast Asian peninsula. Laos is
flanked by Vietnam to the east, China to the north, Myanmar to the west, Thailand to the west
and south, and Cambodia to the south. The government is communist and it appears on the list of
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the UN’s Least Developed Countries. Laos has the smallest country population of its neighbors
and one of the lowest GDPs. Because it is landlocked, Laos is dependent on diplomatic
agreements with neighbors for trade and movement in and out of the country.
The Xayaburi Project is a dam currently under development on the Mekong River in the
northwest provinces of Luan Prabang and Sayaboury, Laos. The site is located approximately
200 kilometers upstream from Vientiane and 7 kilometers from the border with Thailand. The
location is remote and due to the road and bridge infrastructure condition, it takes 8 hours to
arrive by a dangerous and poorly maintained road from Vientiane and 3 hours to arrive by a
dusty road under construction from Luan Prabang. There is a small airport in Sayaboury, but no
flights were scheduled in or out due, I was told, to atmospheric conditions exacerbated by
seasonal burning. The airport did not receiving air traffic during the 4 months I was in Laos. On
the road from Luan Prabang, there is a bridge under construction due to be complete in 2014.
There are car ferries that transport vehicles across the Mekong to continue onto the Sayaboury
City. The majority of people living in villages along the Mekong are subsistence farmers,
fishermen, gatherers, and hunters. There is electric connectivity in Sayaboury City, and in one
recently built relocation village, but not in all of the riverside villages. Since dam development
started, new roads have gone in and new transportation opportunities have been created for local
people.
78
Figure 8: Bridge under construction on Mekong River will make the local ferry obsolete
Environment Sector
Laos accounts for 35% of the water budget in the Mekong River basin. The basin covers the
majority of Laos’s territory and contains several big tributaries. Much of the tributaries have not
been developed and local people use boats for movement and trade. Some development of the
hydropower is now underway on some of the tributaries.
Economic Sector
The Xayaburi Project is one of several large investment projects for energy development in Laos
funded by neighboring countries. Lao economic reforms that began in 1986 and continue to open
the domestic market to regional and global markets, has resulted in a steady increase in national
GDP (Phimphanthavong 2014). The Lao population is primarily subsistence farmers, this
classification accounts for about 75% of the population in 2010 (Phimphanthavong 2014).
Socio-cultural Sector
Though the dam will be a run of river dam, impounding a minimal amount of water, there will be
a difference of 30 meters from the reservoir behind the dam to the river below. This project has
79
displaced one entire village, and will displace parts of villages upstream for kilometers. In total,
17 villages will experience some relocation efforts.
3.4. LOCAL-LEVEL SCALE
3.4.1. ETHIOPIA BLUE NILE SUBSISTENCE COMMUNITIES: SPOTLIGHT ON GUMUZ
Political Sector
The Blue Nile Valley is located in the Ethiopian Benishangul-Gumuz state. The Benishangul-
Gumuz State borders Sudan, is considered remote, experiences food insecurity, sparsely
populated, and is one of the most impoverished states in Ethiopia (Shete 2011, IRN 2011). There
are close to 785,000 people living in this region with approximate 410,000 under the age of 18
years (ECC 2008). Asossa is the only major urban area with an airport; the dam site has a private
airport landing strip. The area of this study’s field interviews includes sample population mostly
from the approximately 15,000 people living in the Guba Woreda administrative district and a
few from the approximately 25,000 living in the Sherkole Woreda administrative district (ibid.).
The Renaissance Dam project is located approximately 17 km from the border with Sudan and
730 km from Addis Ababa in the Guba Woreda. There are two roads that lead to the dam site,
one from Asossa south and west of the dam and the other from the Addis Ababa-Bahir Dar Road,
east of the dam. Both roads are unpaved and there is limited public transportation. There are two
bridges near to the dam site, the China Bridge that will be removed due to reservoir flooding,
built by Chinese traders about 8 years ago. There is a new bridge located just downstream from
the dam project, which is the 7
th
official bridge across the Nile in Ethiopia.
80
Figure 9: Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project Site, facing south, September 2012
There is no electricity in the villages and very little in way of permanent infrastructure. The
region is sparsely populated mainly with Gumuz and Berta ethnic groups as well as relocated
Amhara. Approximately 20,000 people will be relocated due to the resulting reservoir behind the
dam. The majority of people living in the valley are subsistence farmers, fishermen, and hunters.
The relocated Amhara operate small shops to the local communities or project employees. There
is one town, Bamza, downstream of the dam site, and several sizable villages upstream. In
between there are dozens of small family settlements. There are approximately 20,000 people
currently located in rural villages in the flood zone of the expected reservoir who will be
relocated under the project in Ethiopia. Currently, there are no plans to include populations living
just downstream, over the border in Sudan. Not much is known about the population living over
81
the border that will be impacted. Historically, due to slave raids, people fled across the border
into Sudan (Ahmad 1999). However, whole villages were wiped out in the Blue Nile River
Valley at the turn of the last century due to the slave trade (Allen 1914) and so there is question
to the continuity of populations in this region. Due to Sudan’s ongoing recent conflicts in the
Blue Nile State and South Kardovan, exact numbers of impacted people downstream from the
project are not clear (ICG 2013).
The majority of the dam-affected people in Ethiopia and Sudan are from the Gumuz ethnic
group, one of Ethiopia’s ethnic minorities. The Gumuz People are about 200,000 people found in
the Blue Nile Valley in western Ethiopia and into the Roseires Dam area of southern Sudan
(Ahland 2012). In the literature, scholars note that Gumuz refer to themselves as the people,
“bega”, but in the interviews and in this study, Gumuz referred to themselves as Gumuz (Uzar
1989, Uzar 1997, Abutte, Cernea and McDowell 2000). There is little extensive research about
this ethnic group in the literature, and none of what does exist is specific to the Gumuz
population who will be relocated by the Renaissance Dam.
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Figure 10: Gumuz boys on the banks of the Blue Nile River, upstream of the Renaissance
Dam project site
Historically, the Gumuz do not have good relations with other ethnic groups, particularly the
highland Amhara, and are considered still today to be violent and hostile people (Abutte 2009).
They have been historically subject to slave raids and are still subject to land seizures, and forced
migration (Abutte et al. 2000). Violent conflict with settlers and other ethnic groups is recorded
in an area north and east of the project site as motivated by state land seizures associated with the
Beles River Project (Abutte et al. 2000, Gebre-Egziabher and Berhanu 2007). The conflict was
successfully resolved using a traditional Gumuz conflict resolution institution called the
mangima (Gebre-Egziabher and Berhanu 2007).
83
Figure 11: Gumuz woman on Market Day in China Camp
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Figure 12: Gumuz relocation-affected family near to Renaissance Dam project site
85
Figure 13: Founder of Wednesday Market and his second wife
The range of Gumuz speakers is shown in the Figure 14 below. This range has been influenced
by historic slave raids and more recent former Ethiopian government, Derg, directed land-
encroachment because of state farms and will change again due to the GERD project and
increasing land-leases (Abutte 2009; Shete 2011). Gumuz today are settled in lowland areas and
engage in agriculture, hunting, fishing, gold-mining, and pastoralism (Ahland 2012). I
encountered Gumuz people actively farming, hunting, fishing, and mining for gold in the Blue
Nile Valley. Very little research has been done with and very little is known about the Gumuz
speakers in Sudan, but what little information exists has not been updated since the 1970s
(Ahland, 2012).
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Reference to Gumuz ethnicity are found in documents from the 14
th
century, 19
th
century, and
the ancestors of present-day Gumuz are some of the earliest people in the Blue Nile River region
of Ethiopia (González-Ruibal, Fernández and Martínez 2007, Ahland 2012). The Gumuz people
were heavily targeted by slave raids from Highland Ethiopians, Arab Sudanese slave traders, and
Nubians (Ahmad 1999). It is suggested that Gumuz villages exist today in Blue Nile Valley
because of forced migrations due to slavery, land encroachment, politics, environmental change,
ethnic rivalry, and unknown motivations (Shete 2011, Ahland 2012, Abutte et al. 2000, Ahmad
1999). Slave raids occurred as recently as the 1930s (Ahmad 1999) and land-seizures occurred
until as late as 1991 (Abutte et al. 2000).
The Beles Project, an emergency farming project designed in reaction to the famines in the
1980s, pushed thousands of Gumuz people off of their lands and further into the lowlands areas.
Figure 14: Extent of Gumuz Ethnic Group in Ethiopia and Sudan (Ahland 2012)
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New reports on the land grabs in Ethiopia identify Benishangul-Gumuz state as a target for large
land-leases (Shete 2011). By 2010, as many as 525 commercial agricultural licenses have been
issued in the state (ibid.). This, coupled with the Renaissance Dam plans to relocate the Gumuz
ethnic group may echo the past actions that have left the Gumuz landless and without access to
natural resources they need to survive culturally and literally.
Environmental Sector
Figure 15: Lowland area that will be flooded by Renaissance Dam, Blue Nile (Abay) River
in background
The Blue Nile Valley in Ethiopia is a transitional climate zone from Ethiopian highlands to the
lower elevations that extend into Sudan’s territory. The elevation in the valley is 540 to 690
meters above sea level and the resulting reservoir will be kept between this range
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(www.sudan.now.com 2012; CGELA 2011). The lowlands areas where Gumuz are now settled
are considered undesirable land because of disease and heat (González-Ruibal et al. 2007). The
region is a malarial and EEPCO has designed a 5 kilometer buffer zone around the reservoir to
mitigate the risk of an increase in malaria to the local population.
The riparian woodland or bushland category on the map in Figure below overlaps with the
Gumuz language range in Figure. Not much research about the environment in this area exists in
the literature. EEPCO hired a consulting company to conduct an environmental assessment of the
species in the valley, which they did largely by surveying the Gumuz communities and
employing methods for bushlands, not woodlands.
Figure 16: Land-cover type in Benishangul-Gumuz State (Shete 2011)
The Gumuz population practices slash and burn agriculture during the dry season to drive away
the snakes and clear land for agricultural cultivation in the wet season.
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There is little documented about the aquatic species in this reach of the Blue Nile River.
Respondents report that there are different fish at different times of the year and that the fish
move up the tributaries during the rainy season.
Figure 17: Catfish caught in the Blue Nile River and Gumuz fisherman
I spotted dozens of types of birds over the course of my time spent at the dam site. I also saw a
fox and other small mammals. One night I heard the sound of large cats fighting. Ethiopian and
Italian dam employees told me about big striped cats, they called tigers, perhaps cerval cats with
a striped variation of spotted coat, were seen at the river and at a waterfall in the mountains.
They also report lions in the vicinity, as well as baboons. One high level employee told me that a
surveyor had gone missing in the mountains near to the saddle dam. He suspected that he was
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eaten by a lion. If the subspecies of Ethiopian lion are living in this area, the Ethiopian
government should consider setting aside land for a preserve.
91
Figure 18: Variety of birds near the Renaissance Dam Project site
92
Economic Sector
The locals do not have an extensive cash economy. Trading occurs at a number of weekly
markets in China camp, the roadside village called Wednesday Market, or across the river in
Adinkish. What cash economy there is is hinged upon gold mining or selling small volumes of
food stuffs grown in the river or surrounding area. The Gumuz are known for subsistence
trading, not for economic accumulation through trading (Abutte 2009).
Figure 19: Gumuz boys pan for gold in the riverbank
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Figure 20: Gumuz boy shows gold mined from the riverbanks
Figure 21: Market at China Camp with locally produced goods and outside goods brought
in from Bahir Dar or Asossa
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Figure 22: Gold flakes and measuring scale at Wednesday Market
There appears to be no formal land-ownership, but some informal system exists based on village
geography and proximate to the river as well as clan or family affiliation. People resettled
downstream of the dam reported that they must first seek permission of the residents already
living there before they can use the river to grow crops.
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Figure 23: Gumuz woman hauls harvested sorghum from her farm in the riverbank
Socio-cultural Sector
The Gumuz People are by far the largest ethnic group impacted by resettlement plans due to the
Renaissance Dam, and the majority of my field interviewees. Twenty thousand rural inhabitants
will be relocated to several new resettlement towns with planned facilities for health, education,
water supply (EEPCO 2012). Though little in the literature exists about the Gumuz, what
96
information I could find, I have included with my own empirical observations and data taken
from information and formal field interviews.
The Gumuz do not have a written language (Uzar 1997). There is very little in way of material
culture aside from the tukuls, seats and beds, tools used for mining, fishing, farming, grinding, or
hunting. Almost all the material things in the valley are taken from the river and surrounding
environment. The Gumuz respondents in this study live in tukuls made of mud and straw that
must be rebuilt every few years. They live in small villages associated with family or clan and
men tend to have more than one wife, except for China camp and Bamza, which are larger
settlements with more facilities. Most Gumuz self-identify as farmers, (galena), although they
also engage in fishing, mining, hunting, and raising cattle/goats. For mining, Gumuz use large
wooden bowls and small metal pieces on which to affix the gold with their saliva. For fishing,
many men use a hook and line, some go out in small dugout boats, and women use their clothes
to catch fish in the shallows. For farming, there are hoes, baskets for harvesting attached to long
poles worn across the back (on women), axes for chopping wood. For hunting Gumuz men use
bow and arrow and knives. For grinding, dried mud and straw bases are used with large river
stones. The women and children are adorned with colorful beaded jewelry made by the Gumuz
women.
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Figure 24: Gumuz woman pans for gold in the Blue Nile River
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Figure 25: Grinding area with mud base and river stones
The Gumuz engage in artisanal mining for gold in the riverbanks for a cash economy. The gold
is traded to Asossa or Bahir Dar jewelers. They practice flood recession agriculture in the dry
season and rain-fed agriculture away from the riverbanks in the wet season. The inhabitants of
the Blue Nile Valley near the project site are said to be converted to Islam (Ahland, 2012), but
there are no mosques in the area. There are no medical facilities in the valley aside from the new
dam clinic, and only one primary school offering classes to Grade 4.
There is a gender difference in the Gumuz community that I observed. Women are responsible
for most of the manual labor associated with farming and village upkeep as well as minding the
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children. Women are less likely to have the same access to education as their male counterparts.
Women and men engage in gold panning and selling at the market.
Figure 26: Gumuz village woman
The Gumuz villages in the study site are separated by the Blue Nile River and the inhabitants
traditionally only met during the dry season when the river water was lower and allowed for
swimming or boats to cross. According the amusement of my translator, the dialect reflects this.
The new bridge downstream from the dam may change this.
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3.4.2. LOCAL MEKONG SUBSISTENCE COMMUNITIES
Political Sector
The Xayaburi Dam Project is taking place mainly in the Sayabouli Province in Northwestern
Laos. There is some development and change happening on the east side of the river in Luan
Prabang Province. There are approximately 350,000 people living in Sayabouli Province where I
conducted the interviews for this case study (Laos Census 2005). The Province shares a border
Thailand to the west and because of the relatively lower altitude, is considered an area of high
cultivation potential. The region hopes for tourism potential as it is home to the largest elephant
population in Laos, just opened an elephant conservation camps in 2013, and hosts an annual
elephant festival in capital Sayabouli city.
Figure 27: Mekong River Sayabouli Province, near to Xayaburi Dam site
There will be approximately 2,400 people relocated because of the project. There is only one
village that has already been completely relocated from the riverbanks to a place 32 km away
and closer to Sayabouli City. The other villages will experience partial relocation of houses that
will be affected by the resulting reservoir behind the Xayaburi Dam. These houses are now at
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lower elevations and the inhabitants will be relocated to higher elevation above the existing
villages.
Figure 28: Relocated Sayabouli Province village with electrification and fish farms
The inhabitants of the affected villages are a mixture of Lao and Khmu people, an ethnic
minority. There are approximately 600,000 Khmu living in Laos (Laos Census 2005). The local
level communities have one chief in the village and one or two supporting members of a local
government. Information is given to the villagers through this structure in town meetings. There
is no radio or newspaper in the local villages. There is little to no electricity internet. The
relocated village has electricity.
Environment Sector
The local communities live along the Mekong River in a tropical climate. The villages are
clustered on the banks of the river and locals subsist on the environmental resources available in
the river and surrounding forest systems. Sayabouli Province is relatively underdeveloped and is
home to the largest population of elephants in Laos. The Province is also host to a lignite
operation that will extract and process lignite, causing a clearing of villages for a 30 km radius
(Lao officials, 2013).
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Figure 29: Mekong River bank with bananas brought from upstream for trading
Changes to the environment are reported in the narratives and travel throughout the region
reveals timber harvesting and intensive burning of upland land for preparation of winter dryland
rice crops.
Economic Sector
The local economies are subsistence economies. Farming, fishing, and trading are done primarily
on a subsistence basis with the rare exception. Artisanal gold mining is practiced in the Mekong
riverbanks. Children as well as adults go to the river for panning, fishing, and farming.
103
Figure 30: Laotians fishing, panning for gold, and farming along the Mekong River
104
Socio-cultural Sector
Land-use is changing rapidly in Laos as the government encourages rural populations to move
away from shifting rice cultivation, a process that allows for land to lay fallow for a number of
years as other pieces of land are cultivated for an annual upland rice crop, to cash crops
(Vongvisouk et al. 2014). Despite these changes, Lao rural populations are still largely
subsistence farmers (Phimphanthavong 2014). In the rural areas where there are no roads locals
use the river for transportation.
The river is used for recreation as well as for livelihoods. Children enjoy swimming and playing
in the water when they are not attending school. There are some children in the villages being
raised by grandparents, at least for part of the day, while parents either work at the dam project
or have left to Thailand or elsewhere to work and send remittances home.
Figure 31: Lao children playing in the Mekong River
There are quite a number of retired people living in the villages as well. Many of these residents
rely on remittances from children gone abroad or rely on help from relatives in the community.
105
Figure 32: Lao woman with her three great grandchildren
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4. METHODS
“If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.” Lord Kelvin
4.1. INTRODUCTION
This chapter covers and bounds the systems used for this study, introduces and explains the
methods used to measure those systems, and explains the data sources of information used to
represent each scale that are measured. The methods explained include methods and tools used
for data collection as well as analytical methods employed to process the collected quantitative
and qualitative information. Quantitative information includes parameters used by global indices,
such as GDP, and national statistics (where available), as well as project information from
documents and interviews with officials. Quantitative information includes field interviews with
national and local communities as well as what is available in the literature and from
informational interviews conducted with international experts and national experts and citizens.
The sub-questions of scale, sector, and perception are addressed in this chapter as they influence
how the study is designed. The scale calls for several bounded systems: the international system
contains the national and local nested subsystems. Sectors and perception are also bounded in
this chapter, as taken from the literature review and appropriate to the case studies. Finally, the
methods and analysis used in the resulting data collection are different according to the scale,
and help to reveal divisions of sector and dominant perceptions.
4.2. SYSTEMS
This section defines and bounds the overall systems relevant to this study. The three general
groupings are scale, sector, and perception. There are multiple spatial and temporal scales,
multiple ideological sectors, and multiple dependent perceptions. These are described and
outlined in Tables 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 below.
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4.2.1. SCALE
The scale in this study is described in three related spatial and three related temporal systems.
The spatial systems are geographical, both physically and politically bounded, and ideological.
These are macro, meso, and micro in size. The macro system is a transboundary river basin, the
meso is a nation-state, and the micro is a local community. The scaled communities are further
bound by access to information, common language and culture, and common perception and
discourse. The temporal systems are scaled and described by general concepts of past, present,
and future. The present scale examines the situation and experience as defined by the dam in
development and under construction. The future scale examines perception, plans, and hopes and
fears as defined by when the dam is completed. The breakout of scale appears in Table 3.1.
Table 1: Spatially scaled systems for this study.
4.2.2. TIME
Time in this study is another type of scale. Time is measured through people’s responses in
interviews as it pertains to their current lives and their future hopes and fears. Time is important
Geographic Systems
Macro physical system
Transboundary river basin
Case Study 1
Blue Nile River (Territory in Egypt; Sudan; Ethiopia – part of
greater Nile River system to include Burundi, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan,
Tanzania, Uganda)
Case Study 2
Mekong River (China; Burma; Laos; Thailand; Cambodia;
Vietnam)
Meso political system
Nation-state
Case Study 1
Ethiopia
Case Study 2
Laos
Micro political & physical
system
Riparian communities (villages near to or along the river)
in close proximity to dam project and within an
administrative district where I could gain permits.
Case Study 1
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Site in Benishangul-Gumuz
State (9 villages)
Case Study 2
Xayaburi Dam Project Site in Sayabouli Province (3 villages)
108
to separating out the results in Chapter 6 as they pertain to perceptions and experience and the
difference between respondents’ narratives and official plans.
International Scale
Time is collectively considered current in the international information presented and analyzed,
regardless of a difference in year. This is partially because data collected within 3 years is all
considered current when measuring some of the global parameters because of reporting or ability
to generate new data year after year. This is also partially because there is limited datasets
available on HDI and HSI that overlap. I use a dataset from HSI that includes HDI from the same
year, 2009, though processed in 2010. Additional information is gathered from the UN’s HDI
website on Least Developed Countries that is current to 2014. Maps of the separate HDI
parameters are given based on available current data or data I preferred because it represents a
clearer objective or a more complete set. This includes Life Expectancy numbers from 2012,
GNI from 2011, and Mean School information from 2010.
National and Local Scale
National and Local scale time are both taken from the interview respondent’s narratives and
official documents. Time is distinct in these datasets because people are either mainly speaking
about how things are or how they understand things will be.
4.2.3. SECTOR
Sector is comprised of the ideological categories of politics, environment, economics, and socio-
culture. These sectors are taken from the human security and sustainable development literature
description in Chapter 2. Sectors and subsectors are described in table 3.2. Table 3.3 gives
separate general meanings of each of these sectors according to the scale, as also described in the
literature review. For example, environment at local-level refers to concrete space of the river
and places near to the river. Environment at the national-level refers to abstract concepts of the
river and the places near to the river. The three former sector categories are typically included in
109
sustainable development models, or termed the triple bottom line (Elkington 2004). I include the
fourth sector category, political, for two reasons: in the case of dam development, political
reasons at all scales may be related to, but not totally described by, economics or culture; and in
the security literature, as presented in the literature review, political security appears as a
separate sector category system.
Table 2: Sectors used in this study and components of those sectors
Overall System
Sectors of human security
Subsector
Dependent Subsystems
Political
Health,
Identity,
Occupation,
Traditional Knowledge,
Population
Environmental
Water,
Land,
Biodiversity,
Global Climate Change,
Natural Disasters
Economics
Employment,
Trade Markets,
Energy,
Natural Resources,
Infrastructure
Socio-Cultural
Transparency,
Diplomacy/cooperation,
Education,
Public Participation,
Diversity
Preservation
Due to the complexity of the hypotheses and research questions, the systems in this study do not
present clear-cut linear relationships. Rather the spatial, temporal, and ideological systems
contain overlaps and webbed connections, as complex systems typically are described. For
example, the environmental sector considered in present time within the nation-state may be
related to the economic sector considered in future time within both the local community and
110
international basin, which in turn can influence the political sector in present time within the
international basin and the socio-cultural sector in future time within the local community.
Acknowledging this complexity and attempting to describe how changes potentially reverberate
throughout this presented complex web of relationships in different ways is a key intention of
this study. Actual exploration of relationships between and within systems, both scale and sector,
are taken from the case studies and presented in the Results section. This approach helps to
demonstrate that the same development project can have very different results on human security
depending on scale and sector, as suggested in my hypotheses.
4.2.4. PERCEPTION
The perception in this study is important to understanding values, culture, attitudes, and beliefs.
Perception gets at the core of why dams are being developed, what they mean, and what sectors
are valued more than other sectors in relation to dam development at the expense of human
security or in response to need for stronger human security. Perception also speaks to how the
same words, such as environment or economics can have very different meanings at different
scales. For example, the word river at the national scale in Ethiopia means an objective thing that
takes the rich soils out of Ethiopia, is an untapped energy resource for a country in need of
energy sources, is an untapped economic resource for a country in need of increased GDP, and is
an untapped water resource for a country that is food insecure and requires annual food aid for
millions of citizens. The word river at the local level is an actual place and resource that is
interwoven in the identity of the people that live on it. It is the source of all food, economic
resource for subsistence trading, dictates village activities by cycles of rainy and dry season
flows, place of accidents and death, drinking water, etc. Unfortunately, outside of qualitative data
collection through the interviews, perception is very hard to collect and even harder to measure.
International Scale
For the international scale, perception is captured through official documents of International
Organizations such as the World Bank or the United Nations. The types of parameters these
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organizations use to assess and compare countries around world are also a type of perception.
International news media, websites, and expatriots living in the basin are also sources of
international perception. This type of data informs the study, but is not formally or thoroughly
measured in this study.
National Scale
Perception at the national level is captured mainly through the interview respondents. It is also
informed by official documents, access to official documents, official websites, newspapers, and
television. This perception is formally measured in this study.
Local Scale
Perception at the local level is captured mainly through the interview respondents. It is formally
measured in this study.
Table 3 Sector meaning for 3 scales of perception: International, National, and Local
Scale
Political
Environmental
Economics
Socio-
cultural
International
Diplomatic
relations, treaties
Global climate
change,
ecosystems
Globalized
trade, GDP,
Global markets
human rights,
health,
education
National
National policy,
regional trade
agreements
Natural resources
for economic gain
GDP, exports,
loans
diversity,
health,
education
Local
Chiefs, town
meetings,
governors
Home, food,
water, shelter,
supplies
local market
and trade
tradition,
culture
4.2.5. INTERNATIONAL SCALE
Transboundary river basins
Water resources can be described, managed, and studied by drainage basin. A drainage basin can
also be called a watershed, river basin, or catchment, depending on the type of water resource
and refers to the geographic designation of a space within which any surface water contained
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within the topography of that space, will drain to a given point – typically a river or a lake
(Anisfeld 2010). This designation has accepted use in water management because the landscape,
to include land-use, biology, geology, soils, and topography “determine the magnitude, timing,
and quality of…surface and ground waters,” (Dingman 1994). This follows then that a river
basin is an area of land within which all the surface water (eventually) drains to the river.
Although river basins are typically described by geographic features, they can be influenced by
political motivations and there are whole bodies of literature that describe and explore these
influences touched upon in the literature review. Political boundaries historically and currently
are designated irrespective of natural features, such as river basins, and as a result there are more
than 276 river basins that cross international boundaries worldwide (TFDD 2014, Jarvis and
Wolf 2010, Cosens and Williams 2012). Transboundary water is a general term that
encompasses different types of surface and ground water that “cross or lie along international
borders, such as river basins with water flowing from one country to another, groundwater
resources shared by several countries…” (Saunier and Meganck 2009). The two case studies in
this work are examples of well-known transboundary river basins.
Water resources are a challenge to manage because water is limited, changes in time and space,
but is necessary for many aspects of the natural world as well as many aspects our society. Water
management is also complicated by the multiuse of the resource that may be in competition
(Jarvis and Wolf 2010). Transboundary river basins present even more complicated challenges
for policy-makers and water managers because of the possibilities for multiple, possibly
conflicting, use across borders that can result in diplomatic tensions. In his edited water
workbook on transboundary water resources management, Wolf starts off by stating that water
management is conflict management (2010). Although water resources management literature
indicates that conflicts can be made into cooperation or at least coexistence, some water
resources use can negate other water resources use. Dams are one such water infrastructure that
can dominate the entire river system, making other water resources use obsolete. When dam
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development is introduced on a transboundary river, the implications for downstream change can
be significant to cause diplomatic controversy. The two case studies I have chosen for this study
exemplify tensions due to dam development on a shared resource.
The community associated with the international scale is dominated by the international
community for this study. That community does not necessarily include only people living
within the river basin, but anyone interested in the affairs, development, politics, economics, or
environment of the river basin. The international community in this case shares common
language, discourse and perception, values, goals, and beliefs.
The following maps show the extent of the two case study transboundary river basins selected
for this study. Text contained within the maps gives information about the overall basins.
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Figure 33: Map of the Nile River basin boundary and related national territories
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Figure 34: Map of the Mekong River basin boundary and related national territories
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Case study selection
There are 276 transboundary river basins in the world and more are designated each decade as
country borders change (TFDD 2014). The river basins I select for case studies fulfill the
following criteria:
1. there is a major dam under development and actively being constructed,
2. there should be some level of controversy
3. the country where the dam is being developed is on the United Nations Least Developed
Countries list,
4. the country is reasonably secure for fieldwork (not a conflict zone), and
5. web-based information is available for preliminary research.
Several projects came to my attention while I conducted related research into the financial
sourcing for 50 of the world’s largest hydropower projects. Two stood out because of the
ambiguous news media coverage, timing of development, and controversy surrounding
development on a transboundary river: the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia and
Xayaburi Dam in Laos. Not much concrete information was available through a web-based
search and exploration of national and project websites. No academic literature existed on the
projects. The main source of information is found in English-language media coverage, and this
was also, at the time, sparse.
The countries of Ethiopia and Laos are both found on the United Nations Least Developed
Countries (LDC) list, and have been on the list since it was created in 1971. The countries that
make the list are in a category of development significantly more challenging than counterpart
developing nations, as explained in Chapter 2. These two countries are attempting to secure
megaprojects, in very different ways. However, motivation to funnel scarce national resources
into a risky big dam project, specifically to increase the country GDP and get off of the list, is the
same. Both countries are also receiving bad press about this attempt to develop in the way that
they have chosen to develop. The most current list is given in Figure 6 with the year that the
country was added to the list. The most recent addition is South Sudan in 2012.
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Figure 35: United Nations Least Developed Countries List and Year of Inclusion (UN 2014)
4.2.6. NATIONAL SCALE
Nation-state
There is debate in the literature as to a consensus on definition of what a Nation is, never mind a
Nation-state, because it is a constructed concept (Meyer et al 1997). There is also a distinction
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between one’s nationality, ethnicity, and citizenship (Ooman 1996). In this study, I take Nation-
state to represent the globally accepted designation of a geographic territory wherein a people
and their government have sovereignty. Examples are Ethiopia or Laos.
The maps below show the extent within the countries of Ethiopia and Laos of the transboundary
river basins. Ethiopia accounts for 12% of the Nile River basin and Laos accounts for 25% of the
Mekong River basin. The community associated with the national scale in this study consists of
those people living in a given nation who share a common language, access to information, some
level of belief system, identity, similar education, and live within larger population centers.
These places include country capitals, major cities, and minor cities.
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Figure 36: Nile River basin Extent in Ethiopia
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Figure 37: Mekong River Basin Extent in Laos
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4.2.7. LOCAL SCALE
Subsistence communities
A simple definition of subsistence from the literature is minimal economic security (Shue 1980).
Subsistence in this study refers to people living directly on the environmental resources at their
disposal for personal consumption, with very little material culture, and little use of resources for
commercial gain. Richard Lee challenged the still popular notion that hunter-gatherer subsistence
lifestyle people live a precarious and difficult existence in his 1968 examination of Kalahari
Bushmen, amplifying the reliance of hunter-gatherers on farming and fishing more often than on
hunting game. He found the communities in his study successful and resilient. The notion of
Thomas Hobbe’s reflection people that who live in communities based on the non-material
culture as being “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short,” is still a popular belief (1651). A quick
glance at an aid commercial or UN reports shows that this idea appears to prevail in
consciousness of the international community depicting those living on less than $1 a day as
suffering, malnourished, and in need of helpful change, in need of charity and development.
The community at the local scale in this study are people living in geographic territory that falls
within the immediately affected-zone of the dam development. The local scale includes people
who will be relocated, who have recently been relocated, or who will be somehow impacted by
neighbors’ relocation due to the dam projects. The term “local community” is used to designate a
collection of dwellings, villages, or larger settlements on or near to the river and dam project.
Local community also connotes a people that share language, ideas, traditional knowledge,
values, and beliefs different from the national community. The images below show example
space within the local communities. The image in Figure 9 is of structures in a Gumuz village in
the Blue Nile Valley in Benishangul-Gumuz State. The round structure is a tukul, the most
common house structure throughout Ethiopia. The square structure is for gatherings. Both
buildings are made of mud, grass, and wood. The image in Figure 10 is of a Lao village on the
Mekong in Sayabouli Province. A house porch is in the foreground and an adjacent small market
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next door. The large structure is a Buddhist temple and in the background are more houses.
These buildings are made of wood, cement, and corrugated iron roofs.
Figure 38: Local-scale Gumuz Local-scale Community in Benishangul-Gumuz, Ethiopia
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Figure 39: Laotian Local-scale Community in Sayabouli Province, Laos
4.3. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
The previous section outlines the bounded systems used in this study to include scaled
communities, sector, and dependent perceptions. In this section, I describe what data sources,
data collection, data collection methods, and data analysis methods are appropriate and available
for this study. I employ both quantitative and qualitative data sources and methods.
The data sources include macro-scale indices of various quantitative parameters, such as GDP or
mortality, and literature review of existing research. The data collection includes meso and micro
scale field interviews, web-based event reporting or project information, official documents on
national policy or project plans, and empirical observations through site visits and geographic
exploration. These sources, grouped by scale and type, are listed in Table 3 below.
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The data collection methods include large data downloads and storage from various websites,
travel and geographic exploration with empirical observations in Ethiopia and Laos, visits to the
dam development site, official offices, and field interviews with national and local-level
participants. The data analysis methods include spatial analysis and computer-based mapping,
content analysis, frequency analysis, system resilience and vulnerability analysis, and human
security measurements in the present and for the future. To communicate these methods of
analysis, several tools are used such as maps, tables, images, graphs, diagrams, and charts.
Table 4: Types of datasets used at different the three scales.
Types of datasets used by scale
Scale
Quantitative
Qualitative
International
United Nation's Human Development Index
(HDI)
Media reports
United Nation's Human Security Index
(HSI)
Literature
Transboundary Freshwater Dispute
Database's Basin Country Units (BCU)
Websites
National
United Nation's Human Development Index
(HDI)
Field interviews
United Nation's Human Security Index
(HSI)
Empirical
observations
Official documents
Literature
Local
Field interviews
Empirical
observations
Official documents
Literature
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4.3.1. INTERNATIONAL SCALE
GIS mapping and spatial analysis
The method for analyzing the international scale of the transboundary river basin is to use
secondary-sourced indices of the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) and
experimental Human Security Index (HSI). Both of these indices use qualitative concepts
groupings for quantitative data collections. The details of these indices are outlined in this
section. I use computer-based mapping with ArcGIS to spatially analyze these two datasets
within the context of global international basins, taken from the Transboundary Freshwater
Dispute Database shapefile for Basin Country Units. A BCU is a geographic unit that represents
the space within a basin that reflects the political boundaries of the territories within which the
basin exists. I create maps of HDI and HSI by BCU and analyze the spatial relationship between
the countries represented within the basin and how much of the basin is contained within that
country. Given the individual BCU and the spatial percentage value that that unit represents of
the entire watershed, I average the transboundary basin to give an overall HDI and HSI value.
Once I create this overall value of the transboundary basin, this can be used to compare across
transboundary basins of the world. For the purposes of this study, I compare the two case study
basins: the Nile and the Mekong. These are included in the results section, Chapter 5.
Human Development Index
Table 5: Human Development Index Parameter Composition
Breakout of Each Parameter
Economics
Education
Health
Gross domestic product per capita
at purchasing power parity
Adult literacy rate
Estimated life expectancy
at birth
Average years of schooling
Total educational enrollment
The United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) is a measurement tool developed by * and
first released 1990, and updated in 1994 and 2010. The index is a tool designed to compare
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countries’ development states, based on economic and social parameters, across regions and
across the world. The HDI is the closest way to measure human security and is used as a basis
for the recently developed Human Security Index (HSI), and in development text the two terms
are often conflated (Bajpai 2000). Human security is defined as “protection from the threat of
disease, hunger, unemployment, crime, social conflict, political repression, and environmental
hazards,” in the Human Development Report of 1994, (ibid).
Taken separately, the initial parameters of the HDI are: Gross Domestic Product (GDP), life
expectancy at birth, and literacy rates. These measurements are changing due to criticism of the
limitations of the three HDI parameters used to measure development (Hastings 2009). The UN
has since modified the categories to include more equitable measurements, but the three
parameters of health, wealth, and education persist.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a problematic measurement tool for understanding multiple
scales and cultures because it does not take into account subsistence economies, or money
exchanges that occur within a closed system of a small network of villages or families. GDP is
reflective of a way to measure wealth or monetary exchanges in a particular type of society, one
that uses banks, receipts, and reporting mechanisms of imports, exports, and industry. This has
led to criticism about the index as culturally slanted toward industrialized societal characteristics
prominent in the West.
Life expectancy is problematic again because of lack of formal data available. Rural populations
do not necessarily record births and deaths. Many people do not know their exact age. Rural life
expectancy with no access to modern medicine, lack of nutrition, and high exposure to life
threatening disease can be radically different than urban life expectancy with access to health
facilities, access to nutrition, and low exposure to life threatening disease occurs in one country.
The country is then averaged and the numbers applied to the overall HDI.
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Education is problematic because it has changed from measuring the mean education in a
country where, again, rural lives are significantly different to urban lives, but now measures
education expected, which is not very clear. What sort of education constitutes education? I
would challenge that in rural areas formal education is not more valued than traditional or
ecological education.
The Human Security Index was developed by the United Nations to address some of the
problems with HDI as an experiment. It includes a wider geographic collection and more
parameters. The HSI includes parameters it terms as Social Fabric Index and combines these
datasets with the traditional HDI. The parameters of the Social Fabric Index and their sources are
given in Figure 39.
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Figure 40: Human Security Index Version 2.0 Data Breakout
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These indices were chosen for my research for simplicity and representative power of an
internationally acceptable standard of measure for development. The HDI is an annually updated
index that is meant to use simple parameters to capture a country’s overall development health.
The HSI is still in the experimental stage, but has been undergoing active modification since
2008. These HDI parameters are scored using intricate mathematical formulas, ranked against all
other countries of the world, and then the indices show value categories of – very high, high,
medium, and low. (UN 2014)
The application to this work is for several reasons. According to these indices, an increase in the
national GDP would indicate a higher level of development; this is then also reflected as a higher
human security. A dam suggests an ability to increase national GDP so, it then follows that, dam
development is naturally a driver for increased Human Development. However, related situations
connected to a dam, such as negative impact on local communities or the environment may
theoretically reflect in the HSI, causing the rank to drop. This depends on how the impact is
considered. If bringing local communities out of a life of subsistence where they have no access
to health care or formal education is part of a dam development project, this would score
favorably on the HSI, regardless of what it does to the actual identity and social fabric of the
community traditions and ecological knowledge. I do not see, in my analysis of the parameters,
anything that would capture erosion to culture or community, as the title social fabric would
imply. This is especially an issue of scale.
The data itself is collected through national reporting, and remote assessment. Given the state of
infrastructure, records, access, and connectivity in many of the under-developed places of the
world, how accurate this reporting is is questionable. Countries lack the infrastructure or
mechanisms to keep these records accurate. The problem of this misreporting comes when
numbers are integrated into a global database, like the HDI, and each country is compared to the
next for relative development goals and donor community need.
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The international context can be understood through indices such as the Human Development
Index (HDI), the Human Security Index (HSI), Oxfam’s Food Index, Political Instability Task
Force Model, the Poverty Index, the Global Peace Index, the Least Developed Country (LDC)
List, and the World Bank Group’s Development Index. I could not include them all. International
news media reporting and web-based research, as well as literature review, also inform for the
international scale. I conducted unofficial face-to-face and remote interviews with experts and
individuals living in the greater basins. These interviews are not included in this study but do
inform me as to the overall external perception and development goals for Ethiopia and Laos.
4.3.2. NATIONAL SCALE
The method for analyzing the national scale of the nation-state is based mainly on primary data
collection of qualitative-based field interviews and empirical observations, but also includes
official documents, national policy documents, and national newspapers, as well as secondary
sourced literature-based research and indices.
Interview questions
Qualitative methods are employed to interview individuals in the field with open-ended
questions given in face-to-face interviews. Seven field questions, listed in Table 3.4 below, were
developed prior to the fieldwork and were designed to be open ended and simple so they could
easily be modified if necessary once the interview process began. Modification was not
necessary at the national level. This method is chosen to inspire conversation and story-telling,
rather than employing the use of formal surveys or rigidly-structured question and answer used
in fact-finding. I prefer story-telling narratives to capture perception, hopes, and fears related to
potential changes in communities related to dam development. The interviews conducted are
anonymous and non-attributed. Recording interviews is done with pen and paper. I chose to use
this method as it allows for a less invasive presence. The interviews are transcribed and coded
into a laptop; each interview is given a code related to date. Other related demographic data is
collected including age, education, number of languages spoken, number of children, gender, and
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occupation. This information is collected in order to capture the participant population
background information. The developed questions for the case studies interviews are given in
Table 3.4 below. The same seven questions, with different context, are created for both national
level interview groups. Interviews are conducted in English, primarily in the national capitals,
but also in towns and villages of Ethiopia and Laos.
Table 6: Questions for National-level participants
Scale: National level
Location: Ethiopia/Laos
Target population: Water managers, government officials, IGOs, NGOs, private business owners
1. How will the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance/Xayaburi Dam change the situation of
Ethiopia/Laos?
2. How will the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance/Xayaburi Dam change the situation on the Blue
Nile/Mekong River?
3. What impacts on local population do you foresee because of the dam? Are any people or
communities being relocated due to dam development?
4. What do you foresee as the impacts on the natural system due to dam development?
5. What is the history about how the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance/Xayaburi Dam development
project came about?
6. What is the influence from the situation happening in Sudan and Egypt/Thailand, China,
Vietnam, and Cambodia?
7. Who is working on this with Ethiopia/Laos?
The interview questions are developed based on the idea of change and an interest to understand
better how respondents viewed change to different aspects of their lives, the aspects that relate to
the human security sectors. If a question is discovered to cause too narrow a response, additional
general questions are presented around the original question, intended to help the respondent
expand their ideas and response.
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Case studies
I collected 40 national-level official interviews and an unrecorded number of unofficial
interviews in Ethiopia (20) and Laos (20). In Ethiopia I conducted research between August and
December 2012. In Laos I conducted research between February and May 2013. Interviews were
all conducted in the English language, face to face, usually at the individual’s place of work. All
official interviews are anonymous. Demographics are recorded to include gender, age, education,
and languages spoken. The design is to allow the interviewee to tell a story for richer interview
content. Interviews would last from 15 minutes to 2 hours in duration, depending upon the
respondent. No audio or video recording devices were used. The interviews were conducted
through conversation, recorded by me with pen and notepad, and transcribed into computer files
later.
Official interviews, unofficial interviews, and empirical observations conducted in Ethiopia were
conducted in the cities of Addis Ababa, Sodo-Walayta, Bahir Dar, Lalibela, Harare, Dire Dowa,
Awassa, Asossa, Axum, Gondar, and Dinsho. Official interview, unofficial interviews, and
empirical observations conducted in Laos in the cities of Vientiane, Van Vieng, Luan Prabang,
Sayabouli City, Pakse, and Si Phan Don. In addition to the cities, I visited dozens of villages
surrounding each of these cities as well, but did not record the names.
Sampling and logistics
National-level interviewees are selected through target sampling and random sampling. Table 7
describes the demographic break-down of the case study sample used in this study. This required
periods of time spent in national capitals and other cities for official and unofficial interviews
with case study participants. Key actors in the dam development discussion or in the community
are identified either through news media or speaking with lay-people in the case study country.
This is an official or professional working on or with the dam or construction company
contracted to the dam. Once one or two people are identified, I contact them directly to request
an interview. The more data I can collect in the interviews, both official and informal interviews,
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I can contact more individuals directly. Random sampling is done for informational or informal
interviews.
Table 7: Demographics on Respondents for Interviews at National Level
Interviewee
group
#
Gender
M:F
Average
interview
length
(words)
Age
18-
30
Age
31-
45
Age
46-
65
Age
65+
Occupation
#
Higher edu:
Secondary
edu:
Primary
edu: No
formal edu
Ethiopia
National
20
17:03
902
1
8
8
3
19:1:0:0
Scientist
6
Engineer
5
Professor
5
Official
Religious
3
2
Economist
1
Laos
National
20
14:6
868
1
10
7
1
19:1:0:0
NGO/IGO
8
Scientist
5
Merchant
3
Official
2
Professor
1
Reporter
1
Artist
1
Student
1
Communication via face-to-face or local phone calls is more effective for participation than
email. I was not able to set up interviews before arrival to the case study countries. Once in
country, I used several networks as well as to contact officials and professionals who would be
willing to give me an official interview in English language.
My official affiliation was with Oregon State University. In Ethiopia the International Watershed
Management Institute (IWMI) in Addis Ababa sponsored me for a business visa and allowed use
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of their offices, and the Dean of Wondo Ganet College of Natural Resources hosted me for
lectures, use of the campus, and housing. In Laos the Naga House in Vientiane, a water research
center hosted by IWMI, allowed me use of their research offices. The interviews were conducted
in either the respondent’s place of work or in a public place.
The Ethiopian Electric Power Company (EEPCO) sponsored my initial trip to the dam site via
plane with the lead engineer, Engineer Semegnew, as my host. I was brought with a national
news team making a documentary at the Project site for 5 days. During this time I was able to
collect empirical and unofficial interviewing data. During my return trip to conduct local level
field work, I stayed again at the dam site and was hosted by Engineer Semegnew and his
associates. I continued to speak with dam employees for more unofficial data collection.
The Xayaburi Power Company and Ministry of Energy and Mines in Laos PDR sponsored my
initial trip to the Project site for 2 days, and Khamkhong Kongvongsa, representative of
Xayaburi Power Company, was my host. I was included on an official visit with journalists from
Vietnam and national level news media. We were given a tour of the project site, relocated
village, the new elephant preserve, and hosted by the Sayaboury Provincial Governor. I collected
empirical, unofficial, and official interviewing data during this visit and my subsequent visit to
conduct local level field work. On the subsequent occasion I again met with the governor and her
associates as well as worked through the Xayaburi Power Company project offices.
Empirical observations and geographic exploration
As mentioned above, with the help of the national governments, I was able to travel to the dam
development sites and surrounding areas. This movement allowed for empirical observations of
the development area and the development situation of the case study countries. I also traveled to
various towns and cities throughout the two countries to gain a better understanding of
development challenges, culture, and availability of information.
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The maps in Figures 11 and 12 show the cities and towns I visited for official and unofficial
interviews as well as empirical observation collection. Most of the time I spent in Ethiopia was
in Addis Ababa, Sodo, and Wondo Ganet. Most of the time that I spent in Laos was in Vientiane.
Figure 41: Ethiopia Map of the Populated Places Visited for Empirical and Interview Data
Collection
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Figure 42: Lao Map of the Populated Places Visited for Empirical and Interview Data
Collection
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Content analysis: Interview-based Mind maps
An initial content analysis is conducted by employing mind maps to separate out themes and
statements in the interviews related to specific sectors. Mind maps are a method of analysis first
created in 1976 by Tony Buzan, and is used to analyze, integrate, and consolidate information
(Mento, 1999). I use the technique to spatially dissect each interview for content. I identify
themes, words, and phrases from the interviews and draw them out on a single plane of
reference, using various sizes of paper. I group the interview content into the four sectors, which
are color coded, blue for political, green for environment, black for economic, and red for socio-
cultural. Each of the four sectors is placed at the center of related content, in four corners of the
paper. When content is related within or across sectors, I draw lines to connect them. This
exercise results in a visual tool that spatially relates interview content, highlights relationships in
the content, and makes further analysis easier to organize. Figures 13 is an example of mind map
developed from a Lao interview. The interviews are all coded and the code is printed in the
middle for identification. Sometimes, additional demographic information is supplied.
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Figure 43: Example of a Mind Map from Laos National Scale Interview
139
Once I have created a map for each interview, I consolidate the sector information into four
separate maps, one map for each separate sector (color coded as stated previously). The four
sectors again are politics, environment, economic, socio-culture. For the national-level there are
eight sector maps in all, four for each case study. Figure 14 is an example of a cumulative sector
map of Ethiopia economic sector.
140
Figure 44: Mind Map of Cumulative Economic Sector Themes at Ethiopia National Scale
141
Content Analysis: Theme Frequency Tables
From the cumulative maps, I count up the most common or interesting themes and transfer these
to a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets are then created using an Excel program and checked by returning
to the original mind maps of each separate interview to count and track the frequency of themes
and statements made in the narratives.
The tables are made separately by sector and organized from most frequent themes to least
frequent themes. Frequencies are calculated by percentage of the themes relative to total
respondents who stated the themes within the sample. The highest frequencies are isolated for
further content analysis and consideration for application toward understanding system resilience
or human security state. The number of times a theme occurs in a separate sector is important to
capturing how pivotal that theme may be to the total system. The themes that occur most
frequently and recur across sector are isolated and measured.
Content Analysis: System Resilience, System Vulnerability in Recurrence Diagrams
The frequencies with the most recurrence across sector are isolated and considered for two
things: current contribution to system resilience and, in the case of changes to this theme because
of the dam, future contribution to system vulnerability. I create a series of Venn diagrams to
capture recurrence across sector.
Going back to the themes and statements, examples are selected for representation of a
respondent’s hope or fear. These are listed out in tables and graphed to isolate the number of
hopeful statements vs. the number of fear-based statements. This method is used to capture the
psychological state of the respondents, and can help identify possible strengths or vulnerabilities
in the system in the future.
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Figure 45: Venn diagram used to demonstrate sector overlaps of themes or statement
Human Security Measurement
Following the previous methods of analysis, the final results are used to measure human security.
I developed a measurement tool based on a dichotomous key, a familiar scientific tool used to
measure qualities in botany and geology for sample identification. The general model for the tool
appears in Figure 3.7. A series of yes or no questions are designed in a decision tree for five
subsectors within each of the four original sectors. The questions are answered based on two
time scales: present and future. The present state reflects ingestion of the analyzed information
from the field interviews discovered through the previously described methods. The result is an
analysis of the current human security stability of the present scaled system. The future state
reflects hopes, fears, or plans expressed in the interviews and official documents. This reflects a
hypothetical future based on my empirical observations. There are a total of 8 resulting
assessments of human security stability for the national-level.
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The model is shown in Figure 3.7. As previously established, for the purposes of this study,
human security is made up of four sectors of political, environmental, economic, and socio-
cultural. For this model, each sector is further comprised of five subsectors. I designed the
subsectors from considering several existing indices. These include the Human Security Index
(which includes the Human Development Index as outlined previously), the Asian Development
Bank’s Water Security Index, and the Economist’s Political Security Index. Each of the five
subsectors contains a series of questions relevant to the security of that theme. For instance,
water subsector is shown in Figure 3. The question: do you have access to water? has a yes or no
answer. If the answer is no, the water subsector is marked very insecure. If the answer is yes, the
next question is asked: is this seasonal or year round? If yes, then the next question is asked:
what is the quality of that water? and so on. The questions are ranked in a hierarchy that made
logical sense to me – if you do not have access to water, it does not matter what the quality or
quantity of the water will be. If you have access to water, certainly the quality and quantity are
important aspects of your overall water security.
144
Figure 46: Sector and subsector breakout for measurement of human security stability
The resulting answers in the decision tree are tied with a security state classification both in color
and number. The answers to these questions are cast in color with values attached, from very
insecure to secure. There are four colors: red means very insecure and represents a value of one,
orange means insecure and represents a value of 2, yellow means slightly insecure and represents
a value of 3, green means secure and represents a value of 4. Based on answers to each
subsection a score is tallied for that subsection. Each subsector’s numeric value is then tallied for
the overall score of that sector. The totals can be further combined to give an overall indication
of human security for the entire scale.
I do this both as a mode and as a median. An example breakout of the sector and subsector are
given in Figure 45. Figure 46 demonstrates the decision tree breakout for sector Environment
and subsector Water.
145
The Human Security Measurement Tool is used to run through the interview content, official
information, and empirical observations at two scales of time and four different scenarios. The
initial scenario is given for present time and the respondent perception of their current situation.
The second, third, and fourth scenarios are given for future time. The second scenario is
developed through the stated perception of the national-level respondent. The third scenario is
developed through the stated perception of the official plans. The fourth scenario is developed
through the perception of my own observations.
146
Figure 47: Breakout of water subsector in the Environment Sector
147
Field observations
Empirical observations were made throughout the duration of my stay in both case study
countries. I took the opportunity to travel overland to different towns and cities in both case
study countries to witness the infrastructure, state of development, and transportation
sophistication. Cultural immersion, geographic exploration, and site visits added to my general
understanding of the respondents’ perspectives. Additionally, I visited official offices, project
offices, university campuses, places of business, and people’s homes for further understanding of
the national-level perspective and situation. The images in Figure 3 show the dam sites in
Ethiopia and Laos respectively at the time of my field research. The image of the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam was taken in September, 2012. The image of the Xayaburi Dam
Project was taken in March, 2013.
148
Figure 48: Construction Work Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam September 2012
149
Figure 49: Construction Work Xayaburi Dam Project Site March 2013
Official websites
The websites used for data analysis include the project websites and government websites where
information about the dam projects can be found. Specifically these were found at sites for
EEPCO, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Water and Energy,
Ethiopia’s Foreign Consulates, Xayaburi Electric Power Corporation, and Laos PDR’s Ministry
of Energy and Mines. The websites of several international NGOs, including International Rivers
Network and World Wildlife Foundation, were also consulted for data related to the dams.
150
Official documents
Collected data is further confirmed through review of official project documents (some of which
were only available while in the field site).I was permitted to read and review official project
documents while in Ethiopia. These documents were not released to the public; and so I was not
able to obtain electronic versions of the reports to take with me. From the project documents I
was able to make some notes as to specific issues of facts and figures concerning the
environment and social aspects of the dam project.
In Laos I was given soft copy and hard copy project documents to review and take out of the
country. The information released to me was publicly available. The Mekong River Commission
also supplied official documents concerning development plans and facts and figures concerning
the environment of the Lower Mekong River Watershed.
In both cases of Laos and Ethiopia, the project documents are not as important to the research as
the opinions and perceptions of the individuals I interviewed, though the information helps to
make assessments about scenarios and future changes due to the project development.
4.3.3. LOCAL SCALE
The local-level methods are very similar to the national-level methods. The differences are
highlighted in the following section.
Interviews
Seven field questions were developed prior to the fieldwork and were designed to be open-ended
and simple so they could easily be modified if necessary once the interview process began.
Modification was necessary at the local level due to difficulties with translator and cultural
meanings of words like “feeling.” The design is to allow the interviewee to tell a story for richer
interview content. Interviews would last from 15 minutes to 4 hours in duration, dependent upon
the respondent. No audio- or video-recording devices were used during official interviews. I did
151
take photos of the villages, the river, the river activities, and people who asked me to photograph
them. The interviews were conducted through translated conversation, recorded by me with pen
and notepad.
Table 8: Questions for local-level field interviews
Scale: Local level
Target Population: Rural populations living in the Blue Nile/Mekong river basin.
Location: Blue Nile/Mekong river basin villages and markets near to dam development site
1. How important is the river in your daily life?
2. How do you think (or how has) the dam will change (changed) your life?
3. Do you plan to teach your children and grandchildren to use the river?
4. How has (individual/community) water use changed during your lifetime?
5. How will your use of the river change in the future?
6. Does anyone impact your use/access of/to water?
7. Do you think the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance/Xayaburi Dam will change the river?
I conducted 65 local level interviews, 34 in Ethiopia and 31 in Laos, and an unrecorded number
of unofficial interviews while I spent time in the local communities. The interviews were
conducted in the local language of the village communities, Gumuz or Amharic language in
Ethiopia and Lao language in Laos. The interviews were conducted face to face at the
individual’s home or community meeting area in the village and on the banks of the rivers while
people panned for gold, farmed, or fished. The meetings were arranged at the time of arrival in
the village with whoever was willing to speak with us.
Sampling and Logistics
Sampling was largely influenced by logistical barriers or allowances. Because the dam is a
national asset, official permission is granted through the national governments and supported
152
through the local governments and project management in both case studies. The demographics
for each interview are given below in Table 9.
Table 9: Demographics of Local-level Respondents
Interviewee
group
#
Gender
M:F
Average
interview
length
(words)
Age
18-
30
Age
31-
45
Age
46-
65
Age
65+
Occupation
#
Higher
edu:
Secondary
edu:
Primary
edu: No
formal edu
Ethiopia
Local
34
21:13
398
8
15
7
4
Farmer
22
1:6:9:18
Merchant
6
Official
2
Fisherman
1
Health
worker
1
Skilled
labor
1
Student
1
Laos Local
31
16:15
437
1
6
16
8
Farmer
18
0:6:20:5
Skilled
labor
7
Merchant
2
Official
2
Fisherman
1
Retired
1
Ethiopia
In Ethiopia the Ethiopian Electric Power Company, the Renaissance Dam Project, Ministry of
Water, Ministry of Communication and Internal Affairs; in Addis Ababa, President of the
Benishangul-Gumuz State in Asossa, and the local governor in Guba granted permits for me to
move about and interview in the local communities. The Ethiopian Government sponsored my
trip with a vehicle and plane ride, driver/bodyguard, accommodation and food at the Project site,
and contact point at the dam site. In Laos, the Xayaburi Electric Power Company and Ministry of
153
Energy and Mines, as well as the local Governor of Sayabouri City granted permits for me to
move about and interview in the local communities. The Governor asked the Xayaburi Electric
Power Company to assist my translator and me with transportation.
In Ethiopia, the sample selection at the local level was random and opportunity. I had a three-
person team of translator and driver/bodyguard. The translator was an individual I found through
the Catholic Missions network. The driver/bodyguard was assigned to me by the Project. The
team and I identified 11 villages that would be relocated from the dam Project from Project
documents and maps. We also visited the riverbanks to speak with people panning for gold. We
went mostly to villages accessible by car with a few exceptions where we had to walk several
kilometers to villages on the south banks of the river. We initially approached the village chief
for permission and showed him our official permits, and thereafter interviewed members of the
village. Where village chiefs were unavailable, we did not interview until he could be found. In
two cases we interviewed in bigger markets on local market days and in those cases, people
sometimes came forward to us wanting to be interviewed. One of the markets visited is shown in
the image in Figure 49. The riparian area where people pan for gold is shown in the images in
Figures 49.
Figure 50: Market Area with River-produced Food and Herbs, Gumuz Community
Market, Benishangul-Gumuz State, Ethiopia
154
Figure 51: Typical Village Center and Chief’s Administrative Tukul, Benishangul-Gumuz
State, Ethiopia
Figure 52: Blue Nile Riverbank Where Local Gumuz Community Pans for Gold,
Benishangul-Gumuz State, Ethiopia
Laos
In Laos, movement was much more supervised and controlled by the Xayaburi Electric Power
Company and the local Sayabouli Government. The sample selection at the local level was
random and opportunity, but at times there was instructed guidance from the Project
representatives and even village chiefs in one case. The 3 villages we were allowed to conduct
interviews in were selected by the Project from maps when we first arrived. It was explained to
me that the limitation was because of two things – ease of movement by road for their vehicles
155
and our permits were limited to Sayaboury Province. The west side of the Mekong River is
within Sayaboury Province. The east side of the Mekong River is Luan Prabang Province. We
would have had to apply for different permits to interview in the villages in Luan Prabang
Province. Three of the six villages on the Sayaboury Province side of the river are only
accessible by river transportation. The Governor felt it was too dangerous for a foreigner to
travel by boat at the dry season because of rocks and hazards.
My translator and I were dropped in a village in the morning by a Project vehicle and the Project
would send a representative to explain to the village chief who we were and what we were doing.
They would sometimes return to pick us up at the end of the day. Otherwise, we took public
transportation back to town. We were allowed to move about the village to interview individuals,
or down to the Mekong riverbank. This happened with one exception in one village where the
chief selected the interview subjects. To the best of our ability the interviews were conducted
privately and anonymously. Most interviews were conducted in people’s homes or while
villagers were panning for gold or fishing. Houses and a garden from the only completely
displaced and newly constructed village are shown in the images in Figure 52. Images depicting
areas where local-level fishing and gold panning take place are shown in Figures 53.
Figure 53: Laotian Villages, Old and New Infrastructure
156
Content analysis
Interview-based Mind maps
The same methods used for mind mapping the national level interviews are also used for local
level interviews.
Sector-based Mind maps
The same methods used for creating sector maps from the mind maps for the national level
interviews are also for local level interviews.
Frequency Tables & Recurrence Diagrams
The same methods used for analyzing system resilience and vulnerability from the theme
frequencies derived from the national level interviews are also used for theme frequencies
derived from local level interviews.
Human Security Measurement
The same methods used for creating sector maps from the mind maps for the national level
interviews are also for local level interviews. There are a total of 8 resulting assessments of
human security stability for the local-level.
Figure 54: Riverbank Fishing and Artisanal Gold Panning Area
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5. RESULTS
Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.
~ Chief Seattle, 1854 ~
5.1. INTRODUCTION
The following chapter gives results of the study by scale and sector. The sub-questions of scale,
sector, and perception are addressed here and further illuminated in the Discussion Chapter 6.
The following table and paragraphs summarize the Results highlights.
Table 10: Resulting Sectors of most concern by Scale
Scale
Concern
International community
International level politics and national economics
National Ethiopia
National socio-cultural issues, regional politics, and national economics
National Laos
National environmental issues, regional politics, and national economics
Local Ethiopia
Local socio-cultural issues, environmental resources, subsistence
economics
Local Laos
Local socio-cultural issues, environmental change, economics
5.1.1. INTERNATIONAL: TRANSBOUNDARY RIVER BASINS
The most significant results at the international scale are related to political and economic
sectors, from the international and national perspectives. The river, in this case, is described as
place and as a shared resource. The resulting maps that combine HDI and HSI figures by BCU
polygons allows visual description of each basin country’s ranks as compared with the other
countries in the respective river basins. Ethiopia comes out with the lowest rank compared with
its basin neighbors in the HDI maps. As is stated in this chapter, HDI measures three parameters:
GDP (or some similar economic measurement), mortality, and education. The international scale
158
then measures only one main aspect of the river basin system – economics. GDP is economic,
but arguably, the international community’s interest in mortality and education has to do with
human resources available for the national economy.
According to the HSI map which adds additional components to the existing HDI parameters,
Ethiopia’s position changes to 7
th
rather than 10
th
. However, even with the added social fabric
index that includes more social parameters and an addition of environmental parameters, the
basis of the HSI is still the HDI. From an international perspective, the dams will increase the
country GDP, which will in turn result in an increased HDI and HSI rank. According to this,
dams from the international scale are associated with Human Security stability.
5.1.2. NATIONAL: NATIONAL AGENDA
The most significant results at the Ethiopian national scale are related to political, economic, and
socio-culture sectors. The river, at this scale, is described as a national resource. The Ethiopian
national respondents express enthusiasm about the dam project for alleviation of poverty and a
symbol of change and development in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, issues of identity and national pride
connected with the dam are strong.
The most significant results at the Lao national scale are related to economic, environment, and
socio-culture sectors. The Lao national respondents express and mixture of fear and support
regarding the dam project due to the problems the dam may cause with neighboring countries
and may cause to the local populations and river environment, but with an understanding that the
dam will create much needed revenue for Laos. In Laos, issues of concern over climate change in
the Mekong River and unregulated economic development of the already stressed water
resources are strong.
159
5.1.3. LOCAL: SUBSISTENCE COMMUNITIES
The most significant results at the Ethiopian local scale are related to environment, socio-culture,
and local economics. “All we need is in this river,” “This is the only place that I know,” “We
must live close to the river or we will die,” “We have nothing without this river,” and “All our
life is in this river,” are some of the sentiments shared by local respondents as to the importance
of the Blue Nile River to everyday life. The local communities rely solely on the Blue Nile River
and it is not clear that the rich traditional knowledge that the communities embody will be
transferable to any relocation site.
Many local respondents indicate that gold panning is the most important resource from the river,
but respondents use the river for flood recession agriculture, fishing, and as a domestic water
source. Twenty thousand local residents, mostly from the Gumuz ethnic community, will be
relocated due to the Ethiopian dam project in Ethiopia. A transboundary assessment of impacted
downstream communities has not yet been conducted.
The most significant results at the Lao local scale are related to environment, economics, and
socio-culture. Local respondents spoke most significantly about changes to the climate and
environmental resources. They indicated significant changes to fish catch: “There are less fish in
the river,” “You used to put a pot on to boil, go to the river, catch a fish for dinner, and by the
time you came back the water was boiling. Now you cannot do this,” “Too many people are
fishing in the river,” “Fish catches are much less,” “Some fish are no longer caught,” “The size
of fish we catch is smaller, we cannot find the big ones now.” Locals also spoke about changes to
the river climate and environment: “The water levels are changing,” “Seasons are no longer
predictable,” “The rainy season used to start in April and continue for many months, now the
rains are less,” “The water level is much lower,” “The river levels change during one week, up
and down, not like before.”
160
Although local respondents indicate that most of their lives are centered around the river, since
the changes started in the environment, many people are looking to do other things to earn a
living. With the arrival of development in the region new roads and new markets are appearing.
This has allowed local residents to find other work away from the river resources.
5.2. INTERNATIONAL SCALE
5.2.1. GLOBAL MAPS
The following figures show two indices, the United Nation’s (UN) Human Development Index
(HDI), and the Human Security Index (HSI) on a global scale by water basins in a breakout of
country basin unit. The former index is one that is also under the auspices of the UN, but is not
intended to have an annual release, as the HDI does. The original indices numbers are retained
by country, not generalized to the entire basin. The HDI is expressed either by quartiles or by an
undefined method of graduated expression. The quartile method includes: low < 0.534, medium
0.536 – 0.710, high 0.712 – 0.796, very high > 0.805. The HSI is expressed in an undefined
graduated expression.
The HDI global map shows a combination of three measurements at a national scale: the GDP,
education, and mortality. THE HSI global maps combine the HDI data with Social Fabric Index
measurements mentioned in the previous chapter. This index includes more parameters,
including environmental considerations such as environmental vulnerability, protection, and
sustainability (Human Security Index, 2010). The culmination of the data changes the overall
comparisons of one country to the next. The most marked differences in the global maps are in
the change of the status of the USA and parts of Western Europe from high human development
to mid-level of human security. The rankings increase for much of Sub-Saharan Africa, Nepal,
and Bangladesh, and remain relatively the same in Southern and Southeast Asia. For example,
the USA HDI ranking is 0.917 and the USA HSI ranking is 0.594
161
Figure 55: Map of Global HDI by River Basin and Basin Country Unit
162
Figure 56: Map of World HSI by River Basin and Basin Country Unit
163
5.2.2. TRANSBOUNDARY BASINS FOR CASE STUDIES
The two case studies I selected, the Nile and Mekong river basins, are shown in more detail on
the following sets of maps. It is important to note that the Nile basin countries fall in the lower
end of the mid ranges and low range of both human development and human security, while the
Mekong basin countries fall into the mid and upper mid levels of both human development and
human security. These results are different from the results I captured at the local and national
levels in both of these basins. This is explained further in the Discussions Chapter.
Nile Basin
The following information is taken from the TFDD 2012 updates to River Basin Registry, a
database used to describe the basin country units of transboundary river basins (TFDD 2014).
Table 8 shows the breakout of the Nile River Basin countries. Excluded are Central African
Republic as constituting <1% of area and 1030 km
2
of the country, and South Sudan as at the
time of this writing the TFDD is calculating the new % and area in km
2
. Sudan accounts for the
majority of the Nile River basin with 62% of the catchment. This has since changed due to the
succession of South Sudan, but that information is not contained in this study. Although Ethiopia
is credited with contributing the majority of water to the Nile in Egypt and Sudan, it accounts for
only 12% of the entire catchment area.
Table 11: Km
2
and % area of Nile River basin countries from TFDD River Basin Registry.
Nile Basin countries
% area
Area in km
2
Sudan
64
1921860
Ethiopia
12
354890
Egypt
9
276570
Uganda
8
237520
Tanzania
4
119400
Kenya
2
50690
Democratic Republic of the Congo
1
21100
Rwanda
1
200630
Burundi
<1
12850
Eritrea
<1
3560
Total
3,020,100
164
The total HDI basin rank for the Nile River countries is 0.565. This is a rank averaged for the
entire basin by HDI and percentage of the basin found in the BCU. The rank can be compared
across global transboundary river basin ranks. This score is slightly higher than the development
level of Sudan at 0.556 which makes up the majority of the basin at 62%. It is lower than the top
ranking countries of Kenya at 0.600 which accounts for 2% of the basin and Egypt at 0.688
which accounts for 9% of the basin. This number is higher than the ranks of the remaining 7
countries that account for 27% of the basin.
The total HSI basin rank for the Nile River countries is 0.437. This is a rank averaged for the
entire basin by HSI and percentage of the basin found in the BCU. The rank can be compared
across global transboundary river basin ranks. This score is slightly higher than the human
security level of Eritrea at 0.430 and 74% of the basin. It is lower than the 26% of the basin to
include Egypt at 0.596, Tanzania at 0.509, Kenya at 0.478 and Uganda at 0.453.
165
Figure 57: Map of Nile Basin HDI by Basin Country Unit
166
Figure 58: Map of Nile Basin HSI by Basin Country Unit
167
Mekong Basin
The following table is taken from the TFDD 2012 updates to River Basin Registry, a database
used to describe the basin country units of transboundary river basins. In this case, the breakout
of the countries in the Mekong River Basin is shown. Laos and Thailand both account for 25% of
the entire Mekong basin. China, which has built several storage dams upstream in Yunnan
accounts for the headwaters and 22% of the basin. The three of these countries together account
for the majority, 72%, of the Mekong River basin.
Table 12: River Basin Registry of % and area in km
2
of the Mekong River BCUs.
Mekong Basin Country basin units
% area of basin
in country
Square kilometers of country in
basin
Laos
25
198000
Thailand
25
193900
China
22
171700
Cambodia
20
158400
Vietnam
5
38200
Myanmar
4
27600
Total
3,020,100
The total HDI basin rank for the Mekong River countries is 0.703. This is a rank averaged for the
entire basin by HDI and percentage of the basin found in the BCU. The rank can be compared
across global transboundary river basin ranks. This score is not comparable to any one country in
the basin, but it ranks lower than the top ranking countries of Thailand at 0.784, China at 0.783,
and Vietnam at 0.740. This number is higher than the ranks of the remaining 49% of the country
which has a collective rank of 0.298.
The total HSI basin rank for the Mekong River countries is 0.588. This is a rank averaged for the
entire basin by HSI and percentage of the basin found in the BCU. The rank can be compared
168
across global transboundary river basin ranks. This score is slightly higher than the human
security level of Vietnam and 54% of the basin. It is lower than the 46% of the basin.
Figure 59: Map of Mekong Basin HDI by Basin Country Unit
169
Figure 60: Map of Mekong Basin HSI by Basin Country Unit
170
5.3. NATIONAL SCALE
For national-level interviews, respondents were selected from professionals either directly
involved in the dam project or indirectly affected, such as small business owners. The selection
was further based upon respondent’s availability and willingness to speak with me about their
opinion regarding the project. This sample was lastly influenced by the respondent’s ability to
speak English. In Ethiopia, some people were not willing to give an official interview, but
wanted their opinions recorded as unofficially sourced. In Laos, some respondents asked for
statements to be kept out of the official interview, but included other information in unofficial
discussions. The unofficial interviews I conducted in Ethiopia and Laos with national-level
respondents are included in the Discussion section.
5.3.1. DEMOGRAPHICS
The demographics in Table 13 describe aspects of the research participants involved in the
national-level community interviews. The information was provided by the respondents’ self-
description of occupation, education, and age.
As regards stated age, it is typically not known in Ethiopia or Laos when respondents are born in
rural areas. There are often are no official records in the rural communities, but there are baptism
records in the Church in Ethiopia. As regards occupation, the occupations are generalized in this
Table 13. Specificities of type of engineer or scientist are stripped for purposes of trend
comparison between case study areas, and to better retain anonymity. In Ethiopia there are
significantly less women working in a professional capacity, though they are not fully absent.
This trend is thought to change in this current generation as female enrollment in Ethiopian
Universities has increased, particularly in the engineering departments. In Laos there are is
female representation in professional careers and as business owners, but significantly less than
male representation. My sample does not represent a true percentage of these disparities, but it is
reflective of the prevalence of male national-level respondents available for interviews.
171
In Ethiopia and Laos, the majority of respondents attended college, and many had attended
university abroad. In Ethiopia, English is the official language of instruction in Ethiopian
universities. All respondents speak more than one language. Although both Ethiopia and Laos
have a large international organization presence, the smaller population in Laos, 6 million as
compared with 80+ million in Ethiopia, coupled with less private domestic companies in Laos,
attributes to why there is a prevalence of professionals employed in the NGO/IGO sector. The
foreign NGO/IGO sector in Laos plays a different role in the country than does the same
NGO/IGO sector in Ethiopia. In Laos, foreign presence has more involvement in the affairs of
Laos than does the NGO/IGO sector in Ethiopia, which is often relegated to food and water aid.
Table 13: Demographics on Respondents for Interviews at National Level
Interviewee
group
#
Gender
M:F
Average
interview
length
(words)
Age
18-
30
Age
31-
45
Age
46-
65
Age
65+
Occupation
#
Higher edu:
Secondary
edu:
Primary
edu: No
formal edu
Ethiopia
National
20
17:03
902
1
8
8
3
19:1:0:0
Scientist
6
Engineer
5
Professor
5
Official
Religious
3
2
Economist
1
Laos
National
20
14:6
868
1
10
7
1
19:1:0:0
NGO/IGO
8
Scientist
5
Merchant
3
Official
2
Professor
1
Reporter
1
Artist
1
Student
1
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5.3.2. CONTENT ANALYSIS
The following content analysis highlights theme frequency within the interview-generated
qualitative datasets. In both Ethiopia and Laos 20 interviews were taken for a total of 40
interviews. These are analyzed from the mind maps and presented in the tables below. There are
eight separate tables, one for each of the four sectors in each of the two case studies.
The open-ended interview questions are presented again below. This style of interviewing allows
general themes to emerge from the participants instead of from the interviewer.
Table 14: Questions for National-level participants
Scale: National level
Location: Ethiopia/Laos
Target population: Water managers, government officials, IGOs, NGOs, private business owners
1. How will the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance/Xayaburi Dam change the situation of
Ethiopia/Laos?
2. How will the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance/Xayaburi Dam change the situation on the Blue
Nile/Mekong River?
3. What impacts on local population do you foresee because of the dam? Are any people or
communities being relocated due to dam development?
4. What do you foresee as the impacts on the natural system due to dam development?
5. What is the history about how the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance/Xayaburi Dam development
project came about?
6. What is the influence from the situation happening in Sudan and Egypt/Thailand, China,
Vietnam, and Cambodia?
7. Who is working on this with Ethiopia/Laos?
5.3.3. ETHIOPIA
Majority of official and unofficial respondents indicate that they receive their information about
the Renaissance Dam from Ethiopian television or domestic newspapers. The media is state-
173
controlled. While I was collecting interviews in Ethiopia, the then Prime Minister Meles Zenowe
who was spear-heading the Renaissance Dam project passed away. Some of the national
interviews were influenced by this event, as it was a nationally recognized event, including
massive public demonstrations, and national mourning events, that went on for several weeks.
Table 15 shows the number of respondents and frequency of themes given during national-level
interviews that fall under the Political Sector. In the most common political theme, 70% of
respondents state that there will be a benefit from the Renaissance Dam for neighboring
countries, and of these, 30% specify Sudan and Egypt. Benefits mentioned in the interviews
include reduced flooding and siltation as well as a source of electricity from the generated
hydropower. Some suggest that storage behind Renaissance will offer lower evaporation rates
than that of Lake Nasser. However, offsetting Lake Nasser storage is not something officially
recognized as a use of the Renaissance Dam. Ethiopia moved forward unilaterally on the project.
One respondent stated, “now that Ethiopia is the most stable of the three countries and Egypt and
Sudan see we are gaining political standing Sudan wants to work with us while Egypt’s
government makes the Nile a big agenda as an example.”
Sixty percent of respondents understand that the dam is both funded by Ethiopia and the project
is led by the Ethiopian government. A respondent stated, “this dam is funded by Ethiopians and
we are proud of that. Even a farmer who gives one Birr [about $0.10] is proud to contribute to
the dam.” About 40% of respondents indicate that the dam has been historically part of the
government’s Goals and Transformation Plan (GTP), while 30% indicate that the dam was not in
the original design of the GTP, but is part of the Late Prime Minister Meles Zenowe’s new
policy plan. “The history of the dam is political,” stated one respondent. While 25% of
respondents feel the dam has the potential to create regional stability, and 15% feel it will create
diplomacy, some 20% feel that it will create diplomatic problems in the region, particularly with
Egypt. While only 15% of respondents state that the Renaissance dam transcends political
preference, most of the unofficial interviews indicate that the Renaissance dam represents an
174
Ethiopian dream, regardless of the government. An interviewee stated that “99.99% of
Ethiopians are for this dam! It is amazing! Regardless of their ethnicity, regardless of the
political party. This is an issue of national pride.” This idea was repeated to me many times in
different ways during the national-level interviews.
Table 15: Ethiopia National-level Themes Frequency in Political Sector
Theme
Totals
%
Neighboring countries will benefit
14
70
Ethiopia funded & led
12
60
Part of government plan
8
40
New policy
7
35
Egypt & Sudan will benefit
6
30
Stabilization for region
5
25
Current international agreement is unfair
5
25
Dam may create diplomatic problem
4
20
The dam promotes diplomacy
3
15
This is based on nationalism
3
15
The dam transcends politics
3
15
This will bring internal stability
3
15
We have rights to this water
2
10
We will be the leader in E. Africa
1
5
Win-win situation
1
5
Table 16 shows the number of respondents and frequency of themes given during national-level
interviews that fall under the Environmental Sector. A collective 85% of responses indicate that
either there will be (30%) no damage to the downstream systems, that there will be (20%) a low
or no negative impact on the environment, that (20%) this is a barren land and the river is an
unexploited resource for Ethiopia, or (15%) that the dam will actually be beneficial for fish,
animals, and the local climate. That the area is said to be a barren land with sparse settlement is,
for many people I spoke with, justification to put the dam in this valley. In fact the topic of the
environment was described as a Western preoccupation in some of the interviews. Respondents
175
explained that for Ethiopians, the environment is something that needs to be used to help the
people. Ethiopia’s 80 million population continues to grow and about half of the country’s water
resources are concentrated in the Blue Nile basin.
Another collective 60% of responses, 25%, 20%, 15% of respondents stated, respectively, that
the Renaissance dam is green energy, sustainable development, or will reduce impacts of climate
change. That sedimentation/silt is a problem in Ethiopia as well as the need for land-
management, forest conservation, and erosion control is stated in 35% and 25% of responses.
When visiting the Blue Nile River, sediment is clearly observed. The river runs brown from Lake
Tana through to the area where the dam site is located, very close to where the river exits the
territory of Ethiopia.
Only 15% of respondents indicate that the reservoir may result in higher rates of evaporation and
25% indicated that the types and numbers of fish and other species impacted are unknown. The
dam lies in a transitional climate zone and there are a limited number of biological studies in the
literature, or in Ethiopia, for this remote location. The Renaissance dam project has conducted an
environmental impact assessment, which was not in final draft while I was conducting research
in the fall of 2012. Only two or three respondents are concerned about environmental impacts on
species, downstream ecosystems, and the river itself.
176
Table 16: Ethiopia National-level Theme Frequency in Environmental Sector
Theme
Totals
%
Sedimentation and/or silt is a problem in Ethiopia
7
35
There will be no damage to downstream systems
6
30
There has been environmental assessment and/or studies
6
30
This is green energy
5
25
This project will regulate water flow & flood control
5
25
Land-management, forest conservation, and erosion are important to address
5
25
What types of fish are there and will they be affected?
5
25
This is sustainable development
4
20
There is no or low negative environmental impact
4
20
That is a barren land or unexploited resources
4
20
This is a shared resource
4
20
This will cause more evaporation
4
20
The project reservoir is benefit (fish, animals, climate)
3
15
This will reduce impacts of climate change
3
15
Table 17 gives the number of respondents and frequency of themes given during national-level
interviews that fall under the Economic Sector. The economic reasons for the Renaissance dam
are very compelling because currently only about 40% of the country is electrified and much of
that is inconsistent. Without electricity it is challenging for hospitals to function and industry to
grow. Many respondents feel that increased energy available from the Renaissance 6000 MW
output will attract investors and help Ethiopia develop in many areas indirectly related to the
dam project.
In 60% of interviews, respondents indicate that the Renaissance dam will allow for electricity
export and 50% of respondents feel this will benefit the national economy. While 30% of
interviewees believe the dam will end poverty for Ethiopia, several unofficial interviews indicate
that the dam is part of a new movement away from donor dependence toward independence and
eventual overall alleviation of poverty. In 60% of interview, electricity is identified as key for
177
development, as it brings with it the ability to set up industry, and citizens to enjoy benefits of
modernity, such as electric stoves and refrigerators. Twenty-five percent of national respondents
identified regional development as a result of the dam, while 50% see a collective benefit for
local communities in the local economy (30%) and local development (20%). Only 2
respondents stated that the dam will accelerate the national economy in order to meet quick
development need.
Table 17: Ethiopia National-level Themes Frequency in Economic Sector
Theme
Totals
%
Export electricity
12
60
Domestically funded
12
60
Electricity key for development
12
60
Benefit national economy
10
50
Local economy benefit
6
30
End poverty
6
30
Irrigation
5
25
Industry
5
25
Jobs
5
25
Regional development
5
25
Investors
4
20
Local development (schools, clinics, roads)
4
20
Downstream economy benefit
3
15
Cheap electricity
2
10
Bridges
2
10
Speed or quick development to meet need
2
10
Tax incentives
1
5
Table 18 shows the number of respondents and frequency of themes given during national-level
interviews that fall under the Socio-cultural Sector. Identity is another very important reason for
the Ethiopian respondents’ stated support of the dam project. The Renaissance dam represents a
shift from Ethiopia as a country that receives donor assistant, to a country that develops itself
178
through its own resources. Ethiopia has never been colonized, a point of importance to Ethiopian
people I spoke with. Ethiopia was also formerly a leader on the African continent. Ethiopian
people I spoke with are very self-conscious about the famines in the 1970s and 1980s and would
like Ethiopia to have a different face for the global community. The Renaissance dam is a
symbol of this shift away from international pity to international respect. This is important to the
respondents not only in East Africa with downstream neighbors, but on the global stage.
The majority of interviews, at 60%, stated that the Renaissance dam is important for National
Identity, and 35% indicate that the dam is psychologically important for the Ethiopian people.
The Blue Nile River, called Abay in Ethiopia, appears in songs and poems across the diverse
ethnic groups, and is sometimes used as people’s name, as stated in 15% of responses. While
25% of respondents state that Ethiopia has the right to use the water, 15% feel that the historic
distribution of water rights is unfair. Forty percent of people interviewed know that the local
communities have to be relocated because of the dam, but 20% of people state that there is either
low or no displacement of people. According to the official documentation at the dam site,
20,000 people will be displaced because of the resulting reservoir behind Renaissance Dam.
Another 40% feel that quality of life will be improved by the dam, overall, but that this may
create problems with downstream countries appears in 40% of responses.
179
Table 18: Ethiopia National level Theme Frequency in Socio-Cultural Sector
Theme
Totals
%
National identity
12
60
Problem with downstream countries
8
40
Quality of life improved
8
40
Local community relocated
8
40
Psychologically important
7
35
Ethiopia funded & led
7
35
Ethiopia has right to use water
5
25
Win-win situation
4
20
Move toward self-sufficiency
4
20
No or low displacement
4
20
Historic water use not fair
3
15
Employment opportunities
3
15
Abay River in song, poems, legend
3
15
5.3.4. LAOS
Majority of official and unofficial respondents indicate that they receive their information about
the Xayaburi Dam from the internet or, in the case of respondents based in Vientiane, the
newspaper the Vientiane Times. The media is state-controlled. The month before I began
conducted interviews in Laos, a prominent civil society leader, Sombath Somphone, was
kidnapped. Some of the national scale interviewees refer to and were influenced by this event.
The willingness of many possible respondents to participate was negatively influenced by this
event as well.
Table 19 shows the number of respondents and frequency of themes given during national-level
interviews that fall under the Political Sector. Politics in Laos are a touchy subject because the
government is Communist and there is a great deal of State control. Respondents were very clear
that Lao people are not comfortable about making public statements against the government. In
fact, just weeks before my arrival in Laos, one civil society leader was kidnapped after he made
statements about the environment in Laos. This incident caused fear in the Lao people and also
180
in the expatriot community. The incident of this kidnapping is thought to be connected with the
government because of a video that was seized from a security camera at the time of the
kidnapping. Lao people I spoke with indicated that when the Lao government does not like the
things people say, the people are then disappeared. This limited the amount of people who were
willing to give interviews and probably limited some of the discussions I was able to have
formally and informally with Lao nationals.
The most frequent response, given in 85% of the interviews, is the fact that Xayaburi Dam is one
of several development projects planned for the main stem of the Mekong River. Xayaburi dam
is in fact the first mainstream dam development project in the Lower Mekong River. The
significance of this is that people are fearful that this development project will encourage
neighboring countries to move forward with their own development projects, as indicated in 55%
of the interviews. Although in 40% of the interviews respondents indicate that Laos followed the
legal procedure for prior notification as it is laid out in the Mekong River Commission 1995
Agreement. The Xayaburi Dam is the first project to go through this legal process. Mekong
River Commission employees indicated to me in unofficial interviews that the Prior Notification
process is being revisited in order to clear up the ambiguity.
Forty-five percent of respondents acknowledge that Xayaburi Dam has caused controversy in the
international media, while 20% state that the inaccuracies reported in the media about the dam
are causing more confusion. Vietnam and Cambodia are both said to have concerns with
sediment and fish impacts in 40% and 45% of respondent’s narrative. Half of the respondents
feel that there is a problem with transparency in the political process in Laos, 25% feel that the
process is corrupt, and 30% feel that civil society has no say in these processes. Laos enjoys
trade relations with neighboring countries and though 25% of respondents feel Xayaburi Dam
will improve regional cooperation because of benefit sharing, 20% felt that the dam had already
damaged international relations. Laos has redesigned the dam to comply with MRC
recommendations to reduce downstream impacts according to 35% of those interviewed, though
181
another 35% suggest that there are no downstream impacts. Some 60% of those interviewed state
that Laos has a political and economic reliance on Vietnam and China.
Thailand, who is constructing and financing the dam, will receive the benefits of the dam
according to 70% of the respondents. This investment comes at a time when Thailand’s
environmental groups successfully protested a dam project While 25% feel that Xayaburi is an
attack on poverty in Laos and 35% believe this is a move to remove Laos from the Least
Developed Countries list.
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Table 19: Laos National level Theme Frequency in Political Sector
Theme
Totals
%
Xayaburi is one of several development projects planned for the Mekong River
17
85
Thailand is funding the dam and will receive the benefits
14
70
Laos depends on Vietnam & China
12
60
Xayaburi is a passport for other countries to develop
11
55
There is a transparency problem
10
50
Laos plans to develop the country by using natural resources
10
50
Xayaburi has caused an international controversy
9
45
Laos redesigned dam to comply with recommendations
9
45
Cambodia is concerned with fisheries impacts
9
45
Laos followed the 1995 Mekong River Commission agreement
8
40
Vietnam is concerned with sediment loss
8
40
Resettlement will benefit the locals if done correctly
7
35
Xayaburi is being used as a model for the future
7
35
The Lao government is working to remove Laos from the LDC list
7
35
The mechanism to get revenue to the poor is not clear
6
30
Xayaburi is a source of national pride
6
30
Impact on downstream countries is not significant
6
30
Civil society is silent
6
30
The government and process are corrupt
5
25
Sustainable development is important
5
25
Dam plans have historic precedence
5
25
Xayaburi dam is an attack on poverty
5
25
The Xayaburi dam promotes regional cooperation and benefit sharing
5
25
Laos wants to be the battery of SE Asia
5
25
The media is confusing the public with inaccurate reporting
4
20
Local people are not informed and do not understand
4
20
This is a big turning point for the region
4
20
The dam has changed relationships with neighboring countries
4
20
Laos need energy and revenue to industrialize
4
20
The dam will be built, but the poor will stay poor
3
15
This dam benefits only some people
3
15
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Table 20 shows the number of respondents and frequency of themes given during national-level
interviews that fall under the Environmental Sector. The Xayaburi Dam project is advertised as a
run-of-river dam, a design that is meant to have minimal impact according to the official
information. An overwhelming 90% of those interviewed expressed concern about the dam’s
impacts on fish migration, while 25% believe that the fish populations are already in trouble, and
15% feel the fish will just adapt. Not much is known about the fish in this stretch of the Mekong,
so it is not known whether the species need to migrate to spawn. While 35% stated that the Lao
government had added a fish passage to the dam design, 25% stated that the fish ladder may not
or will not work. Mekong fish are an integral part of the diet and food culture in Laos. In some
parts of the Mekong Basin downstream from the dam site, majority of all protein comes from
freshwater fish and that in any given year the Mekong catch constitutes 2 million tons of the 10
million tons of global freshwater fish catch (Baran, 2013). One respondent pointed out the fact
that downstream environmental impacts could be much farther reaching than anticipated, but that
the impacts will not be felt for many years, especially in the fisheries. Another respondent stated
that things will only change when the fish are gone. The Lao government plans to stock the new
reservoir with farmed fish. A respondent stated that in China the majority of fish eaten are
harvested from fish farms and that Laos can do the same.
“We need to be nice to the land and the nature, and it will be nice to us in return,” stated one
respondent who is concerned about the dam as an example of increased development of
environmental resources for foreign interests by the Lao government. Several respondents
expressed concern about how development projects are ruining nature in Laos. Fish is an issue
that came up in interviews about the Xayaburi dam, but concern about development of Lao
natural resources extended beyond just the dam and fish. Some 55% expressed concern with
changes to water flow, and related riverbank erosion was mentioned in 20% of the interviews.
Flood recession agriculture is a popular method of farming in Mekong River subsistence
communities. Fifteen percent of responses indicate that the dam will change regional food
production. That the water levels are already different appears in 20% of the interviews and that
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the Xayaburi dam will change the environment is mentioned in 45% of responses though the
change will be minimal in 45% of narratives. Fifty percent of responses indicate that the impacts
will be felt downstream in Cambodia and Vietnam.
Table 20: Laos National level Theme Frequency in Environmental Sector
Theme
Totals
%
Fish migration will be impacted
18
90
Xayaburi will change the water flow
11
55
The change from Xayaburi on the environment will be minimal
9
45
Xayaburi will change the environment
9
45
The dam design was modified with fish passage
7
35
There are not enough studies on the Mekong system
5
25
The fish passage may not or will not work
5
25
Vietnam is concerned with environmental change to sediment
5
25
Cambodia is concerned with environmental change to fish
5
25
The Tonle Sap will be impacted
5
25
There is a problem with flooding in the Mekong basin
5
25
The dam will reduce the number of fish in the river
5
25
The water levels are already different in the river
4
20
The Xayaburi project will change the riverbanks
4
20
The fish will adapt
3
15
There will be salt intrusion in the Delta
3
15
The dam has been modified to allow sediment transport
3
15
Other resource exploitation is ruining the environment (trees, mining)
3
15
Xayaburi is sustainable development/green energy
3
15
An EIA was conducted
3
15
There will be no change to the environment
2
10
Xayaburi will help promote eco-tourism
2
10
The fish numbers are already reduced
2
10
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Table 21 shows the number of respondents and frequency of themes given during national-level
interviews that fall under the Economic Sector. While 60% of respondents believe Xayaburi
Dam project will bring benefits to the local community through infrastructure and job creation,
20% feel that the Lao government should offer locals benefit sharing, and 25% believe that the
revue from Xayaburi should be reallocated to nation-wide infrastructure projects. Half of the
respondents indicate that Xayaburi will make money for the country of Laos. Many respondents
are skeptical that the money generated by the dam will benefit the entire Lao community, but
instead will be concentrated in the hands of a few corrupt officials. While Laos does not have the
financial resources to invest in nation-building, 30% of the narratives say Laos has the natural
resources and 45% indicate that foreign direct investment is currently exploiting those resources.
The Lao government has indicated that it wants to be the battery of SE Asia and 15% of
respondents see Laos as the future central energy market in the region. Twenty percent of
respondents say that the Lao government will use the Xayaburi Dam to get off of the Least
Developed Countries list. Forty-five percent of respondents believe that Thailand is receiving
more of the benefits of the dam than Laos will receive. A Thai company is contracted to
construct the dam, Thai banks are financing the project, and much of the supplies are being
imported from Thailand. When the dam is in operation, 80% of the energy generated will be
exported to Thailand. This comes in the wake of a political decision in Thailand to cease
construction of a controversial dam and to the protest of Thai environmental and human rights
civil society. There is lawsuit filed against the Thai banks and Thai company to cease
construction of Xayaburi.
186
Table 21: Laos National level Theme Frequency in Economic Sector
Theme
Totals
%
Xayaburi dam will bring benefits to the local community
12
60
Xayaburi dam will make Laos money
10
50
A Thai company is building and investing in the dam
9
45
Foreign direct investment in Laos natural resource exploitation
9
45
The economic benefit is for Thailand
8
40
Laos doesn't have money to invest, but it has resources
6
30
The money from Xayaburi dam revenues can be reinvested in country infrastructure
5
25
Xayaburi dam will help Laos get off of the Least Developed Countries list
4
20
Dam will alleviate poverty
4
20
There should be benefit sharing with local communities
4
20
Laos wants to be the center of the energy market
3
15
Laos government invested millions to improve the dam design for fish and sediment
3
15
Hydropower is popular in private investment
2
10
Table 22 shows the number of respondents and frequency of themes given during national-level
interviews that fall under the Socio-Cultural Sector. Concern is expressed in the majority of
interview responses, some 85%, that the Xayaburi dam is going to result in social change. Some
younger generation respondents are hopeful that the spread of information through the internet
will help to understand the extent of those changes. Seventy-five percent of respondents feel that
the dam will bring benefits to the local economy through job creation and infrastructural
investment and development. Sixty percent of National level respondents acknowledge that local
residents will have to relocate, but exact numbers are not well known. A Lao official explained
that about 400 families, 2,400 people, will be relocated because of the dam development in 17
villages. Only one entire village has been completely relocated, the other villages will experience
partial relocation. Numbers suggested in the interviews include 400 to 1,000; 20,000 to 30000;
100,000; and millions of people. The respondents indicated that these estimates were taken from
online sources. Some respondents stated that they would like to see the government conduct
more thorough research into the elements of the dam’s development. They would also like to
have access to this information.
187
The listed improvements for local people include developed water source, schools, clinics, roads,
livelihood, training, land, food, and different employment or occupation options. Three
respondents stated that subsistence is a hard life and one respondent said, “local people will
receive what is needed for a real life [from the Xayaburi Project],” implying that subsistence life
is not real life. Two respondents state that artisanal gold mining is not a consistent source of
income. Although two respondents stated that the Project will promote occupations away from
farming, three others stated that teaching the locals to farm is important to supply food to
development projects in the north. Currently the locals practice subsistence-level farming and
trade.
Themes about the inability of civil society to take part in government decisions were raised in
25% of interviews and the frustration with top-down rule or authoritarian rule or the one party
system in Laos was raised in 30% of interviews. Thirty-five percent of interview respondents
state that the compensation package from the government is not or will not be sufficient for the
locals to adjust from hunter gatherer lifestyles to farming and raising animals, while 20% feel
that the compensation is enough.
The concern of changing culture and lifestyle is raised in the recognition that fish numbers have
changed resulting in changing fishing habits in 30% of interviews. Twenty percent indicate that
there is not enough understood about the Mekong River system and more studies should be
conducted. That the village life will change so much that young people will leave or have already
left because of lack of opportunity is raised in only two interviews.
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Table 22: Laos National level Theme Frequency in Socio-cultural Sector
Theme
Totals
%
Xayaburi will bring about social change
17
85
The dam has brought/will bring development benefits to local community
15
75
People relocated because of the dam
12
60
The dam will promote other occupations
7
35
The compensation is not sufficient
7
35
Laos has an authoritarian rule
6
30
Fishing habits have already changed
6
30
The Xayaburi dam will change livelihoods
6
30
Civil society has no voice
5
25
People do not understand the Mekong River system
4
20
We should learn lessons from others and not repeat them
4
20
The government will pay compensation
4
20
Laos is on the Least Developed Countries list
3
15
There are regional benefits from Xayaburi dam
3
15
We need more farmers to supply food to projects
3
15
Subsistence is a hard life
3
15
The Xayaburi dam will bring no change
3
15
There should be benefits sharing with local communities
3
15
Much depends on the perception of the dam
2
10
Gold panning is not a consistent source of income
2
10
The dam will bring more disease
2
10
Young people will leave
2
10
5.4. LOCAL SCALE
5.4.1. DEMOGRAPHICS
The demographics in Table 23 describe aspects of research participants involved in local-level
community interviews. The information was provided by the respondents’ self-description of
occupation, education, and age. There were occasions when interviews were conducted in a
group setting, but only one respondent dominated the discussion with sparse or supportive
189
contribution from family members or friends. In these cases, only the demographic information
for the primary respondent are recorded.
As regards stated age, it is typically not known in Ethiopia or Laos when respondents are born in
rural areas. There are often are no official records in the rural communities. As regards
occupation, the occupation that a respondent most identified with was recorded as their
occupation. This means that in some cases a respondent states that they farm as well as fish, sell
things at the market, or pan for gold, but self-identify as a farmer. If they self-identify as a
farmer, even if our interview is taken while they pan for gold, I record them as a farmer. In
Ethiopia, mostly everyone told me that they pan for gold and that this is their only source of
income, yet they identify as farmers as an occupation. In Laos, majority of people fish, but they
identify as farmers as an occupation. As a result, there is a record of one fisherman in both
Ethiopia and Laos respondents, but 22 and 18 farmers, respectively. Farmers are the highest
identified occupation, followed by 6 merchants in Ethiopia and 7 skilled laborers in Laos. There
are recent opportunities for merchants of other ethnicities to come from various outside towns to
the Gumuz region in Ethiopia, due to the infrastructural development from the Chinese, who
were working in the area, and now the Renaissance dam and thousands of employees, though
some merchants indicated that the workers never stopped in at their market. In Laos, skilled
labor jobs have increased since the commencement of dam construction activities. Many people
who are working at the dam site were unavailable for interviews while I was in the villages
during the daytime.
In Ethiopia I interviewed significantly less women than men in the villages, usually because
women are minding children or working, while men are available in the afternoons after farming
and fishing. In Laos, the distribution of men and women respondents is similar. While 18
respondents indicated no formal education and 9 had received some primary school education in
Ethiopia, the reverse is true in Laos where 5 respondents indicated no formal education and 20
had some level of primary schooling. The reason for the higher numbers of primary school in
190
Laos has to do with a government policy that mandates every Laotian must know how to read
and write. Only six respondents attended secondary school in both Ethiopia and Laos and only
one young man I met in Ethiopia was attending a higher education school, though he did not
speak any English. There are post-secondary training schools in some small towns of Ethiopia.
Table 23: Demographics of Local-level Respondents
Interviewee
group
#
Gender
M:F
Average
interview
length
(words)
Age
18-
30
Age
31-
45
Age
46-
65
Age
65+
Occupation
#
Higher edu:
Secondary
edu:
Primary
edu: No
formal edu
Ethiopia
Local
34
21:13
398
8
15
7
4
Farmer
22
1:6:9:18
Merchant
6
Official
2
Fisherman
1
Health
worker
1
Skilled
labor
1
Student
1
Laos Local
31
16:15
437
1
6
16
8
Farmer
18
0:6:20:5
Skilled
labor
7
Merchant
2
Official
2
Fisherman
1
Retired
1
5.4.2. CONTENT ANALYSIS
Themes are influenced by gender, though this does not come through in the tables below. Gender
predicts some water use, such as water hauling from the river or washing clothes in the river falls
on women, whereas fishing with a hook or fishing from a boat falls to men. Women do fish, but
in the shallows with their clothing in Ethiopia and handheld traditional nets in Laos. Whole
families go to pan for gold and to farm in the riverbed during dry season. The cash from gold
191
panning is used for school fees, salt, and other goods that are not available from the river valley
resources (like rope, fishing hooks, or plastic). In Ethiopia both women and men were seen
farming and panning for gold. In Laos, only women were panning for gold and farming crops in
the riverbed.
Although access to education for the next generation is very important in responses in both
Ethiopia and Laos, just as important is traditional education regarding the current way of life
farming, gold panning, and fishing. Almost all of the respondents emphasized that the younger
generations do not need to be taught the traditional ways of the community, the younger
generation just follows and is involved in the farming, fishing, and gold panning and learns this
way. The idea of children going to school is also important, but when children are not in school
they are helping their families with these aforementioned activities.
Interviews were conducted as a sampling of convenience in the local community setting. My
interpreters and I would travel to a village, meet the chief, and move about the area freely to
speak to people in their homes or working at the river. In Ethiopia, we were given a vehicle and
driver by the project and could explore many villages and cover distance in one day. There was
no restriction on what village we could visit. In Laos, we were dropped off and picked up by the
project on most days, with the exception of Saturday when we took local transportation. We
were restricted to villages on the West side of the Mekong, in the jurisdiction of Sayabouli
Province (the other side of the river is Luan Prabang Province and would have required more
paperwork), and restricted only to the villages currently accessible by road.
The open-ended interview questions are presented again below. This style of interviewing allows
general themes to emerge from the participants instead of from the interviewer.
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Table 24: Questions for local-level field interviews
Scale: Local level
Target Population: Rural populations living in the Blue Nile/Mekong river basin.
Location: Blue Nile/Mekong river basin villages and markets near to dam development site
1. How important is the river in your daily life?
2. How do you think (or how has) the dam will change (changed) your life?
3. Do you plan to teach your children and grandchildren to use the river?
4. How has (individual/community) water use changed during your lifetime?
5. How will your use of the river change in the future?
6. Does anyone impact your use/access of/to water?
7. Do you think the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance/Xayaburi Dam will change the river?
5.4.3. ETHIOPIA
Table 25 shows the numbers and frequencies of themes given during local-level interviews that
fall under the Political Sector. Interviews revealed that most people, 76% of respondents, identify
other Gumuz People as being the only users of the river. This included people who had already
been relocated by the dam activities and people living within plain view of the dam construction.
No one identified the Ethiopian government of the dam project as a use of the river. The sense of
the river as communicated by my respondents is as a commons that is shared. Also, most people,
some 71% of respondents, state that they intend to continue using the river to fish and farm in the
future and some 12% state that no one would stop them from doing this. Very few people, only 6
respondents, indicated that they did not know about the project, but 16 respondents stated that
even though they understood the project is happening, they did not know what will happen to
them or the river because of the project. The project has rendered some immediate benefit to the
local community through provision of free medicine and treatment at the dam clinic, as indicated
in 35% of interviews, and new infrastructure and employment, as indicated in 35% of interviews.
Though very few people knew someone who worked at the dam, many people take advantage of
the new roads and bridges for trade or to reach the clinic.
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Table 25: Ethiopia Local-Level Theme Frequency in the Political Sector
Theme
Totals
%
Only Gumuz People use the river
26
76
We plan to continue to use the river in the future
24
71
The government has a plan to relocate us and/or compensate us
20
59
We hope for benefits from the project
19
56
We must leave
17
50
We do not know what will happen
16
47
We share this resource
12
35
The project has already provided benefit through new infrastructure and
employment
12
35
clinic at dam is free
12
35
No idea about the project
6
18
This is our resource
5
15
Ethiopians (other)
5
15
No one can stop us from using the river
4
12
The government will make good choice for us
4
12
Sudan
2
6
Egypt
1
3
Table 26 below shows the numbers and frequencies of themes given during local-level
interviews that fall under the Environmental Sector. Interesting information from this table
includes 91% of respondents identifying gold panning and 79% of respondents identifying flood
recession agriculture as activities conducted in the riverbanks. Both men and women pan for
gold. Only 26% indicate that they farm away from the river during the rainy season. Once the
Renaissance dam is completed and the reservoir is filled, activities in the riverbed will no longer
be available to the local community.
Although only one respondent indicated that there are different types of fish in the river at
different seasons, 62% of respondents indicated that they fish in the river. Men report fishing
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with a line and hook or net, while women report fishing with their clothes in the shallows. Fish
are a major staple in the local-community diet year round.
Only two respondents indicated that they would survive on rain-fed crops when they moved if
they could not use the river water. No other respondent could understand the idea of moving
from the river access completely, even when I pressed the question. The understanding that the
river will physically change and they must move due to the project was clear, but the idea that
this may mean not having access to the river was received as absurd.
Table 26: Ethiopia Local-Level Theme Frequency in the Environmental Sector
Theme
Totals
%
Gold is mined from the riverbanks
31
91
We farm in the river
27
79
The GERD project will change the river
21
62
We fish in the river
21
62
We will continue to use the river
20
59
We plan/pan/fish/change water source with cycles of river
18
53
We drink the river water
17
50
Everything we eat comes from the river
16
47
We plant our crops in the riverbed during the dry season
13
38
We will irrigate in the future
13
38
We use the river water for bathing and washing
9
26
We cultivate crops away from the river with rain in rainy season
9
26
We need the river
9
26
Water quality changes by season
6
18
River has fertile soil
4
12
There are different fish in the river according to the season
1
3
Table 27 shows the numbers and frequencies of themes given during local-level interviews that
fall under the Economic Sector. Similar to the previous Table 2a, 97% of respondents indicate
that they pan gold from the river. In 32% of the interviews, gold is identified as the first
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importance of the river. This is the only local-level activity that allows people to earn money
from trading outside the community in order to purchase other things, such as salt, clothes, or
pay for school fees, which 41% of the respondents indicate they do with money. Also, similar to
Table 2a, flood recession agriculture is indicated as a major activity in 88% of respondents’
interviews. Again, both of these activities will be impossible once the reservoir behind
Renaissance dam is filled.
Table 27: Ethiopia Local-Level Theme Frequency in the Economic Sector
Theme
Totals
%
We pan gold from the river
33
97
We grow crops from the river
30
88
Share resources
23
68
We fish in the river
22
65
Sell these goods for cash
16
47
We have hope for irrigation with project
13
38
The roads and bridges have expanded market access
12
35
Spend money on other goods
11
32
Gold is the first importance of the river
11
32
Our only source of income comes from the river
11
32
Vegetables
10
29
Fruit
7
21
Tobacco
5
15
Spend money on school fees
3
9
Table 28 shows the numbers and frequencies of themes given during local-level interviews that
fall under the Socio-cultural Sector. Seventy-nine percent of respondents stated that have taught
or they intend to teach their children to use the river for fishing, panning for gold, and/or
farming. Only 9% of respondents state that they know they will have to stop panning for gold
once the dam is completed. Statements that demonstrate how vital the river is to local community
life such as everything we need is in the river, our entire lives are around the river, seasonal
changes to water change village activity, and we need to be close to the river, were given in 24%,
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18%, 62%, and 59% of interviews respectively. That the river is the only food source is stated in
the majority, some 85%, of interviews. The link of food, livelihood, and community-life with the
river is an important aspect for local-level identity. The way of life, the traditional knowledge of
how to use the environmental resources, is integral to how the local-community exists. It is not
clear how the Renaissance dam project intends to address this overwhelming amount of
traditional knowledge loss or replace the knowledge with training in new livelihoods, and
cultivation of food sources.
Table 28: Ethiopia Local-Level Theme Frequency in the Socio-Cultural Sector
Theme
Totals
%
Only food source
29
85
We teach our children how to use the river
27
79
Only Gumuz People use the river
23
68
Only economic source
23
68
Only water source
21
62
Season water level fluctuation dictate village activity
21
62
We need to be close to the river
20
59
This project will give something different for the future
20
59
Education is important for the children
12
35
We must move
12
35
Transportation has changed now we have a road and bridges
9
26
The clinic is important for our kids - there is more medicine than before
9
26
Everything we need is in the river
8
24
Entire existence centered around the river
6
18
We will lose gold panning
3
9
The river is too dangerous for kids
2
6
Fishing will improve with project
2
6
5.4.4. LAOS
The interviewed respondents in Laos lived in one of three villages. I visited the newly relocated
village on two occasions, once on an official trip and once for field interview collection. This
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village is completely constructed because of the project and the inhabitants were moved from the
dam project footprint area to a site approximately 30 km from the river. The residents of the new
village are receiving training and encouragement from the project and Lao government to change
their livelihoods to fish farming, irrigated crops, and raising livestock. Training for local people
was being given on the day I visited for field-interview collection.
Table 29 shows the numbers of respondents and frequencies of themes given during local-level
interviews that fall under the Political Sector. The local-level respondents see the Mekong River
as a common area. Seventy-one percent of respondents state that no one restricts use of the river,
while 10% state that everyone has a right to use the river, but 29% stated that there are
restrictions on fishing from local enforcement and 13% indicated that the Xayaburi Power
Company restricts their access to the river. In 68% of the interviews, respondents stated that they
are aware that the government has a relocation and compensation plan for them personally or
part of their villages, while only 32% of those interviewed stated that they themselves have to
move. Several themes about what specifically the government is doing to change village life:
35% identify employment, 32% identify electricity, 32% identify training and supplies for fish
farming, 26% identify general training and supplies, 23% identify water supply, and 19%
identify the new road. Out of 30 respondents, only 16% stated that their lives will improve
because of the project, and in the relocated village, which accounts for about 30% of the
interviews, 13% stated that there was not enough land or food after they have been relocated,
over one year prior to the interviews.
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Table 29: Laos Local-level Themes Frequency in Political Sector
Theme
Totals
%
No one restricts our use of the Mekong
22
71
The government has a plan to relocate us and/or compensate us
21
68
The government will/has provided us with employment
11
35
We have to move
10
32
The government will/has provided us with electricity
10
32
The government is providing training and supplies for fish farm
10
32
There are restrictions on fishing
9
29
I don't know how the project will change the river
9
29
The government is providing training and supplies
8
26
The government will/has provided us with water supply
7
23
The government will/has provided us with an access road
6
19
There are too many people fishing now
6
19
Our lives will change for the better because of the project
5
16
We need money now, but we did not need money before the project
5
16
The company restricts our access to the old village
4
13
After relocation, there is not enough land
4
13
After relocation, there is not enough food
4
13
Everyone has the right to use the Mekong
3
10
Table 30 shows the numbers of respondents and frequencies of themes given during local-level
interviews that fall under the Environmental Sector. The most interesting environmental theme
overall is the identification of changes to the river resources in recent years. The respondents
stated that the local fish catch has changed significantly over the last 5 years, a theme that
appears in 71% of all the responses. Locals explained that it was not only the number of fish, but
fish type and fish size (13%) that had changed, while only 10% stated there was no visible
change to the fish, but this was from two non-fishermen and one fisherman.
Women in one village reported that the shallow area where women fished with nets, in the past,
was where the government was installing a bridge across the Mekong and that area is no longer
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available for fishing. Another identified change is to water levels, as identified in 68% of
respondents’ interviews and 32% state that the change is so dramatic that now the seasons are no
longer predictable. This is especially important as 32% state that they use the river differently
between rainy and dry seasons. And finally, 23% of people stated that they had stopped panning
for gold when there was change to gold amounts, about 5 years prior.
The method for extracting gold from the river is to pan in the sediment and use mercury to fuse
the gold particles from the sediment, to be melted away later. This artisanal mining activity is
linked with river contamination mercury, especially in the Amazon. Worldwide, 80 – 100 million
people experience some level of dependence on artisanal mining for a livelihood, mostly in the
developing world (Hinton et al. 2003). As a result of changes and opportunities to work at the
dam site for cash, 56% of respondents stated that they or others had stopped using the river for
their livelihood.
The highest percentage of identified use of the river environment is for flood recession
agriculture at 81%, followed closely by 71% fishing, 58% gold mining, and 26% for river-
system related harvesting. The majority of respondents, 74%, understand that the dam will
increase the water level in the area, and this is why they will have partial relocation.
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Table 30: Laos Local-level Themes Frequency in Environmental Sector
Theme
Totals
%
We farm in the river
25
81
The project will increase the water level
23
74
The fish catch has changed in the river, there are less fish
22
71
We fish in the river
22
71
The water levels have changed in the river
21
68
Gold is mined from the riverbanks
18
58
The river is important for food
17
55
We use the river water for domestic purposes
17
55
People have stopped using the river
16
52
The river is used for transportation
15
48
I sell fish/crops from the river
12
39
The project will bring more fish
11
35
We use the river differently with dry and rainy season
10
32
The seasons are now unpredictable
10
32
The river is used for grazing animals
10
32
We will move our farm up the mountain or upstream
10
32
We will start a fish farm in the future
10
32
We harvest food/wood/other from the forest
8
26
The amount of gold available has changed
7
23
People extract sand from the riverbanks
6
19
I want to sell fish in the future
6
19
We will irrigate in the future
5
16
We can no longer catch big fish
4
13
No change to the fish
3
10
Dam will reduce the water quality
2
6
Dam will block fish migration
2
6
Table 31 shows the numbers of respondents and frequencies of themes given during local-level
interviews that fall under the Economic Sector. The river and dependent forest system is the
main source of food and income for respondents as 84% state that they harvest food from the
river and surrounding forest, 71% fish in the river, 68% grow crops in the river, and 58% pan
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gold from the river, while 45% sell the fish they catch. This dependence on the river and related
forest system is important as 10% people report that there are no job opportunities outside of
physical labor associated with the dam project and 13%, specifically from the new relocated
village, state that life is harder since the project began. The new relocated village is located some
30 km from the river and the project is training and encouraging the residents to leave off the
fishing and flood recession agricultural way of life and farm with irrigation, start fish farms, and
raise livestock instead.
The project is promoting fish farming in the villages through training and opportunity to buy
boats for fishing in the resulting reservoir; this is reflected in that 68% respondents believe that
they will have more fish to sell once the dam is complete.
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Table 31: Laos Local-level Themes Frequency in Economic Sector
Theme
Totals
%
We can harvest food from the forest and river
26
84
I teach my children/grandchildren to use the Mekong
23
74
The project is/will train us for different employment
23
74
We fish in the river
22
71
We grow crops from the river
21
68
There is more competition fishing and less fish
21
68
We will have more fish to sell
21
68
We pan gold from the river
18
58
The project will compensate us
17
55
I sell fish
14
45
We now have/will have electricity
10
32
We now have access road to the city for trade
9
29
We will lose our land
9
29
People have employment at the project
8
26
I will buy a boat for fishing/tourists
7
23
Life is harder since the project started
4
13
We do not have enough land to farm
4
13
The project will create more employment opportunities
4
13
There are no job opportunities besides physical labor
3
10
We will have to move our buffalo
3
10
People are starting businesses
3
10
Table 32 shows the numbers of respondents and frequencies of themes given during local-level
interviews that fall under the Socio-cultural Sector. It is important to note that the traditional
culture and knowledge in the villages is exceedingly important to respondents as reflect in 94%
of interviewees stating that they teach the children how to use the river. This is also reflected in
the theme that the Mekong River is used for household income in 94% of the interviews. Fish are
an important resource for families, though the numbers have reduced in recent years, as stated in
71% of the responses. This is significant because fish is important as a protein source, central to
traditional food dishes, a social and livelihood daily activity, and excess is sold in roadside
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markets or to people who come from outside the village to buy for city markets. Of the 87% of
people who engage in flood-recession agriculture and 71% who pan for gold, 32% state that they
will lose their farmland and 19% state that they will no longer be able to pan for gold when the
project is completed.
The project has already brought about change to the village communities. The newly constructed
village has obvious changes, as the residents were moved from the river and given new homes
and training for new livelihoods. Of the other two villages visited 32% interviews indicated that
they did not have road access to the city before the project, which is significant because the city
is where the schools, hospital, and market are located. Twenty-three percent of people in the new
village now have electricity, and 29% of all respondents indicate that people are no longer using
the river and its resources because of other opportunities provided by the dam.
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Table 32: Laos Local-level Themes Emerged in Socio-cultural Sector
Theme
Totals
%
We teach our children how to use the river
29
94
We use the Mekong for income
29
94
We use the Mekong for food
27
87
We farm in the riverbed
27
87
There are less fish in the river
22
71
We mine gold in the riverbed
22
71
The government is investing in our development
19
61
The water levels have changed
14
45
We use the Mekong for water source
14
45
We must move our house
11
35
The seasons have changed and are unpredictable now
10
32
We will lose our farmland
10
32
Before the project we didn't have road access to the city
10
32
People no longer use the river (since the project started)
9
29
There is less gold in the river
7
23
Before the project we didn't have electricity
7
23
We will lose the ability to pan for gold
6
19
Before the project we didn't have a water supply (besides the Mekong)
5
16
5.5. RECURRENCE THEMES
The following Venn diagram shows the four overlapping sectors for human security in this
study. These recurrence diagrams help to show where themes overlap in more than one human
security sector. There are two categories for themes at the national level: a powerful idea or
reason. There are two categories for themes at the local level: expected change and experienced
change. Depending on the context, themes may represent system vulnerabilities or system
strengths.
Resilience theory includes the idea that when a facet of the system is recurring, it may represent
strength of that system. In this case, where a theme is recurring, but will change with the
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commissioning of the dam, the identified strength may become a weakness. Identifying which
themes overlap in multiple sectors can inform what parts of the overall system may drive change
to the system if themes are altered. This does not indicate what part of the vulnerabilities will
eventually adapt or express resilience from which part of the vulnerabilities will eventually fail
and collapse.
Adaptation and resilience of human security in the overall system can, however, be encouraged
through education, addressing, or buffering that part of the system identified by the isolated
themes. Failure and collapse can be possibly prevented with management and planning. This
method does not necessarily highlight the transition period in a system. Transition periods, in this
study, are times of change, while the change is happening, that can be possibly destabilizing for a
community. An example of transition period in the systems in this study is the new village at the
Lao local-level interviewees.
Figure 61: Venn Diagram for Human Security
An example of a recurrence theme is, “everything we eat comes from the river.” This theme
appears in all four sectors of Ethiopian local-level interviews: political, environmental,
economic, and socio-cultural. This gives the theme a recurrence of 4 out of 4 possible
Environment
Economics
Politics
Socio-
culture
206
appearances, and represents a strong theme in the total system. This then means that when the
river is changed by the dam, because it is the source of food, all four parts of human security
systems are impacted.
In this local-level case, identifying what themes are most common to several systems helps
decision-makers focus on crucial parts of the potentially changing systems that need more
attention when dealing with relocation efforts, livelihood training efforts, resources reallocation,
resources access, and needs in the local-level communities.
5.5.1. NATIONAL
Ethiopia
Below are a four diagrammed themes that overlap in sectors. Themes A and B are related to
themes that drive nationalism and reason for the dam in the first place. Themes C and D and two
themes based on hope and information provided by the Ethiopian government.
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- A. The dam is funded by Ethiopians for Ethiopians
- B. Electricity is key for development
- C. The dam will alleviate poverty
- D. Neighboring countries will benefit
Figure 62: Ethiopia National-scale Cross-sector Theme Recurrence Diagram
The four themes listed A-D are the themes taken from the interview data of Ethiopia national-
level respondents that are both significant in frequency within the sample and overlap more than
one sector.
Theme A, the dam is funded by Ethiopians for Ethiopians, occurs in the responses 60% of the
time and overlaps between the sectors of politics, economics, and socio-culture in context of the
interviews. Respondents feel that the reasons that Ethiopians are self-funding the dam include the
hope of Ethiopian people in the Renaissance dam project regardless of political affiliation,
because the dam has become a symbol of national pride and Ethiopian identity, the determination
of the Ethiopian people to fight against poverty, the desire of Ethiopian people to redefine the
nation away from famine, current food insecurity, disease, and in general as a country that needs
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the donor community, and belief in an Ethiopian Renaissance. As identified in 35% of the
interviews, the dam is psychologically important for the Ethiopian people. The Renaissance Dam
image is prevalent on the state-controlled media outlets, on billboards throughout the country, on
phone cards, and is in the minds of every urban Ethiopian. Fundraising campaigns were launched
across the country through the schools system, in rural communities, and at all official offices.
Citizens are expected to give one month of their yearly salary to the dam development.
Theme B, electricity is key for development, occurs in 60% of responses and overlaps economic
and political sectors. Ethiopia had 200MW online in 2003, and the Renaissance Dam will
increase available power by a potential 6000 MW. The idea of energy related to development is
accepted in international development rhetoric, though there is little in the literature to support an
actual causation between more energy and more development. The Ethiopian government states
publicly that they intend to be the green energy leaders in East Africa, promoting clean energy
through renewable sources to include hydro, wind, solar, and geothermal sourced energy. The
Ethiopian government plans to sell some of the generated energy from Renaissance Dam to
neighboring countries and reinvest the revenue in Ethiopian infrastructural and development
projects. Some of this is outlined in the country’s GTPs.
Theme C, the dam will alleviate poverty, occurs in only 30% of responses, yet this saying was
used often throughout the official conversations I had as well as part of the national campaign
about the dam. The theme also speaks to the fact that Ethiopia is a country with a high poverty
rate. This theme overlaps the sectors of politics, economics, and socio-culture in context of the
interviews. Politically, Ethiopia is a poor country, on the UN’s List of Least Developed
Countries, and the Ethiopian government has a plan to eliminate poverty through nation-
building. There were many simultaneous infrastructural projects under construction while I was
in Ethiopia in the fall of 2012, and many more implemented today. Economically, the
Renaissance Dam is the largest and most expensive project in Ethiopia. The ability of Ethiopia to
sell exported electricity to neighboring countries, contracts are already in place, will increase the
national GDP. More electricity in the network will allow for localized development projects
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throughout Ethiopia’s growing urban centers and the countryside. Poverty is a socio-cultural
issue that manifests in the health and education sector in the form of disease, malnutrition,
disability, infant mortality, shorter life-expectancy, illiteracy, but also in the cultural sector
Theme D, neighboring countries will benefit, appears in 60% of responses and overlaps in both
political and economic sectors. The theme indicates hope in the national-level responses that the
dam is not just a benefit for Ethiopia, but that the electricity, flood control, and sediment control
will give benefit to downstream countries as well as other neighbors. The EEPCO stated in an
interview that Ethiopia has already signed contracts with Kenya, Djibouti, and Sudan regarding
the sale of electricity across.
Laos
The following Venn diagrams show the recurring themes across sectors from the frequency
tables. Though similar themes came up across sectors at the Lao national level as in the
Ethiopian national level –the dam is being developed to alleviate poverty, electricity is necessary
for development, and neighboring countries will benefit – the respondent interviews in Laos
centered on different issues.
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- A. Laos wants to be removed from the Least Developed Countries list
- B. Xayaburi dam will benefit the local communities
- C. Fish populations are changing and will change
- D. Laos is experiencing foreign investment in exploiting its natural resources from
neighboring countries
Figure 63: Lao National-scale Cross-sector Theme Recurrence Diagram
The four themes listed A-D are the themes taken from the interview data of Lao national-scale
respondents that are both significant in frequency within the sample and overlap more than one
sector.
Theme A, Laos wants to be removed from the Least Developed Countries list, occurs in the
responses 70% of the time and overlaps between the sectors of politics, economics, and socio-
culture in interview context. The theme is important to the psychology of the Lao people and the
Lao government. Laos was added to the list at the inception of this categorization and
comparison list in 1971. Laos is surrounded by countries which have had successful economic
development recent years. The country hopes to be able to exploit the natural resources to
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develop economically. Though there is some speculation in the national-scale interviews about
corruption, transparency, and top-down authoritarian rule, the general feeling is also expressed
that the revenue generated by the dam will be reinvested in the country’s infrastructure. Though,
the interviewees state more than once that setting up a visible mechanism, like a publicly
available budget, would be a preferable approach to the reallocation moneys.
Theme B, Xayaburi dam will benefit the local scale communities, occurs in the responses 85% of
the time and overlaps between the sectors of economics, politics, and socio-culture in the
interview context. It must be noted that some interviewees, a minority, believe that the dam will
absolutely devastate the local population because over time the fish populations will drop, the
water flow will change, the sediment will not replenish the riverbed gardens. Although there is
speculation about the livelihoods of people totally relocated from the river because of the dam,
the general feeling is that development associated with the dam will benefit local communities
and the Sayabouli Province because of infrastructure and services.
The dam has brought roads, is part of the reason there is a new bridge going in across the
Mekong to connect Sayabouli City with Luan Prabang, and has brought jobs to the local
communities already. Local people state in their interviews that the Mekong River system is
already changing and people are eager to take the jobs at the dam site. The sustainability of this
type of employment is very low, considering large construction projects in any sector require a
large workforce for a short amount of time and then only a small maintenance crew thereafter.
The Project has brought a school to the relocated community and the roads allow locals to access
markets and the hospital in Sayabouli City. There are plans to supply villages with electricity,
which they currently are not hooked up to, though the idea of benefits sharing and subsidized
electricity is not in the Xayaburi Project plans.
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Theme C, Fish populations are changing and will change, occurs in the responses 90% of the
time and overlaps between the sectors of environment, socio-culture, and economics.
Interviewees note a change in the river levels, the seasonal weather patterns, and in the fish
populations. Respondents feel that not enough studies have been done on the fish in this
particular stretch of the river. The MRC has fish monitoring set up at the mouth of the Tonle Sap
in Cambodia and somewhere in the Khon Falls in the south of Laos. The Mekong River is one of
the most fish diverse rivers in the world and is home to thousands of species of fish.
Experts in my respondent community who work with local communities around Laos know that
the numbers of fish have dropped and some people are no longer fishing because of this. The
price of fish has increased accordingly. The price of a wild caught Mekong River fish is an order
of magnitude higher than the price of a farmed fish. The compounded impact of the dam
blocking fish passage means that subsistence communities that rely on the fish for their protein
source, are going to face big dietary and lifestyle changes, as well as impacts on livelihoods. The
Laos government intends to set up aquaculture, and one official told me that 9 out of 10 fish in
China are from fish farms, so this is what they intend to do in Laos. The type of fish that will be
farmed is still unclear.
5.5.2. LOCAL
Ethiopia
The Ethiopian local-level data shows 69% hope themes vs. 31% fear themes. Though more
hopes are expressed in the interview responses, a number of fears about uncertainty in the future
are also raised. Looking deeper into the most common themes stated by local-level respondents,
themes include key elements of current river-based livelihoods and ideas about future water and
related resources use. Below are five diagrammed themes that overlap differently with different
combinations of human security sectors. Themes are related to current river use. There are
20,000 people who will be relocated to the edges of the reservoir because of the Renaissance
Dam. Many of these people are currently living subsistence lifestyle on the riverbanks and have
213
traditional ecological knowledge of how to use the cyclical season system of water flow and
resource presence. There is a relocation plan in place from the EEPCO project, but it is not clear
how the current TEK will translate to relocated communities.
214
- A. We mine gold in the riverbed
- B. We farm in the riverbed (flood recession agriculture)
- C. We fish in the river
- D. The river is our only food source
- E. Village activity changes with seasonal monsoon cycles
Environme
nt
Economi
cs
Socio-
culture
Environment
Economics
Socio-
culture
Environment
Economic
Socio-
culture
Environmen
t
Econo
mics
Politics
Socio-
culture
Economics
Environment Socio-culture
A
B
C
D
E
215
Figure 64: Ethiopia Local Scale Respondents' Theme Recurrence
Theme A: We mine gold in the riverbed occurs in 97% of the responses and overlaps three of the
four sectors: environment, economic, and socio-culture. Artisanal mining takes place seasonally
when the riverbed sediment is exposed. Locals dig holes in the sediment and sift the gold out in
the river water. This is a process done with gravity and the gold is isolated and then fixed with
saliva. Locals interviewed stated that the places for mining gold changes every year and the
deeper into the riverbed you can get, the further the sediment is exposed during dry season, the
better finds you can have. The gold is the sole source of cash economy the Gumuz people can
acquire in order to use for children’s school fees, or trade for other goods such as salt, clothes,
plastic tubs, or other materials from the markets in Bahir Dar or Assossa. Respondents stated that
this resource is shared even with other Gumuz people who come from far away to mine in the
river. They state that anyone can make money by coming to mine the gold and only have to go to
the river to learn by following others. Whole families and large groups from the village go
together to pan for gold. Some respondents indicated that it is too dangerous for children and
every year people drown in the effort. One village uses the practice of tying a stone around their
torso to sink to the riverbottom and mine the richer sediment this way. A man with visible wealth
in the form of motorcycle and several wives mines year round. Most locals reported mining only
during the dry season. Once the dam is completed, mining for gold will no longer be possible
upstream or in the tributaries because of the large reservoir.
Theme B: We farm in the riverbed occurs in 88% of the responses and overlaps in three of the
four sectors: environment, economic, and socio-culture. Repsondents state that the rich soils in
the riverbed and along the flood zone are good for growing vegetables, tobacco, ground nuts,
tubers, and spices. Locals are practicing flood recession agriculture in the dry season and rainfed
agriculture away from the river in the wet season. There are also fruit trees to include lemon and
lime as well as mango along the riverbanks. Most people farm for consumption, subsistence,
though some people sell excess food in the local markets, a very small amount from my
216
observations. Few respondents indicated that they would be able to survive on rainfed agricultre
once it is no longer possible to growin the riverbank. This type of agriculture will change with
the commissioning of Renaissance dam and filling the reservoir. The reservoir area will be very
large and flood pulses will diminish.
Theme C: We fish in the river occurs in 65% of responses and overlaps in three of the four
sectors: environment, economic, and socio-culture. Respondents state that fish is a staple in their
diet and is the main source of protein, though locals also keep cows and goats to butcher
seasonally. Many respondents state that they eat fish every day. Fishing is done primarily by men
with a line and hook, some pepole use boats. Women also fish in the shallows with their clothes
during the dry season. Many respondents indicated that fishing is only seasonally, some
respondents fish year round and find different types of fish dependent on the season. It is not
clear what will happen with fish in the reservoir. The project states that they will provide locals
with boats so that they can fish in the reservoir and there are vague plans to stock the reservoir.
Ethiopian officials indicate that fishing has bene sucessful at the Tekeze dam with local people
who had not fished before. What types of fish will be stocked and what species will remain or be
lost is not clear. Although an environmental impact assessment was conducted and drafted for
the project, there is no mention of aquatic species and the literature is scant on this topic for this
reach in the Blue Nile River.
Theme D: The river is our only food source ocurs in 85% of the responses and overlaps all four
sectors. The environmental, economic, and socio-culture elements of food from the river have
been mentioned in the above agriculture and fish themes. The political aspect of this theme is
that there is no infrastructure for alternate ways to get food in this local community. The area is
very remote and there are no facilities outside of the dam. Trade comes over the border with
Sudan or from Assossa or Bahir Dar, many hours away by car. There are not many opportunities
to make a living in order to buy food if it was available in markets. There are a few markets in
this area established by women who came from other parts of Ethiopia, but the food supplies are
217
very sparse. The local respondents have traditional ecological knowledge of what resources to
use and how to cultivate specifically in this riverine environment. It is not clear how this
knowledge will translate once the communities are relocated.
Theme E: Village activity changes with seasonal monsoon cycles occurs in 62% of the responses
and overlaps all four sectors. The socio-cultural context of this theme is rich as the river cycles
dictate village life from when to plant and harvest, to when to pan for gold, to when to graze
animals, to when local people have access to trade across the river. It is not clear what the
connectivity between riverine communities on the north and south banks of the river will have as
far as access and communication in the future. There is a new bridge built downstream of the
dam, but for communities further upstream, currently a boat used during dry season allows
connection. That the river is currently wild is cause for flood and drought conditions, the dry
season reportedly causes food insecurity for months of the year in the local communities.
Laos
There are approximately 2400 people that have been and will be relocated due to the Xayaburi
dam project. Only one village out of 17 needed complete relocation and was established 30 km
from the Mekong, causing local people to lose river access. The residents of this new village are
prevented from returning to their traditional fishing and farming areas because of the project.
The other villages will experience partial relocation. This is that some of the village will be
flooded from the resulting reservoir behind the 30 meter high dam. These houses will be
relocated upland to areas that are already being used for farming by some of the local
community. One respondent told me that this has happened before because the Lao government
gathers sparsely populated communities together. She had more land when she was younger to
plant banana and other cash crops right in the village. Over time, with forced relocation, her land
was taken for new houses.
218
- A. We farm in the riverbed
- B. We fish in the river
- C. There are less fish in the river
- D. Water levels and seasons have changed
Figure 65: Laos Local Scale Respondent's Recurrence Themes
Theme A: We farm in the riverbed occurs in 81% of the responses and overlaps three of the
sectors: environment, economic, and socio-cultural. Flood recession agriculture is the primary
source of agriculture in the riparian villages. During the wet season, the community plants
different crops up the mountain. The river sediment is fertile for planting and the soil saturation
allows for low level of irrigation. The sandy soils in the riverbed allow for root vegetables to
grow larger than the denser clay soils in the hillside and mountains.The respondents state in the
interviews that the food that is grown in the river is consumed, subsistence farming, or is sold in
219
the market, small-scale farming. The types of crops grown are used in traditional dishes. Crops
include vegetables, herbs, and ground nuts, as well as sweet potatoes. Other things are grown
along the river to include fruit trees and teak trees for wood harvesting. Flood recession
agriculture will not be possible once the Xayaburi dam is completed and people will lose the land
they currently cultivate along the riverbanks. Land will be designated upland, in the hills and
mountains, but this land will also be used for relocated houses. Some of the land in the hills and
mountains that is currently being used to cultivate banana or fish ponds will be lost due to the
relocation needs. Compensation for this type of land was not clearly understood by respondents.
Theme B: We fish in the river occurs in 71% of responses and overlaps three of the four sectors:
environment, economic, and socio-cultural. Fish are a staple protein in the local community diet.
Respondents stated in interviews that they eat fish almost everyday and can fish in the river for
different fish during both dry and rainy seasons. Fishing is done with a hook and line, nets, by
boat, and in the shallows with traps. Most fishing activity is done by men, but women fish in the
shallows. Though, as stated earlier, the development of the bridge across the Mekong, near to the
dam site, has displaced the local fishing area for women, as reported by a respondent. The
project hopes to promote fish farms with locals through training and selling supplies. There is a
program already in place where a company sells supplies at no interest to locals and as the locals
make money from fishing, they can pay the company back for the supplies. Most people fish to
eat, subsistence fishing. Some people sell excess fish in the market or to outsiders who come to
purchase fish. Fishing will change with the commission of Xayaburi, but it is currently unclear
how this will change, what species will still be available, and if fish farming and reservoir
stocking will provide more fish, and what type of fish those will be.
Theme C: There are less fish in the river occurs 71% of the interviews and overlaps all four
sectors. Locals reported less fish numbers, less diverse populations of fish, and smaller fish.
Speculation in the responses about why there are less fish ranges from global climate change, to
localized land-use changes, to overfishing, to Chinese dams. Actual information about the fish
220
populations in this reach of the Mekong is not extensive. The pressures from climate change are
not well understood, but locals report changes to weather patterns, water level flows, and
predictable seasonal cycles. The changes due to localized land-use changes are reported
upstream of the villages and they are due to cutting trees and new commercial farming. This
land-use change is supported in various papers regarding modernization and development efforts
in China’s Yunnan Province. There are changes due to new dams commissioned on the Upper
Mekong, Lancang in China, population shifts, and rubber plantations and palm plantations. This
has also added to increased sedimentation in the Mekong River. I observed intense timber
harvesting upstream of the dam site, and plans for a cascade of dams being constructed by Sino-
hydro on upper tributaries. Daming also blocks fish passage to tributaries that may be used for
spawning. Overfishing the Mekong was a theme frequenly brought up in the interviews. There is
no permitting process in Laos for fishing and due to increased access to the Mekong along new
roads, people from outside the villages are coming to fish for profit. The new fishermen are using
newer gear, not traditional gear, and are fishing with electricity and dynamite, which is illegal.
Mekong fish are valuable in the Market, some 80 times more than a farmed fish (it is delicious).
Theme D: Water levels and seasons have changed is stated in 68% of the interviews and
overlaps all four sectors. Water level changes are also speculated about in responses and the
reasons are very similar to those stated above for the change in the fish catch: global climate
change, land-use changes, and Chinese dams. Global climate change is driving weather pattern
change, local climate change due to deforestation and land-use changes is chnaging the physical
nature of the river as well as the runoff rates, penetration rates, and flow, and Chinese dams, the
5 large storage dams commissioned upriver, are contributing to a change in flow. Once the dam
is in place, the water levels will even out and the signature of fluctuation will be diminished.
5.6. HUMAN SECURITY KEY
The following model was designed based on a dichotomous key from botany or geology
identification decision trees. In botany or geology, a decision tree or dichotomous key, is used to
221
identify a given sample. By going through a series of questions about the sample’s characteristics
– for instance number of leaves on a branch or color of rock, a researcher is able to find the exact
match for what they have in front of them. I have adopted this concept and combined it with the
parameters from existing security indices that measure the four general sectors of human
security. The table below specifies which indices are consulted and which parameters are
integrated.
Table 33: Security Indices Consulted for Human Security Key Development
Security Type
Source
Political
The Economist’s Political Instability Index
Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index
Environmental
Yale's Environmental Performance Index
Economic
Rockerfeller Foundation Economic Security Index
DuPont’s Global Food Security Index
Socio-cultural
Freedom House's Freedom Index
The key design works by a cascading design of questions, an example is given in Figure 13 in
Chapter 4. The answers to each question may either lead to an additional question or may
terminate the line of inquiry with an assessment of very secure, secure, slightly insecure, and
insecure. The colors are coded respectively green, yellow, orange, and red. The information used
to answer each question is taken from the national and local scale interview data in both case
studies. The end result is a color and related numeric score that represents a level of security or
insecurity. In some cases, no color is assigned because there is not enough data from the
interviews sufficient to answer the question or because the numeric score falls between two
colors. This latter case is demonstrated in the result tables. The overall score for the sub-question
is given within each sector.
Figure 66: Human Security Key Scoring Colors and Numbers
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
222
The four sectors, politics, environment, economics, and socio-culture, are scored separately. I
have not weighted the different sectors for this study to test my third hypothesis: does human
security stabilization from dam development depend upon the sector considered? I score using
median and mode as is appropriate for this type of ordinal dataset (Wikipedia 2014).
There are three scenarios at two scales derived by using this method:
1. national/local level, present time, national/local perspective;
2. national/local level, future time, national/local perspective;
3. national/local level, future time, official perspective.
The reason that these scenarios are useful is that they:
- highlight differences that occur within one sector dependent on the perspective of the
national/local vs. the official
- highlight differences that occur within one sector dependent on the time scale
- highlight perceived or expected difference the dam will make in depending on scale of
interview data used.
Discussion in the next chapter will compare sectors across scale, across case study, and consider
how these sets of results vary against what my empirical observations combined with the
literature suggest about possible or likely outcomes.
The rules for how decisions about the security score are made in the decision tree are subjective.
If through the interviews, respondents tell me that they have access to the water and drink it, but
they also show me the water source and tell me that their children are sick with stomach
problems, I score the access as secure, but the quality as insecure. Other researchers can score
the decision tree as it is appropriate for their study site. The questions are general, but the
answers are site specific and contextual. The overall model is given in the figure below. The
subsequent decision trees are in the four subsequent figures. I use the same model for each
community and case study.
223
There are strengths and weaknesses in relying on this model to understand the human security
stability of the river system and related communities. The model allows for comparison across
scale, sector, and time at a glance. The model also mirrors the ranking categories of the
international HDI and HSI models, so comparisons can be made against those macro and
quantitatively based assessments. Although the data input for the model is derived from field
observations and interview responses, the model removes much of the nuance and context from
the case studies. The model also does not weight any one area over another in how I have used it
here. This lack of weighting is unrealistic given that every community values different sectors
differently. The scoring is subjective and as such may differ by researcher.
Figure 67: Human Security Key Model Breakout
224
Political
Median
Mode
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of speech
Alliances
Higher education
Vote
Honored
Historic
conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in decision-
making
Figure 68: Decision tree for Political
Environment
Median
Mode
Water
Land
Global Climate
Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Figure 69: Decision tree for Environment
Economic
Median
Mode
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastrucutre
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Training
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
Figure 70: Decision tree for Economic
225
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional Knowledge
Exposure to life-
threatening disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to clinics
Many
children
Connection to
place
Formally
recognized
Upheld in community
Access to nutrition
Leave area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable health care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
Figure 71: Decision tree for Socio-cultural
5.6.1. INTERNATIONAL SCALE
The human security key was not used to assess the international scale because of the lack of data
collection done for this study. Official interviews were collected at national and local scales only.
5.6.2. NATIONAL SCALE
Ethiopia
The general totals for the three Human Security Key scenarios are given in Table 34. Using this
table, it is easier to compare the harmony and dissonance of the results according to present and
future and between national respondents and official information. In general the National
Perception of the future is harmonized between the national and the official perceptions about the
future in the Environment, Economic, and Socio-culture Sectors. This indicates a strong
connection and communication between the vision of the Ethiopian government and the
Ethiopian National-scale people.
The Economic scores are the highest across the table. The Environment scores are the lowest
across the table. The Political score is secure to very secure across the table, as this relates to
diversity, culture, and education. The Environment slightly insecure score for present time but
both Ethiopian nationals and officials both indicate an improvement to secure in the future
scenarios. The Economic slightly insecure score coupled with a secure score is attributed to
Ethiopia’s development status in transition. Both the nationals and the officials are harmonized
226
on their perception of the very secure economic future of Ethiopia, spurned by projects like the
Renaissance Dam. The Socio-culture score is secure in all time and from both perspectives
despite the problems with the health and population sectors.
There is disparity between Ethiopia’s current or present economic situation and the future
economic hopes of the National and Official perception. The political sector is the only example
of a split and difference between how the National Scale perceives the Political sector and how
the Officials view the Political sector. This is understandable given the authoritarian nature of the
Ethiopian state, though the difference with Ethiopian government is that there is representation
present from the various states. The States, as mentioned previously in the Case Study Chapter 3,
are based on ethnicity.
No sector at the National Scale in Ethiopia scores completely insecure, though there are aspects
of every sector in the National Present. Political scores are relatively high despite the lack of
freedoms for civil society. Environmental resources access and availability is problematic
throughout Ethiopia, especially in the water sector, as well as natural disaster and
geographic/climate related disasters that impact food security. For the majority of Ethiopians,
economic issues and major problems related to development persist, but some improvements are
being made in education, infrastructure, and attracting investment from China and Saudi Arabia.
There is still a high prevalence of disease in Ethiopia and poor medical availability. There is also
a high number of children and emigration due to the lack of job opportunities.
227
Table 34: Ethiopia National Scale Median and Mode Human Security Key Scores
Ethiopia
National
Present
Ethiopia
National
Present
Ethiopia
National
Future
Ethiopia
National
Future
Ethiopian
National
Official
Future
Ethiopian
National
Official
Future
Politics
3
3
3
4
4
4
Environment
2
2
3
3
3
3
Economic
3
2
4
4
4
4
Socio-culture
3
3
3
3
3
3
Median
Mode
Median
Mode
Median
Mode
Country
Ethiopia
Geographic Scale
National
Perspective
National
Time-scale
Present
Table 35: Ethiopia National Present: Political
Political
Median
Mode
3
3
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government
Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of
speech
Alliances
Higher education
Vote
Honored
Historic conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-
making
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
228
Table 36: Ethiopia National Present: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
2
2
Water
Land
Global Climate Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Table 37: Ethiopia National Present: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
3
2
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Training
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
Table 38: Ethiopia National Present: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
3
3
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional
Knowledge
Exposure to life-
threatening
disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to clinics
Many children
Connection to
place
Formally recognized
Upheld in
community
Access to nutrition
Leave area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable health
care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
229
Country
Ethiopia
Geographic Scale
National
Perspective
National
Time-scale
Future
Table 39: Ethiopia National Future: Political
Political
Median
Mode
3
4
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government
Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of
speech
Alliances
Higher education
Vote
Honored
Historic conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-
making
Table 40: Ethiopia National Future: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
3
3
Water
Land
Global Climate
Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
230
Table 41: Ethiopia National Future: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
4
4
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Training
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
Table 42: Ethiopia National Future: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
3
3
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional Knowledge
Exposure to life-
threatening
disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to clinics
Many children
Connection to
place
Formally
recognized
Upheld in community
Access to nutrition
Leave area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable health
care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
Country
Ethiopia
Geographic Scale
National
Perspective
Official
Time-scale
Future
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
231
Table 43: Ethiopia Official Future: Politics
Political
Median
Mode
4
4
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of speech
Alliances
Higher education
Vote
Honored
Historic
conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-
making
Table 44: Ethiopia Official Future: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
3
3
Water
Land
Global Climate Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Table 45: Ethiopia Official Future: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
4
4
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Training
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
232
Table 46: Ethiopia Official Future: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
3
3
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional
Knowledge
Exposure to life-
threatening disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to clinics
Many children
Connection to
place
Formally recognized
Upheld in
community
Access to nutrition
Leave area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable health
care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
Laos
The general totals for the three Human Security Key scenarios are summarized in Table 47.
Using this table, it is easier to compare the harmony and dissonance of the results according to
present and future and between national respondents and official information. There is a
dissonance between the national and the official perception most strongly represented in the
Political Sector, and dissonance in the Environmental sector. There is a disparity between Laos
national respondents’ perception of current economic situation and the future economic hopes,
which reflect the official information on plans for economic development The Socio-cultural
scores are relatively harmonized between both perspectives.
The Economic scores are highest across the table. The Lao nationals and officials are optimistic
about improvements in market access, increased employment, access to more resources, and
improvements in infrastructure. The Politics scores are the lowest across the table. Laos
respondents feel that there is little to no transparency in the Lao government decisions, no
participation from civil society, no voice and no mechanism to have a voice for the Lao people,
and corruption in the government processes
233
The Environment scores between secure and slightly insecure for the national perception, as
many people stated that they are seeing the signs of global climate change and worry about the
Lao government policy to develop by selling natural resources rights to neighboring countries.
The official perception of the Environment is very secure. The Socio-culture scores are generally
secure to very secure partially in the official perception. In general, the national respondents
score their present sectors as secure to slightly insecure and see an improvement only in the
economic future. The official perception scores all but the socio-culture as very secure for the
future. There is a distinct dissonance between the national respondents and the Lao government
and this may have to do with communication or general disagreement.
Table 47: Laos National Scale Median and Mode Human Security Key Scores
Laos
National
Present
Laos
National
Present
Laos
National
Future
Laos
National
Future
Laos
National
Official
Future
Laos
National
Official
Future
Politics
2
2
2
1
4
4
Environment
3
2
3
2, 3
4
4
Economic
3
3
4
4
4
4
Socio-culture
3
3
3
3
3
4
Median
Mode
Median
Mode
Median
Mode
Country
Laos
Geographic Scale
National
Perspective
National
Time-scale
Present
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
234
Table 48: Laos National Present: Politics
Political
Median
Mode
2
2
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of speech
Alliances
Higher education
Vote
Honored
Historic
conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-making
Table 49: Laos National Present: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
3
2
Water
Land
Global Climate Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Table 50: Laos National Present: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
3
3
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Training
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
235
Table 51: Laos National Present: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
3
3
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional
Knowledge
Exposure to life-
threatening
disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to clinics
Many
children
Connection to
place
Formally recognized
Upheld in
community
Access to nutrition
Leave area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable health
care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
Country
Laos
Geographic Scale
National
Perspective
National
Time-scale
Future
Table 52: Laos National Future: Politics
Political
Median
Mode
2
1
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of
speech
Alliances
Higher education
Vote
Honored
Historic conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-
making
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
236
Table 53: Laos National Scale Future: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
3
2, 3
Water
Land
Global Climate
Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Table 54: Laos National Future: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
4
4
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Training
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
Table 55: Laos National Scale Future: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
3
3
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional
Knowledge
Exposure to
life-
threatening
disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to
clinics
Many children
Connection to
place
Formally recognized
Upheld in
community
Access to
nutrition
Leave area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable
health care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
237
Country
Laos
Geographic Scale
National
Perspective
Official
Time-scale
Future
Table 56: Laos Official Future: Politics
Political
Median
Mode
4
4
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government
Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of
speech
Alliances
Higher education
Vote
Honored
Historic conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-
making
Table 57: Laos Official Future: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
4
4
Water
Land
Global Climate Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
238
Table 58: Laos Official Future: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
4
4
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Training
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
Table 59: Laos Official Future: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
3
4
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional
Knowledge
Exposure to
life-threatening
disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to
clinics
Many children
Connection to
place
Formally recognized
Upheld in
community
Access to
nutrition
Leave area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable
health care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
5.6.3. LOCAL SCALE
Ethiopia
The general totals for the three Human Security Key scenarios are given in Table 60. Using this
table, it is easier to compare the harmony and dissonance of the results according to present and
future and between local respondents and official information. In general perception of the future
is harmonious between the local and the official perceptions in the Environment Sector, mostly
harmonious in the Politics Sector, and slightly harmonious Economic and Socio-culture Sectors.
There local perception changes markedly between the present and future time. This indicates a
strong hope of local respondents regarding their futures because of the Renaissance Dam and
related development.
239
Environment scores highest across the table. Both the local respondents and the officials see the
environmental resources as sustainable and not exhibiting problems with global climate change
or loss in diversity of species. Economics scores lowest across the table. Politics score slightly
insecure in the present and improve towards secure and very secure the future. Socio-culture
scores very secure in the presence and drops toward secure in the official perception of the
future. The local perception has a strong sense of culture and community, but the official plans
are to help the Gumuz people develop their culture and adapt new livelihoods.
The strong characteristics of these sectors are to do with the current state of the environment –
water and land – and the current state of the community – occupation, identity and traditional
knowledge. The environmental sector strengths reflect the access local people have to the river
itself for water, as well as the rainy season tributaries, and fertile riverbanks for planting. The
socio-cultural sector strengths reflect the economic activities local people are engaged in that are
passed down from generation to generation in the form of occupation, as well as the sense of
identity rooted in a community fostered occupation and use of the river resources, and the
traditional knowledge about how to use the river and the surrounding natural resources and adapt
to the season shifts dictated by the monsoon season.
The weak characteristics of the political and economic sectors include the current economic state
- energy and employment – and the current state of the political system – transparency,
education, and diplomacy. The economic sector weakness reflects the absence of electricity in
the local communities, and absence of access to electricity – the project was the first time that
many residents report ever seeing electric lights – as well as employment opportunities, trading
of time for money, in a formal or informal fashion. The political sector weakness reflects the lack
of transparency happening from federal decisions, such as dam development, as there are no
newspapers, few radios, and no televisions to communicate information. The local people
receive information from village meetings, and are only given as much information as the village
elders and leaders are given directly from the project’s social relocation unit. The other
240
weaknesses are education, as there is only one school that offers Grades 1-4 for much of the local
community, and diplomacy because even though there appear to not be current conflicts, there
have been historic conflicts in this region with the Gumuz People and other Ethiopians, and there
does not appear to be official agreements between the Gumuz People as an organized nation or
body and the regional government in Guba or state government in Benishangul-Gumuz.
Table 60: Ethiopia Local Scale Median and Mode Human Security Key Scores
Ethiopia
Local
Present
Ethiopia
Local
Present
Ethiopia
Local
Future
Ethiopia
Local
Future
Ethiopian
Local Official
Future
Ethiopian
Local Official
Future
Politics
2
2
3
4
4
4
Environment
3
4
4
4
4
4
Economic
2
2
3
3
4
4
Socio-culture
4
4
4
4
3
3
Median
Mode
Median
Mode
Median
Mode
Country
Ethiopia
Geographic Scale
Local
Perspective
Local
Time-scale
Present
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
241
Table 61: Ethiopia Local Present: Politics
Political
Median
Mode
2
2
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of speech
Alliances
Higher education
Vote
Honored
Historic conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-
making
Table 62: Ethiopia Local Present: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
3
4
Water
Land
Global Climate Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Table 63: Ethiopia Local Present: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
2
2
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Training
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
242
Table 64: Ethiopia Local Present: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
4
4
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional Knowledge
Exposure to life-
threatening disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to clinics
Many
children
Connection to
place
Formally
recognized
Upheld in community
Access to nutrition
Leave
area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable health
care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
Country
Ethiopia
Geographic Scale
Local
Perspective
Local
Time-scale
Future
Table 65: Ethiopia Local Future: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
4
4
Water
Land
Global Climate Change
Natural
Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
243
Table 66: Ethiopia Local Future: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
3
3
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Training
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
Table 67: Ethiopia Local Future: Politics
Political
Median
Mode
3
4
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of
speech
Alliances
Higher education
Vote
Honored
Historic conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-
making
Table 68: Ethiopia Local Future: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
4
4
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional
Knowledge
Exposure to life-
threatening
disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to clinics
Many children
Connection to
place
Formally recognized
Upheld in
community
Access to
nutrition
Leave area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable
health care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
244
Country
Ethiopia
Geographic Scale
Local
Perspective
Official
Time-scale
Future
Table 69: Ethiopia Official Future: Politics
Political
Median
Mode
4
4
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of speech
Alliances
Higher
education
Vote
Honored
Historic conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-making
Table 70: Ethiopia Official Future: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
4
4
Water
Land
Global Climate Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
245
Table 71: Ethiopia Official Future: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
4
4
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Training
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
Table 72: Ethiopia Official Future: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
3
3
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional
Knowledge
Exposure to
life-
threatening
disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to
clinics
Many children
Connection to
place
Formally recognized
Upheld in
community
Access to
nutrition
Leave area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable
health care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
Laos
The general totals for the three Human Security Key scenarios are given in Table 73. Using this
table, it is easier to compare the harmony and dissonance of the results according to present and
future and between local respondents and official information. In general the local perception of
the future is dissonant with the official perceptions about the future in the Politics, Environment,
and Socio-culture sectors. This indicates a weak connection and communication between the
vision of the Lao government and the local Laotian people.
246
The Economic scores are harmonious across the table and between the local and official
perceptions. The Environment scores are lowest across the table. The official scores for the local
future are all optimistic and very secure. The local scores about the present are a range of strong
socio-cultural sense scoring secure to very secure. The political and environmental present state
are slightly insecure for present and some optimism for a secure political future.
The Laos local perception about the present and the future regarding politics is influenced by the
general lack of transparency and participation in Lao government decisions. Respondents are
very concerned with the environmental changes related to global climate change that they see in
the water flow, fish populations, and loss in the amount of gold that they are able to pan from the
riverbanks. Narratives include vulnerability to natural disasters because of flooding and
landslides in the villages causing loss of life and homes. Although there is exposure to life
threatening diseases and many of the young people leave the area, future access to clinics
because of new roads and relocation gives hope for the local population in the socio-culture
sector.
Table 73: Laos Local Scale Median and Mode Human Security Key Scores
Laos
Local
Present
Laos
Local
Present
Laos
Local
Future
Laos
Local
Future
Laos
Local
Official
Future
Laos
Local
Official
Future
Politics
2
2
2, 3
3
4
4
Environment
2
2
2
2
4
4
Economic
3
3
4
4
4
4
Socio-culture
3
4
3
3
4
4
Median
Mode
Median
Mode
Median
Mode
Country
Laos
Geographic Scale
Local
Perspective
Local
Time-scale
Present
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
247
Table 74: Laos Local Present: Politics
Political
Median
Mode
2
2
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of speech
Alliances
Higher
education
Vote
Honored
Historic
conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-making
Table 75: Laos Local Present: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
2
2
Water
Land
Global Climate Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Table 76: Laos Local Present: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
3
3
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal &
Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Trained
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
248
Table 77: Laos Local Present: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
3
4
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional
Knowledge
Exposure to life-
threatening disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to clinics
Many
children
Connection to
place
Formally recognized
Upheld in
community
Access to nutrition
Leave area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable health
care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
Country
Laos
Geographic Scale
Local
Perspective
Local
Time-scale
Future
Table 78: Laos Local Future: Politics
Political
Median
Mode
2.50
3.00
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public participation
Diversity
Access to
Government Plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of
budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of speech
Alliances
Higher
education
Vote
Honored
Historic
conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-making
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
249
Table 79: Laos Local Future: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
2.00
2.00
Water
Land
Global Climate Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threatened
Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Table 80: Laos Local Future: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
4.00
4.00
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Trained
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
Table 81: Laos Local Future: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
3.00
3.00
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional
Knowledge
Exposure to life-
threatening
disease
Many old
Connection to
community
Identity
Access
Access to clinics
Many children
Connection to
place
Formally recognized
Upheld in
community
Access to
nutrition
Leave area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable
health care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
250
Country
Laos
Geographic Scale
Local
Perspective
Official
Time-scale
Future
Table 82: Laos Official Future: Politics
Political
Median
Mode
4.00
4.00
Transparency
Diplomacy
Education
Public
participation
Diversity
Access to Government
plans
Conflict
Access
Leadership access
Exists
Availability of budgets
Agreements
Secondary
Public forums
Recognized
Freedom of speech
Alliances
Higher education
Vote
Honored
Historic
conflict
Affordable
Representation
Equal rights
Included in
decision-making
Table 83: Laos Official Future: Environment
Environment
Median
Mode
3.50
3, 4
Water
Land
Global Climate Change
Natural Disaster
Biodiversity
Access
Access
Observed changes
Experience
Exists
Quality
Ownership
Vulnerability
Frequency
Endangered/Threa
tened Species
Quantity
Quality
Policy
Vulnerability
Policy
Enforcement
Very Secure: 4
Secure: 3
Sligthly Insecure: 2
Insecure: 1
251
Table 84: Laos Official Future: Economic
Economic
Median
Mode
4.00
4.00
Employment
Trade
Energy
Resources
Infrastructure
Available
Access
Accessible
Available
Exists
Formal & Informal
Needs and Wants
Affordable
Virtual & Actual
Safe
Trained
Formal & Informal
Reliable
Developed
Connectivity
Import
Export
State
Sustainable
Table 85: Laos Official Future: Socio-culture
Socio-cultural
Median
Mode
4.00
4.00
Health
Population
Identity
Occupation
Traditional Knowledge
Exposure to life-
threatening disease
Many old
Connection
to community
Identity
Access
Access to clinics
Many
children
Connection
to place
Formally recognized
Upheld in community
Access to nutrition
Leave
area
Sustainable
Way of life
Affordable health
care
Place-specific
Sustainable
Transferable
252
6. DISCUSSION
“I’ve known rivers
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers…” Langston Hughes 1920
6.1. INTRODUCTION
The following discussion captures the leading trends I found through analysis of the different
datasets at scale and pertaining to each sector. The initial question of whether dam development
is a mechanism for human security is answered through the case study examples.
6.1.1. SCALE
Through the collected datasets and especially by considering the voices of the people that live in
the case study sites compared with the numbers used to represent them generated at the national
levels and synthesized at the international scale, I found that the story of how human security is
understood and experienced is different according to scale.
6.1.2. SECTOR
The story is also different according to the sector that is highlighted. Dam development can be
good for national economics, which can be good for human security stability. Dam development
may also be good for local economics when measuring through a monetary and trade system.
Subsistence economies are effective for the communities that use them, but are not considered
secure in the dominant understanding of economics as measured by monetary exchange.
6.1.3. PERCEPTION
Certainly, how issues connected with the four sectors of human security are impacted by dam
development is based on the scale in question, how these sectors are defined and bound, and how
experience and expectation are measured. When you consider a river basin from the local
perspective, you actually experience the river itself, the water, the related ecosystems, the day to
253
day life of river dependent people who live outside of the globalized economic and cultural
systems, you see a world very different from the conference rooms and modern cityscapes where
decisions about dam development are made and discussed over maps and engineering designs,
and resettlement plans are discussed and designed to bring riverine subsistence communities
modern amenities to compensate for loss of resource access. These two juxtaposed scenarios are
again very divorced from the young Ethiopian social worker who has hope that the dam project
will alleviate poverty in her country and willingly donates one month of her salary to the effort
or the older Laotian business owner who fears that the Lao government is selling all the nation’s
natural resources to foreign companies. All three of these situations are talking about the same
river, the same dam.
6.1.4. DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS
In the previous chapter, the results reveal that human security issues at the local scale do not
even enter into discussions at the national or international scale. The local responses are the most
significant in this study. While international bodies are looking for sound investments and
worthy causes for donation, they have created an environment where national governments are
pitted against one another in a competitive ranking system. At the international scale of the river
basins in this study the highest concerns are with national-level diplomatic negotiations between
countries and shared power over the shared resources as revealed in the media and in
international institutional agendas.
The river is defined as a resource and a source of political and economic significance. This type
of consideration of place and time leaves out social richness of culture, traditional knowledge,
and community. Comparing Ethiopia and Laos to their basin neighbors shows economic
disparity, both countries are near or at the bottom of their HDI and HSI comparative ranking.
Dominant globalized culture, represented by the international scale, uses quantitative figures to
describe qualities of place and time, as is demonstrated in the HDI and HSI basin maps. The
numbers generated for the HDI, the internationally acceptable measurement of development,
254
imply that economics are the core measurement for development and security. Economics are
measured directly through the GDP or GINI, but economics are also measured indirectly through
considering national level numbers of mortality and education because this tells more about the
human resources available for economic development of a country than it does the health and
wellbeing of a country. The HSI adds some measurements of environmental vulnerability and
more on social systems, but these abstract qualities are measured with numbers related to
economics. Both measurement tools pin their rank tightly to economic performance of a nation.
This misses important security issues in political, environmental, and socio-culture systems. The
resulting change to stability in one of these other systems will inevitably adversely impact the
economic sector. Looking at one parameter of a nation through numeric measurement is then, too
simple for issues as complex as dam development and transboundary water resources.
National governments in the world’s poorest countries are strategizing how to remove negative
stereotypes and labels from the country psychosis by increasing the national economies, trusting
that increased economic development, especially visible economic development through the
construction of a large-scale dam, will improve quality of life in the country and that country’s
relative relationships with neighboring countries. Respondents compared their situation to mine
to demonstrate the difference of opportunities in a poor country compared with the opportunities
in rich countries like the United States of America. National citizens in both Ethiopia and Laos
view the river systems in question as an economic resource, but also as a national resource and
part of national identity. In both countries the rivers represent historic oppression and economic
limitations, especially when compared with neighboring country economies, opportunities, and
regional and global power positions.
However, at the local level in both countries, very different issues were presented. These issues
proved to be the most interest aspects of this study. The local communities in Ethiopia are
completely reliant on the river system. The communities have an oral tradition that allows
transference of the traditional ecological knowledge to the next generations. The importance of
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identity in the communities is linked with the river as the communities are located so remotely,
that this is the only key and reliable resource that the local people have for livelihoods. The
monsoon pulse of the river dictates how the villages function, what animals are present, when
farmers should plant, where to find fish, and if gold can be panned safely from the riverbanks.
Gold, it turns out, it a very important resource for the local Ethiopian communities. The resource
provides a durable trade item that allows for the only source of cash economy in the Gumuz
subsistence economic system.
In Laos, issues of global climate change, fish population changes, and water resource changes
came up at an alarming rate in the interviews. In Vientiane, discussion among the international
and national community is centered around how the Xayaburi Dam will change the Mekong
River system, or at least heralds major changes due to engineering projects planned in each
riparian country. However, the locals indicate that major changes to their subsistence lifestyles
are immediately present, even before the dam has been developed. The reasons for these changes
is still in the realm of speculation, but the fact that people are leaving off of a subsistence
livelihood, given the choice, because of these changes is significant.
Table 86: Breakout of community by scale and case study and related primary concern
Scale
Concern
International community
International level politics and national economics
National Ethiopia
National socio-cultural issues, regional politics, and national economics
National Laos
National environmental issues, regional politics, and national economics
Local Ethiopia
Local socio-cultural issues, environmental resources for subsistence,
economics
Local Laos
Local socio-cultural issues, environmental change, economics
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6.2. INTERNATIONAL SCALE
6.2.1. GLOBAL MAPS
The two maps given in the results section depict the Human Development Index (HDI) and
Human Security Index (HSI) expressed by basin country units (BCU) for the 276 basins in the
world (TFDD 2014). There are differences between the maps because of the different
measurement parameters used to create the rankings and the more information appears to result
in more nuanced expression on the map. The rankings are not a one for one comparison – the
numbers that describe the HDI are about 0.1 higher, in general, than the HSI number ranking. As
stated previously, the HSI is derived from the HDI, but additional information results in lower
rankings for most of the developed world, northern Asia, and South America.
The two global maps are used for comparison of human development and human security
parameters. This study examines the human security of basins and because human security
includes human development concerns, it is interesting to see how the two such defined indices
can be so different. Considering either the HDI or HSI of a basin can be the first indicator to
understand how change to water resources may impact the different aspects of a watershed. If the
overall watershed in question ranks low in the HDI or HSI, a change in the water resources from
a large-scale dam may presumably result in impacts to that score either positive or negative.
Because there are only three aspects of the HDI and one of those aspects is GDP, a change in a
watershed like the development of a large-scale dam project may result in an indication that the
overall HDI of the basin increases. This will influence the score of the HSI as well, but HSI takes
into account many more parameters than the three basic composite parameters of the HDI, so the
change may not be as obvious. To better understand the differences between the rankings, we
can examine the HDI and HSI of the Nile and Mekong river basins.
6.2.2. TRANSBOUNDARY RIVER BASINS
The Nile and Mekong were chosen for this study as separate but comparable case studies. The
River Basin Registry numbers from the TFDD indicate the breakout of what the % and km
2
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comprise the basin by BCUs. The HDI and HSI maps show the disparity between the countries
based on the parameters previously mentioned. The combination of this information with the
development of the two large-scale dams tells a richer story about the present and potential
implications for human security.
The Nile
The Nile basin has an unequal distribution of water to the basin catchment area. More than half,
62%, of the Nile River basin is found in the country of Sudan (prior to the cessation of South
Sudan), but according to sources cited in the Case Studies Chapter 3, more than 85% of the water
in the Nile catchment area originates in Ethiopia. Given the disparity of water presence to basin
% in the BCU, the question arises about how a politically defined basin unit can be understood as
far as development impacts on human security in the entire basin?
If Ethiopia is host to most of the water, but only 12% of the catchment area, how much does
development in Ethiopia impact the Nile River as compared to development in the country of
Sudan where 62% of the catchment is located? Sudan has more area to develop and the
government has plans to expand the current agricultural schemes of irrigated area, though
information about how much and where is not transparent. The development of the Renaissance
Dam will allow for expansion of the irrigation networks downstream in Sudan because of the
change and control of the water flow in the Nile between the wet and dry seasons. Currently,
Sudan has to contend with flooding and problems with sediment not only behind dams but in the
irrigation networks as well. Reduction in sediment flow will also help Sudan focus its financial
assets on network expansion instead of network maintenance. As mentioned in the Case Study
chapter, Sudan is very dependent on Nile River waters for agricultural production and
hydropower generation. Roseires alone accounts for more than 75% of domestic energy
production.
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Ethiopia wants to use the water of the Nile River today for hydroelectric power generation with
the Renaissance Dam as it does not have the capacity or infrastructure to yet intensify
agricultural irrigation. Although 12% of the Nile basin is found in Ethiopia, the Nile basin
accounts for about 50% of all Ethiopia’s surface water. Ethiopia is water poor in many parts of
the country and sees frequent drought and food insecurity. The food insecurity results in food aid
given to millions of people from foreign donors. It is logical that as the country develops,
Ethiopia will seek develop these water resources. Also, as previous chapters mention, land
concessions and land leases in Ethiopia include water intensive crops on commercial farms in the
Nile River basin. This will also change the water budget use in Ethiopia.
The Nile HDI and HSI maps are an interesting comparison. The Nile HDI map has distinct
changes generally from developed to less developed as one looks from the upstream BCUs to
downstream BCUs, with the exception of Kenya. Ethiopia scores the lowest in the HDI and also
is the only country not formerly colonized. The composite rank for the Nile basin is
Comparatively, the HSI instead has no general pattern of ranking in the basin. Egypt is the most
secure (which may have changed markedly since the revolution as mentioned previously)
followed by Tanzania. Kenya, Uganda, Eritrea, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Burundi, and Sudan are all
relatively ranked similarly within the lower levels of security. Ethiopia scores higher in this
ranking than Burundi, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Mekong
The Mekong River basin has an unequal distribution of BCU composition in the basin
catchment. As Laos, Thailand, and China make up about equal area and the majority of the basin
area, the water distribution is not well understood, but mostly originates in these countries.
Cambodia, downstream, only constitutes some 20% of the basin, and the water in Cambodia is
generated not only from the upstream flow, but from tributaries located in Cambodia. Cambodia
and Vietnam make less than 25% of the basin combined, but populations depend highly on the
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Mekong River waters. Cambodia depends on the sizable inland fishery and protein source from
this found in the Tonle Sap system. Vietnam hosts 20 million people dependent on the Mekong
Delta for their livelihoods. Vietnam and Cambodia have sizable political, environmental,
economic, and social systems dependent on the Mekong River and any change to the water
resources will impact the human security.
Both of these downstream countries are at the mercy of their upstream neighbors for resources
sharing. Vietnam has a markedly higher HDI and HSI score than Cambodia. Cambodia scores
lowest in both indices. The differences in the Mekong HDI and HSI are slight in comparison.
The rank order changes only the position of Laos with Myanmar. Vietnam’s margin of 0.111
above the next lower ranked country of Myanmar in the HDI is much larger than the margin of
0.024 higher than the next lower ranked country of Laos in the HSI.
China has taken advantage of sovereign area along the Mekong River to develop the water
resources for storage and hydroelectric power generation, as well as commercial agricultural
projects. Although this may not impact downstream countries of Cambodia and Vietnam
directly, the implications of the five commissioned and several more planned storage dams is
unclear.
Both indices are giving average scores of the countries as a whole and I am applying it to the
basin. This may not be accurate of the population living within the basin. While the breakout
using percentage of area covered is useful, I believe more information is needed to be able to
assess the human security implications of dam development on the national and local scales.
6.3. NATIONAL SCALE
The above information touches upon the National Scale aspects of Ethiopia and Laos. Although
the information given is an average of the country as a whole, it is applied to describe the BCU,
as mentioned above. While this is useful in understanding the comparison of status of human
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development or the potential human security instability between river basins, this may not be
useful in assessing the threat or benefit to human security stability at the national scale. One
reason is that the indices may not be an accurate assessment of the particular members of society
that will suffer or benefit from a dam development project. Another reason is that it may not
accurately represent the sector that will suffer or benefit from a dam development project.
6.3.1. ETHIOPIA
National level respondents tended to minimize the importance of the environmental system and
the local communities. Many people assured me that the Blue Nile River Valley, where the dam
development site is located, is a barren land. Others minimized the negative impact on local
communities stating that the traditional ethnic groups living there are sparsely settled and need
development assistance. Most respondents stated that both the environment and local level
residents would benefit from the dam. The establishment of a reservoir in a location with
monsoon pulses in the river would possibly create abundant habitat for animals and birds, and a
reliable source of water for local communities to fish and farm. Three respondents brought up
concern over a potential increase in water borne disease in an already malarial region. Another
stated concern over changes to potentially poorly understood migratory patterns of aquatic
species. And many other respondents brought up concerns over unsolved erosion problems
upstream.
Content Analysis
Politics
Ethiopia constitutes only 12% of the Nile basin and scores significantly lower than other basin
countries in both the HDI and HSI indices. If we consider the empirical data and content analysis
of the collected interviews at the national level we can confirm that Ethiopia is only recently
investing in domestic development projects to raise the national GDP and alleviate issues related
to poverty. However, we also find that Ethiopia, while ranked lowest in the Nile basin HDI, is
experiencing development in many sectors due to a strong consistent GDP for a number of years.
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The construction of new roads, transmission lines, dams, hospitals, schools, industry, and other
types of development may result in Ethiopia’s status to increase beyond neighboring countries
because the development is new compared with the aging colonial-based infrastructure in some
of the other Nile basin countries.
While the Nile waters account for approximately 50% of all Ethiopian surface water, the national
level interviews indicated that those resources are underused. Statements to include that the
Renaissance Dam will change the historic experience that the fertile soils of Ethiopia are being
washed downstream, that the existing Nile Treaty is not fair in allocation of water rights only to
Egypt and Sudan, and that Ethiopia has not had a chance to develop itself because of conflict and
poverty speak to the psychological importance of the Renaissance Dam to the Ethiopian people
at the National Scale. That Ethiopia is funding and constructing the dam is also of great
importance in the interviews. Ethiopia has been the target of the donor community since the
famines in 1974 and 1981. Before these famines, Ethiopia enjoyed a dignified position in the
world and particularly on the African continent during the waves of independence movements in
the 1960s. Ethiopians have a keen sense of national identity and would like to experience the
renaissance of the country. The Renaissance Dam has become an iconic symbol of this transition
for common Ethiopians. As in many conversations, Ethiopians assured me that the dam is
important to Ethiopians, regardless of political affiliation or ethnicity – it is a force bringing the
population together under one positive goal.
The state of Ethiopia’s development is confirmed by empirical observations around the country,
and particularly in the Nile basin areas. There is little to no development along the Nile for
agriculture or municipal use. Couple this information with the national statistics suggested above
and Ethiopia’s place on the Least Developed Countries list and it is apparent that Ethiopia will
develop the Nile water resources to benefit the country, through hydropower generation,
allocation to commercial farming, or otherwise.
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Political themes also include an awareness that the Renaissance Dam will result in changes to the
region. National level respondents also indicated that Ethiopia would not build the dam if it was
going to hurt their neighbors, close to half of respondents foresaw the issues now being played
out in the media with Egypt’s objections, and a few feared it would bring about serious conflict.
The majority of respondents believe that the Renaissance Dam’s potential 6,000MW generating
capacity will benefit not only Ethiopia, but the surrounding region. Many of these countries, as
demonstrated through the HDI and HSI are also in need of development and stabilizing forces in
human security. That an official at EEPCO stated that contracts have already been signed with
Sudan, Djibouti, and Kenya and new transmission lines are being constructed to the borders of
these countries with Ethiopia, attests to the interest in regional governments for tapping into
accessible energy. Energy has a direct influence on industry and as a result influences national
GDP and individual GNI.
The general responses of the national level interviewees included the international political
situation with Egypt and Sudan as historical context, as well as the state of Ethiopian domestic
affairs. Two important themes dominated the interviews conducted in Addis Ababa and Sodo-
Walayta: that Ethiopia is a poor country that needs development, and that the Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam is important for Ethiopian identity & psychology. “We have the right to use
this water,” stated one national-level interviewee, “…Egypt has capitalized from the fertile soils
of Ethiopia and the water that originates in our country, but we as Ethiopians have not had this
opportunity to develop, until now.”
Environment
Ethiopians that I interviewed and spoke with are not concerned with the environment in the way
that the environmental movement is understood in the international community. The
environment is spoken of objectively at the National Scale. It is described as a resource to be
exploited for the alleviation of poverty – social needs. The vast majority of respondents in
interviews did not foresee any significant negative change or impact from the Renaissance Dam
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project on the environment. In fact, some respondents felt that the resulting reservoir would
create a perfect habitat for African animals, fish, and the local climate. There is no monitoring of
the hydrologic flows in the Nile basin, no historic data of precipitation. The impression that
Ethiopians have at a National Scale regarding the environment is based on feeling, rather than
fact.
The Environmental Impact Assessment done for the dam was not in final draft format when I had
the chance to look through it in the fall of 2012. From what I could see the study was a rush job,
incomplete, and ineffective means of measurement of species was employed by an outside
consulting company.
Some of the respondents I spoke with recognize that the amount of sediment contained within
the Blue Nile River will be a problem for the Renaissance Dam. Officials, such as Minister
Barakat Simone, indicated that the Ministry of Water and Energy were in the process of
developing a basin strategy and that there already is a national strategy to contend with erosion
problems. People in the field that I spoke with about the national erosion response program
explained that this includes planting trees and building berms at the local level through the local
level government bodies. The tree planting is left to the farmers and is often a failure. This
happens because one of several reasons.
- Trees are planted at the wrong time of year.
- Trees are not planted deep enough in the soil
- Trees are planted improperly, with casings for transport still around the roots
- Trees planted are not maintained
- Trees are planted and then harvested for biomass fuel
- The wrong types of trees are planted, such as eucalyptus.
Ethiopians have been farming the highlands, where the intense erosion is taking place, for
millennia. The soils are cultivated by hand, but with the removal of trees, the increase in grazing
animals all over Ethiopia due to the well-intentioned efforts of the donor community to respond
to Ethiopia’s food insecurity, and the monsoon rains, erosion is rampant. One look at the Blue
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Nile River and you can see the high level of sediment material carried downstream. The
heightening of downstream Roseires Dam due to sediment fill behind the dam can attest to the
high level of sediment transport in the Blue Nile River.
Protected areas are encroached upon by the increasing populations throughout Ethiopia. There is
no enforcement at the local level to stop people from illegally harvesting timber. I witnessed
illegal harvesting in Lake Tana and Bale National Park. Lack of enforcement and lack of
monitoring sediment transport, water flow, and precipitation make it difficult to establish a
watershed management plan to control the sediment and ensure the longevity of the Renaissance
Dam hydropower production.
National level respondents tended to minimize the importance of the environmental system.
Many people assured me that the Blue Nile River Valley, where the dam development site is
located, is a barren land. Most respondents stated that both the environment would benefit from
the dam. The establishment of a reservoir in a location with monsoon pulses in the river would
possibly create abundant habitat for animals and birds, and a reliable source of water for local
communities to fish and farm. Three respondents brought up concern over a potential increase in
water borne disease in an already malarial region. Another stated concern over changes to
potentially poorly understood migratory patterns of aquatic species. And many other respondents
brought up concerns over unsolved erosion problems upstream.
Economic
The Renaissance Dam is not being built just for Ethiopia. Majority of the respondents stated that
they understand that Ethiopia is going to sell electricity to neighboring countries. Officials I
spoke with at EEPCO described how Ethiopia’s vision for the future of energy in the country is
to be the central point for green energy in East Africa. Ethiopia wants to build an extensive
network domestically and have this network connected with neighboring countries in such a way
that the countries share a healthy electricity grid. The officials I spoke with saw that electricity
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was just the beginning and that roads and railroads would also connect Ethiopia and neighboring
countries for easier movement of trade goods and expansion of markets. The vision includes the
idea that Ethiopia would eventually be able to sell electricity not only to immediate neighbors,
but distant neighbors through these extensive electricity networks. A minority of respondents
stated that the dam project will eliminate the issues of poverty in Ethiopia and the majority of
people I spoke with suggested that while the dam project itself could not do this, it was the
beginning of this pathway because electricity is key for development.
Electricity is necessary for industries to include manufacturing and tourism. There is little
domestic manufacturing in Ethiopia. There are some Chinese factories that employ Ethiopians
near to Addis Ababa. The tourist industry, while equipped to handle high end tourists on private
tours, is not the type of industry that common Ethiopians can take advantage of at the moment.
Some of the business laws in Ethiopia are arcane and need adjustment to allow for more young
entrepreneurs to take advantage of the country’s economic changes and start successful business
ventures in and out of the country capital.
Food and related illness associated with food is a major economic problem in Ethiopia. This is
not only a problem for locals, but for any tourist visiting. With no reliable refrigeration and
unreliable water resources, as well as wide-spread disease and one of the lowest doctors to
person ratio in the world, illness can even be often times fatal.
Socio-culture
The National Scale responses particular to society and culture majority indicate that the
Renaissance Dam is important for self-esteem and psychology of Ethiopian people and
unification of an Ethiopian national identity. Though close to half of those I spoke with new that
there is going to be a local displacement, most people at the National Scale have no connection
with people living in rural communities, especially people in minority ethnic groups such as the
Gumuz. National perception of the Gumuz people is that they should welcome development
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because they need to change and modernize. Gumuz society was described to me as backward
and violent toward outsiders.
Though many respondents stated that people will be relocated, the prevailing attitude is that the
need of the many outweighs the need of the few in this case. Almost half of those interviewed
think that the dam will improve their quality of life. National level respondents tended to
minimize the importance of the local communities. Others minimized the negative impact on
local communities stating that the traditional ethnic groups living there are sparsely settled and
need development assistance.
The general attitude at the National Scale of Ethiopia is for the need to develop away from
poverty. Some of the interviewees were explicit in that this development should not happen at
the expense of downstream neighbors. In the majority of Ethiopians interviewed, the idea that
electricity is key for development was stated. “Reliable electricity is necessary to attract
investment, to build industry,” stated one respondent. “You will find that 99.9% of Ethiopians
are for this dam, regardless of their ethnicity or politics,” one representative of civil society
assured me. Ethiopians are keen to move their country identity away from the famines of the 70s
and 80s and the donor community, and toward self-sufficiency.
Nationally, the dam project is perceived as a unifying force across ethnically diverse and divided
Ethiopia. Although the Renaissance Dam may satisfy short-term political goals of unification
and mid-term economic goals of income generation and domestic electricity supply, also offer
the possibility for socio-cultural benefits in the area of general development, the unknown
environmental costs will be long-term.
Theme Recurrence
Four of the above mentioned themes touch upon more than one sector. These are given in the
previous results section in the Venn diagrams. The significance of these theme overlaps is that
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the perceptions are more robust because of the reinforcement that context across sector gives to
the idea. Realizing these perceptions is important to the National Scale human security. For the
Ethiopian National Scale the four themes are:
- The dam is funded by Ethiopians for Ethiopians
- Electricity is key for development
- The dam will alleviate poverty
- Neighboring countries will benefit
The dam is funded by Ethiopians for Ethiopians touches upon the Political, Economic, and
Socio-culture context. Respondents indicate that this theme is important politically for the
current government because it speaks to their ability to realize this project. Dams on the Nile
were planned during the years of the Emperor Haile Selassie and revisited during the time of the
Derg. This theme is also important politically because it serves to unify across differences of
political and ethnic divides as well as bring in the support of the globally scattered Diasporas.
That the Ethiopians are putting their own money forward to build the dam is an important
indication of economic security in the country and in the Diaspora.
Officials at EEPCO indicated that they had raised enough money to get the project underway and
expected to raise the full amount with the help eventually of a loan from a foreign investment
once the country had proved that it was willing and able to go through with the project. Whether
Ethiopia ends up taking a loan for the remaining 50% or 60% of the Renaissance Dam $4+
billion cost is not as important as the fact that Ethiopians were able to self-fund to get the dam
started. Because the country is politically divided up by ethnicity, this theme also bleeds into the
Socio-cultural context. That 99% of Ethiopians are behind this dam as one social scientist expert
stated to me with enthusiasm, was reflected in the hundreds of conversations I had with
Ethiopians across the country concerning the dam project.
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Word Clouds
This is the final, quantitatively-based content analysis method. I generated word clouds using
Wordle – a free online word cloud program – as a way of gut checking the information that I
highlighted out of the national scale interviews. This tool is useful because it employs a word
count and then displays the more common words in larger font than the less common words. You
can find the entire collection in Appendix *.
I combined all of the interviews to generate the cloud in Figure 71. I isolated the top 15 words to
isolate the most popular themes in the interviews. The words This list reaffirms the themes stated
above that cover these concepts and the certainty respondents have about the information they
have that is given over the Ethiopian television, radio, and in the newspapers.
Figure 72: Cumulative Ethiopia National Scale Word Cloud for Top 15 Words
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6.3.2. HUMAN SECURITY KEY
The Human Security Key is a separate form of analysis performed to understand how Ethiopians
at the National Scale see their situation, themselves, their government, within the context of the
four sectors of human security: politics, environment, economics, and socio-culture. The key also
gives a sense of how well the respondent’s interview narratives match up with the official vision
and information. Finally, I want to capture the sense of respondent’s change of perception when
speaking about the present situation and the change that the dam represents. The method for this
analysis is explained in the Methods Chapter 4.
National Present
For Ethiopia, the respondents generally perceive human security secure to slightly insecure in the
Environment and Economic Sectors. This is in reference to the Ethiopian national economy and
availability and reliability of environmental resources. Although some respondents talked about
the recent high levels of annual growth, much of this economic growth in Ethiopia is perceived
to benefit the privileged few and not the majority of Ethiopians.
Grocery stores and local markets generally did not have a great diversity in fresh produce outside
of major cities like Addis Ababa. Water resources are inconsistent and poor quality throughout
the entire country. Frequent water shortages cripple Addis Ababa neighborhoods. Yellow jerry
cans are visible all over the country. In rural areas I witnessed long lines at a community pump
and locals filling jerry cans from rivers, streams, and even muddy puddles on the road after a
rain. Due to the booming population and unregulated hunting, poaching, tree clearing, and
grazing many endemic species are under pressure and threatened. The Ethiopian wolf, elephant,
and lion are examples. Natural disasters from drought are experienced annually in the country.
The soil quality is poor in many areas where intense agriculture has exhausted nutrients or the
geology predicts poor soils, such as in the Rift Valley or the eastern stretches of desert. This
information on Environment and Economic human security instability generally corresponds
with Ethiopia’s low HDI and HSI ranks.
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Ethiopians generally perceive human security as secure in the sectors of Politics and Socio-
culture. The national respondents perceive the political situation in Ethiopia as secure despite
government restrictions on democratic freedoms. This is different from the internationally
generated ranks based only on quantitative data. Qualitative data taken from official and
unofficial interviews as well as empirical observations, gives a more robust context and as a
result, more insightful assessment of the country’s human security stability.
The political security is measured by a combination of governmental transparency, conflict,
education, public participation, and diversity. The two stronger areas as indicated from the score
of secure are in education and diversity. Ethiopia has gone from 3 universities to 33 universities
in only one generation. Although education is still unavailable in many rural communities for
political, economic, and social reasons, there are many Ethiopians attending university in every
major city, both men and women. As mentioned previously, the country is divided politically on
an ethnic basis. However, this has served to reinforce the identity of one’s ethnicity and keep
traditions in a socially accepted way. Diversity is celebrated through music, food, clothing,
customs,
Ethiopians see the government as having some level of transparency as far as sharing plans and
the budget for development projects. People stated that when the government sends a message
about development through the media, they actually do it. Ethiopian government is an
authoritarian government. The National Scale perception of democratic values such as the
inability to exercise freedom of speech, the lack of public participation in governmental
decisions, access to leaders, and inability to vote for political leaders, coupled with high levels of
recent historic conflict brought the overall political score down.
National Future
Both Ethiopians at the National Scale and the Official information point to a robust economic
future in Ethiopia. The respondent general optimism about future economics as related to change
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from the Renaissance dam matches the Official information and is generally optimistic across all
the indicators. The respondents listen to and trust the information given to them through the
government channels of government controlled communication on TV, radio, and print media
about the future and share the vision. The perception may also be attributed in part to the
discourse surrounding the Renaissance Dam project and confirmed in empirical observations of
the myriad development projects engaged in many cities throughout Ethiopia. This information
is not reflected in quantitative measures in the HDI or HSI ranking.
Ethiopian National Scale narratives were generally positive about future political security though
the Official description of Political Security is much more confident and higher rated in general.
Part of the reason for this disparity is that this is an authoritarian government with strict control
of civil society voices. Imprisonment of 17 Ethiopians who maintained blogs occurred just
before I entered the country in August 2012. The respondents also indicated that the Renaissance
Dam will help with diplomatic alliances in the region because of economic and development ties
with all the other countries in the Nile basin.
6.3.3. LAOS
Content Analysis
Politics
Laos constitutes the highest area of the Mekong River basin at about 25% of the basin area. This
is comparable with 25% of the basin area in Thailand and 22% of the basin area in China, both
countries with higher HDI and HSI ranks. According to research conducted by the Southern
Institute of Water Resources Research the Mekong basin accounts for 97% of territory in Laos.
Despite the rich water resources, Laos is just beginning to aggressively develop the water
resources in the Mekong basin and scores second to last in the HDI and ranked lower in the HIS
out of the basin countries and is on the UN’s Least Developed Countries list. If we consider the
qualitative data gathered and analyzed from field interviews and empirical observations, one can
confirm that Laos only recently changed domestic economic policy to allow for foreign direct
investment and engagement with the global market. Changes in Vientiane, new roads and
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bridges in Sayabouli, and a number of hydropower projects around the country are all due to
foreign direct investment.
Laos experienced historic conflict internally, with the United States during the Indochina War
and with Thailand in the 19
th
century. The international wars are still part of Lao identity and
openly spoken about. The internal conflicts are thought to be a part of the reason that the Lao
government gathers scattered villages and targets particular ethnic groups like the Khmu and
Hmong. The Laotian Diaspora maintains its own political party, the Freedom Party, and has a
web presence that criticizes the Lao government.
While the hydrologic budget of Laos is 35% of the entire Mekong River basin, National Scale
respondents felt that there were problems with the water levels in recent years due to climate
change and human engineered change upstream in China. The five Chinese storage dams come
up in interviews as the reason for drought and for two recent floods in Luan Prabang and
Vientiane. Although the majority of the respondents state that Xayaburi is the first of several
development projects planned on the Mekong River, close to half of the respondents felt that the
dam is causing international controversy. The officials were openly confused about the
controversy in the international media because Laos followed the Prior Notification process and
Laos has the right to develop waters within the country for poverty alleviation. The officials were
also confused about the criticism from mainly Western countries because there are many dams in
those Western countries. The locals expressed discomfort with the amount of attention the dam is
receiving form the international community and not sure why the Lao government is allowing
Thailand to put a dam on the river in Lao territory.
The electricity from the Xayaburi dam is going to be exported to Thailand within a 30 year
contract, confirmed by official and National Scale interview narratives. This arrangement
provides a regional benefit between Laos and Thailand at a higher diplomatic level. However,
Thai civil society has been and continues to protest the dam’s development and the Lao National
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Scale respondents did not feel that the Lao people will necessarily experience benefits of from
the dam. The respondents asked for a more transparent process established for 1) benefit sharing
and 2) revenue reinvestment in the national infrastructure. The Xayaburi dam has become
symbolic of development changes on the Lower Mekong River for the future and other countries
will be inspired by this project to build their own water development projects.
Though most respondents are supportive of the Lao government interests to develop Laos to
alleviate poverty, many interviews indicated that the people feel powerless as the Lao
government sells off the national natural resources in order to do this. Some suggested that the
Lao government should invest in ecotourism and one small tour business owner stated that dam
development and giving concessions to the Chinese for mineral extraction is the opposite of
ecotourism. Laos has historically been bound politically and economically to Vietnam and
China. This allegiance has resulted in aggressive resource mining of animals, trees, minerals, and
other natural resources from Laos. One unofficial interview with a European biologist revealed
that in the remote northeastern portion of Laos, Vietnamese had illegally crossed the border and
set over 30,000 traps in the forest for wild animals in 2012.
Some of the arrangements that Laos has with Vietnam and China are not publically available and
some do not register on the GDP or GNI because they are direct trades of resources for
development or other arrangements not easily tracked through number-based exchanges. There is
also a historic process of bribing in the Lao culture. In the past, at the National Scale, bribes were
paid up the hierarchical chain, but the people at the top would reinvest in the population. This
has changed in the Lao culture in recent years at the same time as new money and foreign direct
investment has intensified. This type of informal economic activity will not be reflected Laos
HDI and HSI rank.
The Lao government is communist and authoritarian, not allowing for civil society voice or
public forums about national decisions. Lao National Scale respondents do not feel that they
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have a voice or a choice in how the Lao government is managing the national resources. There
are only 6 million Lao people, but simple services are still not available in much of the rural
areas. Some younger generation respondents are frustrated by the lack of opportunity to
participate in the government decisions. Respondents also indicated that there are two forms of
Lao government – the traditional or military communist politicians and the progressive and
educated younger politicians. The National Scale official and unofficial interviews also strongly
suggest that Lao people are even more upset over the recent disappearance of Sombath
Somphone, who is still missing at the time of this writing.
Environment
The Lao people I interviewed are especially worried about the environment. National scale
people mostly live along the Mekong River and have watched how the water levels have
changed and the amount of available fish from the river has decreased. Lao respondents would
like to see the Lao government take more care with the selling of privileges and rights to the
natural resources to neighboring countries and other foreign powers, including the Xayaburi dam
to the Thai. Respondents also spoke about the changing weather patterns in the monsoon season.
No one knew why this was happening, but suspect it has to do with China’s upstream dams and
or global climate change. Some respondents speculate about the discussions of climate change as
a detractor from real political issues of resources management. Much of Laos still remains
undeveloped and wild.
The Lao government hired an outside consultant, Poyri, to come in and conduct the
Environmental Impact Assessment on the Xayaburi dam. This assessment received a great deal
of criticism in the international media and in the National Scale respondent narratives. Some
respondents felt that the Lao government did an appropriate job responding to the
recommendations given by the Mekong River Commission. The Lao government spent
additional millions of dollars to modify the dam design to allow for a fish passage and sediment
traps at the bottom of the dam. Both of these modifications have also received criticism in the
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international media. The media, some respondents state, is acting irresponsibly when
misreporting and misrepresenting information about the Xayaburi dam impacts. According to
experts at the Mekong River Commission, the extent of impacts is unknown, but it is generally
felt that the Xayaburi dam will not change downstream systems in Vietnam and Cambodia.
The fish issue is paramount in the minds of experts, nationals, and internationals when it comes
to the Xayaburi dam. Respondents felt that the assessment on the dam impacts on fisheries is not
sufficient. Experts state that there is not enough known about the fish species in this reach of the
Mekong as collection sites are only in the Tonle Sap and Khone Falls region. Officials state that
there has been assessment specifically on the fish at the dam site and that there are no
endangered species present. Officials also feel that the modification to the dam will allow fish
passage because it is a modern design imported from Europe. Even though many people are
concerned with fish migration and passage due to the dam, many also stated that
The issue of flows and scouring riverbanks also came up in the interview narratives. Many
Laotians keep riverbed gardens and practice flood recession agriculture. Though respondents
state that the water flows have changed in recent years and the levels are lower than they have
ever been, there have also been flood events. The cause of this is unknown, but also impacts
flood recession agriculture.
Economic
The Xayaburi dam represents economic change in Laos and in the Mekong River basin. The dam
project would not be possible without the changes to the Thai economy. Thailand has
experienced major changes to the national economy in the last decade. This coupled with the
changes in Lao domestic economic policy to allow foreign direct investment is cause for
opportunity for a project like the Xayaburi dam. China is also investing in dam projects on
upstream tributaries.
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Though respondents say that the dam will benefit the national GDP, they also emphasize that the
dam project should directly benefit the local community and region in benefit sharing and
development. Lao people in general recognize that the Mekong water resources are a shared
resource and want to be careful to continue managing the resource in Laos in respect to this, and
not in sacrifice of economic growth in the country.
Socio-culture
In general, Lao National Scale respondents are aware of how the local people use natural
resources in the villages near to the dam site. This information told to me supports the empirical
observations and narratives I collected in the Local Scale interviews. The National Scale
understands that the environmental system is changing and will not be able to support
populations to continue a traditional way of life. Because of this, respondents feel that the local
people will benefit from the development package that the dam will bring to them. The vast
majority of respondents understand that the Xayaburi dam is bringing social change to the
country, but the dam is not the only indicator of change. There are many development projects
for resource extraction occurring throughout Laos. Forests are being clear cut and the wood
exported to Vietnam and China, minerals are being mined and sent to Australia.
There is not a great deal of transparency with social information related to the Xayaburi Dam
project or the other development projects throughout Laos. Most of the information about this
development is controlled by the State or comes from word of mouth. This is reflected in the
discrepancy of reported numbers in the narratives, as pointed out in the Results Chapter 5.
Theme Recurrence
I have isolated four of the above mentioned themes that touch upon more than one sector. These
are given in the previous Results Chapter 5 in the Venn diagrams. The significance of these
theme overlaps is that the perceptions are more robust because of the reinforcement that context
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across sector gives to the idea. Realizing these perceptions is important to the National Scale
human security. For the Laos National Scale the four themes are:
- Laos wants to get off of the Least Developed Countries list
- Xayaburi dam will benefit the local communities
- Fish populations are changing and will change
- Laos is experiencing foreign investment in exploiting its natural resources from neighboring
countries
That Laos is on the Least Developed Countries list and that the government is working to get the
country off of the list by improving the GDP came up often in interviews. The context of this
theme overlaps politics, economics, and socio-culture sectors. The list is reflected in the United
Nations Millennium Development Goals and the HDI and HSI. This is a political issue on the
international stage, but also drives policy in Laos for rapid development. The economic aspects
of this manifest as economic policy reform for foreign direct investment, but largely unregulated
as far as the population is concerned. The rapid and aggressive development plans across Laos
are not only displacing whole villages and individuals, but resulting in a loss of livelihoods as
dams dominate river systems or lignite plans clear a 30 km radius.
Economically, the motivating factor to get off of the LDC list is allowing Laos to gain money for
development projects in other sectors, but the narratives also state that more money is resulting
in corruption in the government at all levels, destruction of the environment, and elimination of
cultural practices and traditional knowledge. Foreign direct investment from neighboring
countries may result in stronger political ties, but it may be the result of historic debt or political
bullying.
The Xayaburi Dam is an example of rapid development, but because of the international
spotlight, respondents feel that the Lao government is being careful about how the displacement
and environmental impacts are handled.
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Word Cloud
I generated word clouds using Wordle – a free online word cloud program – as a way of gut
checking the information that I highlighted out of the national scale interviews. This tool is
useful because it employs a word count and then displays the more common words in larger font
than the less common words. You can find the entire collection in Appendix *.
I isolated the top 15 words in Figure 72 as an example of how this word count helps to isolate the
most popular themes in the interviews. This is another content analysis method. The 15 words
are: people, Laos, government, dam, project, fish, river, water, Lao, Thailand, dams, change,
Mekong, Xayaburi, countries, river. This list shows that the National Scale is concerned most
primarily with the people of Laos, the politics, the development change, and the environment.
Figure 73: Cumulative Laos National Scale Word Cloud for Top 15 Words
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6.3.4. HUMAN SECURITY KEY
The Human Security Key is a separate form of analysis performed to understand how Ethiopians
at the National Scale see their situation, themselves, their government, within the context of the
four sectors of human security: politics, environment, economic, and socio-culture. The key also
gives a sense of how well the respondent’s interview narratives match up with the official vision
and information. Finally, I want to capture the sense of respondent’s change of perception when
speaking about the present situation and the change that the dam represents. The method for this
analysis is explained in the Methods Chapter 4.
National Present
Laos National Scale respondents generally perceive human security instability in the Politics and
Environment Sectors. The insecure political score is in reference to the current oppression felt
from the Lao authoritarian and communist style government in repressing human rights and
freedoms, especially because my interviews were conducted on the heels of the disappearance of
Sombath Sompophone, the civil society leader. The mixed slightly insecure to insecure score for
issues surrounding the environment is due to the major environmental changes experienced on
the Southeast Asian peninsula in recent years and in Laos in particular. The climate is changing
and weather patterns of the monsoon are no longer predictable or consistent. The river levels and
fish populations have dropped within the last 5 to 8 years. Some respondents feel that this is due
to the commissioning of five large storage dams upstream in China.
The economic and socio-cultural categories are both scored at slightly insecure and this is due to
relative access to goods at the national scale markets balanced against the lack of developed
infrastructure, like passable roads, within the country. The availability of work for educated and
skilled at the national scale is available and solid sense of Laotian identity is coupled with young
people unskilled Laotians emigrating from Laos to find labor-related jobs in Thailand or
elsewhere, disease and poor state of clinics, and changing ways from traditional knowledge to
modernization.
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National Future
The National Scale has a completely divergent score for the future political and environmental
sectors from the Official information. The National Scale identifies politics in Laos between an
insecure to very insecure score because of the increases in corruption, the unforeseeable future
for civil society, the inability of young people to participate in the governance and development
of the country, and the government’s continued lack of transparency. The Official information
identifies Lao politics as completely secure for the future.
The scores of the National Scale future are harmonized with the Official information within the
economic sector as very optimistic future of economic security scored as secure. The scores are
mostly harmonized within the socio-cultural sector as slightly insecure to secure. The biggest
difference between the National Scale and the Official within the socio-cultural issues is that the
National Scale is that the Officials believe future development will encourage the Laotian society
to grow and prosper while the respondents fear that emigration will increase as people are
increasingly displaced and lose their livelihoods and identities.
6.3.5. COMPARISON OF ETHIOPIA AND LAOS NATIONAL SCALE CASE STUDIES
In general there are more differences than similarities in the comparison of Ethiopia and Laos
National Scale respondents, but there are some similarities between the governments. The
Ethiopia respondents are in supportive of the Renaissance Dam and Lao respondents, while
supportive of development, are not generally supportive of the Xayaburi Dam. This is because
many of the Lao respondents are worried about environmental change that they see in the
Mekong River and are worried that the local people will be unhappy with the changes to their
livelihoods and lifestyles. Ethiopians, on the other hand, minimize environmental impacts, with
few exceptions, and also minimize livelihood or cultural loss to the Gumuz people because of the
project. Lao respondents are in general knowledgeable about the lifestyles of communities that
subsist on the Mekong River. Ethiopians are not knowledgeable about the lifestyles of the
Gumuz people or rural communities that subsist on the Blue Nile River.
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Both Ethiopians and Laotians feel their countries are poor and development is necessary. Both
Ethiopians and Laotians are not happy with the representation of their country as poor or in need
of foreign aid; this is more marked in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian and Lao governments are similar in that they have goals and plans to elevate their
country GDPs and as a result, be removed from the UN’s Least Developed Countries list. Both
countries would like to be the energy center of their region: Ethiopia wants to be the green
energy hub of East Africa; Laos wants to be the battery of SE Asia. Both countries are pursuing
hydropower because they have untapped water resources. Both countries have experience with
historic poverty and conflict that have prevented economic development. Colonial influence has
altered the past of both countries. While Ethiopia has not taken part in historic Nile treaty
agreements, it is taking part in the current NBI activity that many basin countries hope will lead
to a new treaty and the formation of a body similar to the Mekong River Commission. Laos is a
member of the Mekong River Commission.
Ethiopian respondents tend to agree with official plans and information in their perception of the
future of human security sectors. Lao respondents are not in accord with official plans for the
future of their human security. While the word clouds suggest that both case studies are focused
on people, the dam, the government, the project, and neighbor countries, Ethiopians are more
concerned with water and Laotians with fish.
6.3.6. ETHIOPIA LOCAL SCALE
Content Analysis
Three main themes from the interviews with individuals and groups in multiple villages
included: gold panning in the riverbanks as the main source of cash, intention to continue using
the river waters, but in a different way when the project is completed; flexibility in relocation
and trust in the authorities; hope for new opportunities primarily in health and education for their
children in the resettled communities.
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Politics
The local respondents are mainly Gumuz subsistence farmers, with the exception of shopkeepers
in larger villages who are not Gumuz ethnicity and who have come from other parts of Ethiopia.
Though some respondents felt that the project was brought for the benefit of the Gumuz people,
some did not have a clear idea of what to expect from the project or why it was happening on the
river. When I asked who uses the river and related resources, I was told that only the Gumuz
people use the river in the vast majority of the narratives, but that anyone can come use the river
and pan for gold or fish if they know how. No acknowledgement of the project as a use of the
river was stated.
I did not study the Gumuz communities’ political structure, but in general the communities are
divided by clan or family, have a village chief, and out of my sample population, this was always
male. Decisions about the villages seemed to come through village councils. Information local
respondents have about the dam is given to them through village council meetings. Respondents
did not indicate that they have direct access to Ethiopian national government.
In the interest of opportunities for economic and socio-cultural development, the Renaissance
dam is viewed favorably among the local respondents. There was minimal level of development
in this region before the dam development. The “China Bridge” was built about 5 years prior by
Chinese, for ambiguous and discontinued trade reasons, but this is off limits to local people
transiting and is guarded by the federal police. The Renaissance project brought roads, a new
bridge that the local can use, a free health clinic, and more transportation. Most respondents feel
optimistic and flexible about the development changes.
“We need this water so we cannot move far, if we move far we will die, and the government
would not do that to us,” one respondent said with a smile. The majority of local respondents are
willing to relocate, but do not want to move far from the new reservoir. Many of the men intend
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to fish in the reservoir. Almost all of the respondents look forward to the development
opportunities including education, access roads and bridges, and healthcare clinics. Some
respondents told me about benefits from the new road, new bridge, and free clinic at the dam
site. One woman I spoke with was already relocated downstream and said she was thankful that
the project had moved her family to a new place and given her a new tukul – the simple house in
which most rural Ethiopian people live with dirt floor and mud and straw walls, thatched roof,
round in shape. Typically, tukuls must be rebuilt every few years; they are not permanent
structures. The only problem she was experiencing was clarity about what land was hers along
the riverbed for planting.
Environment
The environment is not a separate entity from the local community livelihoods and culture. It is
the center of their lives as stated in various ways during the interviews. Changes to the
environment will have long-term changes to the cultural activities and livelihoods. The seasonal
fluctuations in the river level dictate village activities and diet. Local level respondents explained
that the seasonal levels of the Blue Nile River dictate types and location of crops farmed, types
and amount of fish caught, availability of places for gold panning, and ability to cross the river
for market trade.
When the reservoir is flooded, gold panning and flood recession farming will cease because this
is done in the riverbanks. The local people are aware that the environmental system is poised for
change with the dam and are open to use the water in a different way when this change comes.
Farming will be limited to upland farming with irrigation. Fishing will change to lake fishing,
possibly with boats.
The general responses from local level respondents highlight the importance of the Blue Nile
River resources in their day to day life, and in the different activities connected with the
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hydrologic cycles of the seasonal monsoons, but do not include national or international
perspectives. Respondents cannot imagine a life without the river.
Economics
Local communities are subsistence miners, farmers, fishermen, and traders. The river is the
central and only source of economic activity in the local communities. The local communities
have traditional knowledge and traditional methods to harvest and gather resources from the
river and the surrounding environment. Livelihood activities are done by the entire family, but
there are different roles for men and women. Men tend to fish and farm, some make tools and
equipment. Women farm, tend to the home, mind the children, and make beaded jewelry.
Gold panning or artisanal mining is a particularly important aspect to Gumuz livelihoods,
culture, and economics. Panning was brought up in all but one of the interviews. Some people
stated that it is the first importance of the river, but only a few people understood that this
activity will end when the reservoir is filled. Gold is used as a means for getting cash in order to
pay school fees for their children or buy non-river resources related goods, like salt. This practice
is a historic practice among the communities in the Blue Nile River valley. Historically gold
traders would come to the Gumuz people to trade, but more recently one person from the
community buys from the others and then goes into Bahir Dar of Asossa to sell to jewelers
directly. Both men and women take part in the panning and the implements are made mostly
from locally sourced wood, though some metal smithed locally, but sourced from outside, is used
as well. When the dam is completed the riverbanks where locals pan for gold will be
inaccessible. The dam reservoir will flood the area and areas of the tributaries. This will result in
a complete loss of this activity for the local communities.
Flood recession farming is another important economic activity with the local communities.
Crops are raised in the riverbed making use of the fertile soils and saturated soils. Different types
of crops are grown in the riverbank than in upland rain-fed farming. Crops include things like
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millet and chilies, tubers and leafy greens, as well as fruit is grown along the river and traded in
the local markets.
Fishing is the last significant economic activity in the local narratives regarding the river. Fishing
is done on a subsistence basis. When one fisherman catches a large fish in the river, he may
divide it up to sell or give to his neighbors. Fish provides the main source of protein in the local
diet year round.
Socio-culture
The Blue Nile River and related resources are central to the lives of the local communities,
especially the Gumuz people. When a person states their occupation, they are stating how they
identify themselves, although most people self-identify as farmers first, although more people
pan for gold. The majority of local people express the desire that their children have access to
adequate healthcare facilities and education, even if they themselves had little to no formal
education. More often than this narrative the locals indicate that they do pass on the traditional
and ecological knowledge to the next generation. The adults say they do not teach the children,
but that they children follow on their own and learn by watching and doing. This is an important
distinction between traditional schooling and transference of traditional knowledge. While one is
valued in development goals, the other is undervalued. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that
traditional knowledge is not necessarily transferable to another place or another situation – it is
contextual based on the given environment. In the case of the Gumuz people’s relocation, this
particular stretch of the Blue Nile valley is unique. This particular group of Gumuz people and
their understanding of the ecological system appear also to be unique. This will be completely
lost due to relocation from the dam.
The Gumuz People, as subsistence farmers on a seasonally variable river tend to have more than
one planting spot – one for the dry season, and one for the wet season, but there is no formal
land-ownership process. The dam has a plan for monetary compensation as well as
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infrastructural compensation, but the plan does not include preservation of the Gumuz current
livelihoods or lifestyle, the basis of their society and culture.
6.3.7. HUMAN SECURITY KEY
Local Present
The local scale respondents identify the political and economic sectors in their present state as
insecure. Though the Gumuz People do not complain about the lack of political participation,
they are not involved in decisions to relocate. They will be compensated, but all the plans and
values are made for them by the project and negotiations with the village chiefs and through
public forums. There is no freedom of speech in the sense of avenues for communication such as
newspapers or radios. The local people are not organized. There has been conflict with Gumuz
ethnic groups in the past east of the dam location on the Beles River, as mentioned in the Case
Study, Chapter 3. The local people did not have much information aside from the general
information they are given in village meetings, they don’t have access to the project plans, and
many of the respondents are not literate.
The economic sector is scored insecure because the local communities are based mainly on
subsistence fishing, farming, hunting, and trade. There is not a great amount of connectivity to
markets outside of the Blue Nile Valley due to the poor condition of the roads and the lack of
public transportation. There is no electricity. There is no formal job training for transferable
skills. The Gumuz do not produce anything to export, except for the gold.
Local Future
The future projections of both the Local Scale respondents and the official information are
relatively harmonized across the sectors. This may be due to the relative hopes that the local
community has in the dam development project, as this is their first exposure to such an activity.
Local respondents are given information through village councils about what to expect will
happen with new schools, clinics, roads, water supplies, and relocation. The political and
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economic sectors are generally similar in that the local respondents see both sectors as secure to
slightly insecure and the official see the sectors as secure. The experience that the local
respondents are having now with changes to local economics due to new access routes via the
new bridges and roads in the region attest to what else may come when the dam is complete.
The local respondents are also being told that the environmental changes due to the dam will
benefit them. The future reservoir has plans that include a reservoir and fish stock. The river will
no longer flood and recede so that there will be no natural disaster due to flooding or drought.
The river area will be safer because the reservoir will be still and levels will remain predictable
across the rainy and dry seasons. Due to this information given through the village councils, both
the local respondents and official information is in harmony. This may also be due to lack of data
from the interview with the local scale respondents.
The socio-cultural sector is scored as slightly insecure based on official information and secure
to slightly insecure based on local respondents narratives. This score is affected by the total
displacement and livelihood changes for the local communities. The Gumuz people will no
longer be able to practice most of their traditional knowledge base or traditional subsistence
lifestyles. The relocation will cause the sense of place to change, not only because of the
relocation, but because the valley will be flooded and the river submerged. Everything for the
local Gumuz community is currently found in the river, from food to gold and the flood
recession predicts planting and sowing, panning and fishing.
6.3.8. LAOS LOCAL SCALE
Content Analysis
My movements in Laos were more restricted comparatively to my movements in Ethiopia. I was
allowed to interview in 3 villages. In one of the villages I was followed for part of the day, which
hampered my ability to interview, as the interviews are anonymous. One village I was allowed to
enter is a completely relocated village, moved 30 km from the river. The relocation occurred one
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year prior to the interviews and the compensation that had helped the locals adjust had just
ceased. Local people were having a difficult time adjusting as they could no longer harvest and
gather their food from the river, but needed to raise animals and grow crops with irrigation.
People stated that they had difficulty adjusting to new livelihoods, and many were still returning
to the river to continue traditional livelihoods. The project provides training for fish farming and
animal husbandry, but the transition is taking time. I was not permitted to enter the villages
upstream that are mostly Khmu ethnic communities. I was also not permitted to interview in the
villages on the east side of the Mekong as they fall in a different governmental province.
Of the three villages I visited in Laos, the first was completely relocated, the second and third
would experience partial relocation. The first village respondents were struggling with relocation
adjustments and vocal about these struggles. The second village, while still quite remote, had
many residents now working at the dam project. The third village was nearest to the new road
and bridge development projects, and had easiest access to the city because of this. The last
village had the positive adjustment because people had the most choice in how they could
continue traditional livelihoods or if they wanted to take advantage of new opportunities for
livelihood changes.
The most common themes from the Lao local respondents are: the river and the surrounding
environment is the main food and income source; that the community is experiencing change in
the fish catches, the type of fish available, the size, and the amount; that the adults transfer
traditional knowledge to the next generations, especially how to fish in the Mekong River.
Politics
The Mekong River is described as a commons in the local narrative. Locals did not see any use
of the river that would restrict their use of the river, and no one recognized the dam as a form of
river use. Local people understand the government is going to relocate part of the community
and that there is compensation for economic loses. The details are available through the filter of
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the village chiefs and during village meetings. The plans are not totally clear to people as
narrated in the interview. The land in the area around the villages is already used for upland
farming, but this is the same area that the project plans to relocate the houses that are in the flood
zone. It is not clear whether the people who are currently using this land will be compensated as
well. The land ownership is informal.
In the relocated village people complained that their allotment of land was not enough space on
which to grow their crops. The narratives also included concern about the one year compensation
and discussion about promises to expand the compensation for three more years, though this was
vague in the official plans. Development is allowing people to seek other means of employment
and cease traditional livelihoods.
In the two villages close the dam site, many interviewees identified someone they knew as
working at the project or that they are able to sell crops to the project. This confirms that the
Xayaburi dam development is providing employment and economic opportunities, though these
opportunities are not sustainable.
Environment
The environmental sector is the most interesting part of the local respondent narrative.
Respondents report that there is a significant difference in the natural environment of the area
and the Mekong River within the last five years. Narratives include information about the
changes in fish populations, water flow, and gold in the sediment. People point to China dams
upstream, too many new people fishing in the river, illegal fishing practices of electrifying the
water or using dynamite, upstream deforestation, changes in agriculture, and changes in the
weather and climate as reasons for the environmental change. Local communities are leaving the
traditional livelihoods because of the changes and taking advantage of the new economic
opportunities created by the dam development. Over half of the respondents who spoke about
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panning for gold have stopped the activity due to the reduction in gold found in the riverbank
sediment within the last five to eight years.
The importance of this part of the narrative is that the Xayaburi dam is under fire for changes it
will render to fish populations. Experts indicate that not enough is known about fish populations
in this reach of the river. If changes are felt in the fish already, it is important to track why these
changes are happening. If it is a matter of too many people fishing, a simple policy to regulate
fishing could be appropriate. If it is a matter of regional climate change, what can the region do
differently to minimize impacts to aquatic systems? If it is a matter of land-use changes
upstream, the government can regulate land-use to protect fish populations. If it is a matter of
China storage dams, diplomatic changes with the regional governments could allow for better
cooperation in water flows.
Economics
Due to the aforementioned changes in the environment, the economics in the local communities
is also changing. Development in general is impacting these communities since they have more
connectivity through the new roads in the region, as before people only relied on the river for
transportation. Activities like mining sediment from the riverbanks for construction and
commercial fishing are both new activities in the communities. The dam development is also
allowing for other economic opportunities. Narratives spoke about the ability of village residents
to sell food to the project, to work as day laborers at the project, or to sell food at the ferry
(where the new bridge is being constructed) now that there was more traffic on the roads because
of the dam project.
The river and surrounding forest are the main source of food and economic income for almost all
the interviewees. Most people grow crops and harvest foodstuffs from the surrounding forests,
many people fish in the river, and some people still pan for gold. This will change once the dam
is completed for these communities. The river will be a reservoir in this area and there will be
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more demand and less space for forest harvesting and farming. People are being told that they
will have fish farms through the project and the majority of respondents expect to participate in
fish farming in order to sell fish as a livelihood.
Socio-culture
Traditional knowledge is part of the culture in the village communities. The knowledge is passed
from generation to generation and dictates the way of life, resources use. This is especially
important to respondents in discussions about future generations. Resource use of the Mekong
River and surrounding environmental is the main occupation and income for the local
communities. Although the environmental changes are threatening this lifestyle, it has not
completely changed the lifestyle for all respondents as the majority still farm and fish in the
river. The project has already brought about changes in the local communities with market and
general access to the city and health and education facilities. There are tradeoffs with the dam
development. Although locals are optimistic about the changes in access and opportunities, they
are also aware that they will lose access and opportunities attached to the river system.
Prior to the project local access to the city where the hospital and central market are located, was
limited by time and transportation on the river. Transportation on the river is limited by the wet
and dry seasons. Despite acknowledgement that their children and grandchildren will have
access to school and that the system is changing, almost all respondents intend to keep
transferring the traditional knowledge to the next generations. Traditional knowledge and way of
life are changing already from development. One woman indicated that the area where the bridge
is currently under development is where women used to fish in the shallows. Now they no longer
have access to this part of the river and as a result, no longer fish.
One relocated Laotian said, “Before we had meat and fish on the table for dinner, but we were in
the dark. Now we have an electric light above the table, but no meat of fish on the table for
dinner.”
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6.3.9. HUMAN SECURITY KEY
Local Present
The local Lao respondents identify their present Political and Environmental sectors as slightly
insecure and their Economic and Socio-culture sectors as secure to very secure. The slightly
insecure scores for the Lao political perception have to do with the lack of current to education,
to the inability to participate in governmental decisions. Local respondents also stated
overwhelmingly that the environmental changes they see in the Mekong River are marked, are
changing the related resources, and are impacting their livelihoods. There are less fish, some
species completely missing, and what fish there are, the sizes are smaller. Because of changes in
weather patterns, the water flow has changed and this may be influencing the changes in fish
population. Aside from natural perturbations in the water flow local people feel that Chinese
dams upstream are controlling water and that too many people are now fishing legally and
illegally in the Mekong River. Gold panning, or artisanal mining, which had once been an
activity in most households, was now not very popular due to changes in the amount of gold
found in the sediment of the riverbanks. This may also be due to the Chinese storage dams
upstream.
The secure to very secure score in Socio-culture sector is indicative of the continued traditional
knowledge and way of life in the village and the connection to place. The locals are currently
experiencing changes to this aspect with new road access to the city and new markets and find
that many people are “leaving off” the flood recession agriculture and fishing to work at the dam
site as day laborers. People living in the relocated village were particularly vocal about loss to
their livelihoods and traditions since they were now located over 30 km away. Some of the
villagers told me that they walk to the river anyway and camp out there for days to continue their
livelihoods as they had not successfully made the transition away from subsistence farmers and
fishermen to the plans that the government has to encourage irrigated farming or raising animals.
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Local Future
The Lao local respondents are quite optimistic about the economic future that the dam
development represents. Already they see an increase in economic activity outside of subsistence
from new access roads, new people, new job opportunities connected with dam development.
The future of their society and culture is still strong, but some people worry about the
continuance of their traditional lifestyle because of the disappearance of fish and the inability to
make a living panning for gold now that there is less gold. The concerns with the environment
are not abated by the assurance of the government that the dam will provide more fish and that
they will have a new water supply (in some villages). The Political sector slightly improves to
secure because of the new access to education. This is in great contrast to the complete very
secure official narrative of the future. Part of that official future comes from the Lao government
and part of it comes from the Xayaburi Project staff.
6.3.10. COMPARISON OF ETHIOPIA AND LAOS LOCAL SCALE CASE STUDIES
The Ethiopian and Laos local scale interview respondents have more in common than the
national scale interview respondents in the case studies, and have more in common with each
other than they do with their national counterparts. Both communities are primarily riverine
subsistence communities that engage in subsistence farming, fishing, mining, hunting, gathering,
and trading. Both communities practice these subsistence activities in sync with the ebbs and
flows of water levels dictated by the monsoon season. Both communities have a small number of
members that serve as support to the community through health or market services, but are
mostly made up of farmers, fishermen, and miners. Both communities are currently vulnerable to
disease, flooding, and food insecurity related to natural disasters, as their primary source of food
and income is from the river.
Both the local scale communities I interviewed are marginalized geographically, and until the
advent of the respective dam projects, did not have expanded access to national level
information, health facilities, secondary education, safe water supplies, and markets. Traditional
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knowledge and information is passed through an oral tradition in both communities and new
generations learn by doing what their parents, grandparents, and other older community members
do. Children are encouraged to learn how to farm, fish, gather, and pan for gold in the river and
this came up in the narratives as an important element of the community more often than formal
education did. In Laos more than one respondent indicated that it was important to teach his
children and grandchildren the traditional ways because it gives them an option for the future.
There are development difference between the local scale communities in Ethiopia and Laos.
Laos local scale communities have more opportunities for different livelihoods because they are
close to the city, the development project, and the new road. Local people have more alternative
food sources from access to markets. In Ethiopia, the local community has very little alternative
food sources, livelihoods, and little opportunities to work at the project. In Ethiopia, the
communities are not experiencing changes to the water flow, fish, or other environmental
resources. In Laos, the communities are experiencing such change to their environmental
resources that some people are voluntarily changing their livelihoods. In Laos, the dam will
cause some relocation, but total relocation only to one village. In Ethiopia all the villages will be
relocated out of the valley. The impacted community is about 2400 people in Laos; the impacted
community is about 20,000 people in Ethiopia.
There is disconnect between the national and local communities in both case studies. In Ethiopia,
national scale respondents are less sympathetic toward the local villages. In one exchange I had
in Ethiopia, I was asked, “Who in the world cares or has even heard about the Gumuz people?”
Some respondents were concerned with how the dam would impact livelihood changes for the
Gumuz, especially in light of the loss in gold panning, but for the most part, national scale
respondents state that development will bring good things for this community in the form of new
opportunities, health care, education, and market access. In Laos, the national scale respondents
were more concerned about the comfort and happiness of the subsistence communities following
the changes from the Xayaburi dam development project. In both case studies the subsistence
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communities at the local scale experience very different relationship to the river resources as
compared with their national scale counterparts.
Local communities do not view river usage beyond the village level. There is a general
disconnect between the national and local communities in both case studies. The national
respondents view local communities as the “other” and assume that globalized development is
appropriate for people who subsist off of a river. Local communities do not view river usage
beyond the village level.
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7. CONCLUSION
“Ol' man river,
Dat ol' man river
He mus' know sumpin'
But don't say nuthin',
He jes' keeps rollin'
He keeps on rollin' along.
He don' plant taters,
He don't plant cotton,
An' dem dat plants'em
is soon forgotten,
But ol'man river,
He jes keeps rollin'along.”
- Oscar Hammerstein II 1927
7.1. INTRODUCTION
Is dam development a mechanism for human security? The answer is, as presented in this study,
that it depends. The answer depends on who asks the question, what sector of human security is
of concern, and which community is in question.
The conclusion of this work is divided into two sections. The first section revisits my original
questions and restates these questions as statements with a brief rationale for each one. The
second section revisits both case studies in reference to the dam project at three scales.
7.2. RESEARCH ANSWERS
7.2.1. HUMAN SECURITY IS NOT THE SAME AS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT.
Human security as defined in this study captures the stability and the sustainability of a dam
project for immediate time scale and future time scales of politics, the environment, economics,
and socio-culture at multiple scales. Human development as defined in this study is concerned
with changing people’s opportunities for the future. Human development and human security
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appear interchangeably in the literature associated with the international community and across
academic disciplines, but this is changing. The appearance of the Human Security Index from the
United Nations that integrates the Human Development Index and adds new parameters in order
to capture further social and additional environmental factors is an example of this shift.
Although the current model is admittedly advertised as an experiment, it is still problematic in
that it subsumes development in its design, keeping the discourse about security and
development together.
This study further suggests that human security should be considered separate from human
development because they may actually have an inverse relationship depending on what kind of
development is considered at which scale and on what sector highlighted. The results and
discussion show that if dam development increases national economics through job creation,
through revenue from sales of generated electricity, or through boosting domestic electricity
supplies, this will also boost the overall HDI or HSI economic parameters and potentially
increase that country’s ranking compared with other countries. This may be a false sense of
human security increase from dam development as this measures only the national scale as
compared with the international scale in the economics sector. Over time, this may even boost
human health and education rank, two other parameters measured by the HDI. However, security
also encompasses environment and culture – two sectors that can factor into instable human
security conditions when changed from current stability.
Consider the cost of the Renaissance Dam on Consider the cost from the Xayaburi Dam found in
this study to the political perception at international and national scales; the environmental
system when considering the cited costs on the political, environmental, and socio-cultural
sectors at the local, national, and international scales.
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7.2.2. DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS SECURITY DIFFERENTLY AT INTERNATIONAL, NATIONAL, AND
LOCAL SCALES.
This research uses the two case studies of the Renaissance Dam and the Xayaburi Dam to
demonstrate the possible disparity of using only international level quantitative data to describe
change related to dam development and how that impacts overall human security. Dam
development, if viewed through the HDI, will appear to increase the overall HDI rank of the
country and river basin because the GDP will increase, and over time, the educational and health
parameters may increase, but perhaps only marginally if focused on the displaced community.
Likewise, the HSI score will also automatically increase because it is based, in part, on the HDI.
Dams stabilize water resources and flow, so this may also increase the environmental
vulnerability score by decreasing natural disasters associated with drought and flooding. These
increases in the HDI and HSI may be false positives compared with what the experience is like at
the national or local scale communities.
I found through analysis of the qualitative narratives in both case studies that the experiences at
the national and local scale are very different regarding the dam development. The national scale
is composed of people living in larger cities and country capitals with access to many more
resources than are accessible to the local scale communities. National scale respondents live far
from the actual dam sites and are not dependent on the river for their livelihoods.
The national scale in Ethiopia sees the dam as a benefit to national poverty alleviation aims, and
the cost for the local population is a sacrifice to realize this vision for the greater Ethiopian
populous. Renaissance is one step in the greater plan for the development and the “grand
renaissance” of Ethiopia as a country. The increase in available electricity is a first step toward
developing many other national-level development plans.
The national scale in Laos sees the dam as a possible benefit for national poverty alleviation aims
is the government conducts benefit sharing and a transparent process in reinvesting the revenue
into domestic development projects to include infrastructure, health, and education. However,
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many Laotians are concerned about the Xayaburi dam being another example of the Lao
government giving away national resources to neighboring countries with growing populations
and energy and consumption demands.
The local scale communities are subsistence communities depending directly on the river and
related resources for livelihoods and the river is an important centerpiece of culture and their
society. The local scale communities have the potential suffer the biggest losses due to the dam
development in their traditions, cultures, identities, and livelihoods. The local scale communities
also have the potential to experience benefits from the dam development in areas of health,
education, and new opportunities.
7.2.3. DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS SECURITY DIFFERENTLY IN DIFFERENT SECTORS (POLITICAL,
ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIO-CULTURAL).
The results and discussion highlight how the dams, at all scales, have different impacts
dependent on the sector of human security that is highlighted. Dams, at all scales, are significant
for the political sector because they are political decisions.
For the international scale in both case studies, the dams represent threats to come downstream
countries and benefits to others. In the case of Renaissance, Egypt is threatened by the dam to
water supplies for energy generation and storage in Lake Nasser. Sudan sees benefit to flood and
sediment control to downstream dam and agriculture infrastructure. The other Nile countries may
look to the Renaissance Dam as a symbol of change to the political climate of the basin as being
traditionally dominated by Egypt. In Laos, the Xayaburi Dam is benefitting Thailand. Though
some Thai civil society protests the dam, the government is supportive. Cambodia and Vietnam
opposed the dam for reasons of sediment and fish, but have their own development plans too.
The international community has been the most vocal in the Mekong River basin and this dam
project has disrupted the relationship between Lao government and the international community
for the moment.
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For the national scale in Ethiopia the dam has, in general, encouraged national pride and given
support to the Ethiopian government for having political will and creating a more stable
economic environment for Ethiopians. For the national scale in Laos the dam has, in general,
called into question the Lao government plans for the country of Laos and given citizens more
reason to suspect corruption and feel frustrated with the lack of personal freedoms and
participation in the country processes.
The local scale perhaps experiences the biggest political changes. In both case studies, the local
communities are marginalized and subsistence, living without access to markets, healthcare, and
secondary or higher education. The dam projects are changing this aspect completely for the
local scale.
Dams are destructive for environmental sectors at any scale.
Dams are beneficial to economic sectors for reasons of development, though recent studies
suggest otherwise. Overall, the money spent on construction, job creation, and the entire related
infrastructure allows for economic activity in areas where it didn’t exist before.
Dams are beneficial for socio-cultural sector if the community wants modernization and costly
for this sector if the community wants to maintain traditional lifestyles.
7.2.4. PERCEPTION OF WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO HUMAN SECURITY CHANGES DEPENDING ON THE
SCALE OF RESPONDENTS AS WELL AS SECTORS CONSIDERED.
Perception is a slippery concept, but one that merits more attention in future studies of resource
use and system changes. In this study, perception is very different from different scales of
communities. This is exemplified by considering one factor, the river, and how it understood,
described, and assessed in the narratives, as well as in the international assessment. Perception is
influenced in a community by access to information, the type of available information, by
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experience, and by education. Perception is important in this study as it drives decision making,
discourse, emotion, and is measured from the narratives in the human security key.
7.2.5. QUANTITATIVE DATA IS NOT ENOUGH TO DESCRIBE HUMAN SECURITY DIMENSION
IMPACTS OF DAM DEVELOPMENT ON TRANSBOUNDARY RIVERS.
This research finds that a combination of limits and ranking comparisons given in numbers from
the quantitative data in the global indices paired with the context and perceptions given in the
narratives from the qualitative field interview data is a more robust and accurate way to measure
the human security state of present and future systems. Just looking at quantitative data, like the
human development index or human security index, not enough information is provided to
understand multi-scale present state or future event possibility changes to a river basin system
from dam development, especially because development and security are still too intertwined in
the assessment. Qualitative data, through interviews and empirical data collection, add context to
quantitative information in order to give a more holistic understanding of present state and future
event possibilities at multiple scales, but on its own, can provide only hopes and fears about dam
development in a river basin. The combination offers a deeper understanding of possible aspects
in the different scales and sectors of human security that will be impacted by dam development.
Identifying vulnerable or adaptive factors in the communities or river systems can help plan for
future sustainable management of those communities or river systems through the changes
wrought by dam development.
The cases of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Xayaburi Dam demonstrate the
complexity that dam development presents to human security concerns at different scales and in
different sectors. Dam development creates changes that are not necessarily beneficial to related
human and environmental systems. In fact, water development usually results in a riot of
unpredictable changes as well as predicted and regrettable changes. Rivers are dynamic systems
and the surface water that we can see and use is only part of the entire water found in a river
system. Rivers are connected with climate, precipitation, ground water, and ultimately, in most
cases, the ocean. Rivers are temporal, have a pulse, change course and flow according to
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physical precipitation or climate events, or to ground water changes. Rivers are host to a myriad
of biologically dependent systems, and abiotic affected systems. This includes human systems –
economic, political, environmental, and socio-cultural systems. Forcing change, through
development, can result in immeasurable and unforeseen changes to these dependent or affected
systems, unless the systems are resilient and adaptive. Even the most resilient and adaptive
systems have a tipping point, the point at which a system is completely altered and rearranged
into a new state, and this is largely unpredictable. Resulting change can be a cost or benefit,
depending on the system and the scale considered.
The following two sections detail conclusive statements that pertain to each of the two case
studies. These are presented, as in the rest of the document, by scale within each case study.
7.3. CONCLUSIONS ON THE GRAND ETHIOPIAN RENAISSANCE DAM
On an international scale, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has the opportunity to stabilize
human security issues in economic, political, and socio-cultural sectors. This is possible if Nile
basin countries work together to cooperate on basin-wide development plans aimed at using
water resources for agriculture and power, and connecting energy and transportation networks.
The project may set a new precedence in the basin, one that moves past the limitations of the
established Nile Treaty that limits water rights to Egypt and Sudan, and allows upstream
countries rights to develop domestic water resources. The potentials for cooperation are in the
interests of joint development projects for flow management, sediment control, and
establishment of a more extensive regional electricity grid. Flow management has the benefits of
flood control, reduction in evaporation losses, and prevention of sediment build-up in
downstream reservoirs behind Rosaries, Merowe, and High Aswan dams. Given the existing
infrastructural alterations to the Blue Nile downstream, it is not clear how the Renaissance Dam
will significantly alter ecosystems downstream of Sudan’s Blue Nile State.
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The Renaissance Dam has the potential destabilize human security in environmental sector and
possibly the political sector with Egypt. There is the possibility that the Renaissance Dam can
inspire conflict in the basin if Egypt and Ethiopia cannot find a way to work together, This can
be avoided if Ethiopia does not continue unilateral actions, as they appear to be doing at the time
of this writing through ongoing dialogue and tripartite meetings with Egypt and Sudan, and if
shared benefits are highlighted and recognized.
On a national scale, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has the opportunity to stabilize
human security issues in economic, political, and socio-cultural sectors. The dam’s hydroelectric
potential can triple the current MW availability in the domestic grid; the project itself has unified
ethnic divisions to create a pan-Ethiopian sense of self, and may enhance development that
Ethiopia is experiencing in absence of internal and external conflict. The Renaissance Dam is
one step on the way to Ethiopia’s aims to become economically self-sufficient. The dam presents
a loss and destabilizing factor to human security in the environmental sector, the extent to which
is unknown given the current studies. This cost to the environment may become an economic
destabilizing aspect if current issues of erosion continue unabated to shorten the lifespan of the
dam’s production. The Ethiopian government is currently devising a basin-wide approach to
watershed management that has the potential to address erosion concerns. The dam also presents
a destabilizing factor to human security in areas of human health in potential increased malaria
cases. Currently, malaria is a seasonal problem in the basin and people live in scattered
settlements, which lessen the spread of disease. Resettlement plans will gather people together in
new settlements and water will be present year-round, presenting double risk for increase in
malaria cases regardless the Ethiopian government does supply free nets and medicine and plans
to establish a 5 kilometer buffer around the reservoir.
On a local scale, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has the opportunity to stabilize but also
may destabilize human security issues in economic and socio-cultural sectors. The development
brought by the project will offer new opportunities to the local communities in the form of access
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to markets, education, and healthcare. The resettlement plans include permanent structures with
schools, clinics, water, and electricity. But local communities will lose their current traditional
livelihoods of flood recession farming, gold panning, and river fishing. The current local use of
water resources has been sustainable for generations, an example of long-term use. The local
population located just over the border in Sudan is also an unknown factor. Research should be
conducted to understand how many people currently rely on subsistence practices and what
measures will be taken to help these communities adapt to regulated flow regimes and other
disruptions to flood recession farming practices and/or river fishing. The environmental sector
will be completely altered at a local scale. The impacts of this to ecosystems reliant upon cyclical
water flow patterns are unknown. To respond to the environmental costs, mitigation could be
established by creating an environmental conservation zone around the reservoir that makes
exception for the existing communities. To respond to problems of sedimentation, a basin-wide
strategy for erosion prevention and reforestation could be introduced and sediment gates could
be installed at the base of the dam.
In order for dam development to maximize benefit and minimize cost to human security issues at
local, national, and international scales, dam development could be managed from systemic and
complex approach exemplified in this study. This requires that each sector and scale be
considered separately for a comprehensive set of possible solutions to potential costs. In the case
of internationally shared rivers, emphasis on cooperation, planning, and benefit-sharing across
scales, communities, and sectors, is vital to human security and multi-scale stability.
7.4. CONCLUSIONS ON THE XAYABURI DAM
On an international scale, the Xayaburi Dam has the opportunity to stabilize human security
issues in the economic sector, and possibly in the political and the environmental sectors. The
political sector is possible if regional benefit sharing is more seriously explored and highlighted.
The way that Xayaburi has the opportunity to stabilize human security in the environmental
sector is indirect, but important to note. The project highlights pressing issues connected to
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environmental change and regional economic development that is resulting in significant land-
use changes. These changes need to be addressed and better understood in order for future
sustainable development planning to be successful.
The dam has the potential to destabilize human security in political, environmental, and socio-
culture sectors. Though on an international scale the dam has allowed stronger political and
economic ties with Thailand, it has caused regional diplomatic strain with the resident
international community, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Xayaburi is being constructed in Laos and the
Lao government will receive some economic benefit from the sale of electricity to Thailand, the
main benefits of the development, electricity, are going to Thailand. The dam is, overall, a sign
of development change at the international scale for the Mekong River basin. The dam will block
passage of fish in this stretch of the Mekong River with unknown environmental consequences.
The reservoir is also going to be used as a fish farm which will have unknown consequences on
already stressed local wild fish populations.
On a national scale, the Xayaburi Dam has the opportunity to stabilize human security issues in
economic and socio-cultural sectors. Twenty percent of the generated electricity from Xayaburi
will stay in the domestic grid, and revenue from the sale of the remaining eighty percent will be
reinvested in domestic development projects. Xayaburi dam is the first in a series of several
planned dams on the Mekong in Laos. This dam may be one more step in a direction out of
poverty for the Lao government.
The dam presents a destabilizing factor to human security in the political and environmental
sectors. Discussions and decisions about Xayaburi have not been open and national respondents
do not feel confident about the government’s intentions given the recent disappearance of a
highly visible civil society representative and suspected corruption in the government. The
environmental costs are unknown given the current studies. This cost to the environment may
become an economic destabilizing aspect if there is a loss to the fish populations. The Xayaburi
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Project is currently conducting fish population monitoring and the Lao government redesigned
the dam to allow for fish passage, but the overwhelming feeling is doubtful as to the success of
this engineered solution.
On a local scale, the Xayaburi Dam has the opportunity to stabilize human security in political,
economic, and socio-cultural sectors. The development brought by the project will offer new
opportunities to the local communities in the form of access to markets, education, and
healthcare. The resettlement plans include roads, schools, clinics, water, and electricity. The
development will also bring these marginalized communities into the national community in
Laos by allowing more consistent contact with the nearby cities. Already, local communities are
taking advantage of new roads and new employment opportunities to change their livelihoods
and earn an income away from a subsistence lifestyle. However, these stabilizing factors may
instead prove to destabilize the local communities.
The dam has the potential to destabilize human security in environmental, economic, and socio-
culture sectors. The environmental sector will be completely altered at a local scale. The impacts
of this to ecosystems reliant upon cyclical water flow patterns are unknown. However, locals are
already experiencing significant environmental changes to render the future of the river system
already unknown. Local communities will lose their current traditional livelihoods of flood
recession farming, gold panning, and river fishing. The current local use of water resources has
been sustainable for generations, an example of long-term use. If the relocated village is any sign
of things to come the outlook for the economic and socio-culture system for the local Laotians is
bleak in the short-term. The adjustment period of one year has proved to be not long enough for
compensation, given the narratives of the local respondents in the relocated village. Many people
are returning to the Mekong to continue their traditional way of life and not able to fully rely on
the new schemes for farming, raising animals, and fish farming. The government had not
organized the land-use issues until very late in the growing season and as a result, the relocated
village had to import much of its food.
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In order for dam development to maximize benefit and minimize cost to human security issues at
local, national, and international scales, dam development could be managed from systemic and
complex approach exemplified in this study. This requires that each sector and scale be
considered separately for a comprehensive set of possible solutions to potential costs. In the case
of internationally shared rivers, emphasis on cooperation, planning, and benefit-sharing across
scales, communities, and sectors, is vital to human security and multi-scale stability.
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8. POSTSCRIPT
One of my committee members kindly requested that I compose a postscript to my work to share
my research experience with future graduate students. This is my attempt.
Research is the most liberating, trying, and creative process of the PhD experience. As a PhD
student I entered into my program four years ago with vague research ideas and a very keen
interest to get out into the field to get my hands dirty. I wanted to experience firsthand the people
and places that I intended to write about. I felt that fieldwork, being on the ground, was the
missing component to years of research on environmental security as an analyst for the US
Government. When working on globally relevant topics or complex problems, doing all the
research from a desk is limited. I think that as a researcher the importance of inserting yourself
into your subject’s world as an objective observer and data collector cannot be overemphasized.
You learn much more in the field than you can in the classroom – though achieving the marriage
of the two is what I finally achieved through the PhD experience.
My advice is this: breathe the air and drink the water from the rivers about which you write. Stay
in your field site for a period of time beyond your comfort zone. Be creative with your funding.
Be flexible with your plans. Make friends with locals and distance yourself from your normal
circles of influence for a period of time. Lose yourself a bit. Become a part of the research. This
is integral to any deeper understanding of a study. However, remember that you are different
from your subjects. You come from a different set of life experiences that can be useful to share.
You also come from a place of privilege in the ivory tower. Eventually you have to return to that
tower and make sense of what you studied and what you experienced to those who were not
there. You have to be able to communicate the importance of your study absent of the laughter
you experienced over meals, over cultural confusion, over some challenge you failed at or
succeeded with the help of locals. You must do this on paper. You must adhere to the limitations
of what a thesis or a dissertation require. This is the challenge: reduce the sunlight and river
energy into black letters on a white screen and make someone care.
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It took me 2 years fleshing out ideas with my advisor to arrive at a feasible research question,
and supportive set of sub-questions. My advisor reminded me at my defense that, in fact, the
email I sent to him to discuss working together 6 years ago suggested the very thing I
accomplished. During my initial 2 years at Oregon State University I took classes, expanded my
mind, and came up dry in a few attempts to collect, build, measure, and make something of piles
of data and potential case studies. I glued on feathered wings and eventually I got it to fly.
However, spreadsheets were left unfinished, large datasets ended up being useless, case studies
turned out to be too logistically complicated. Aside from wasted time, intellectual confusion, and
a bit of frustration, each one of these set-backs taught me something more about what I was
looking for. I just had to pick myself up, dust myself off, and try again. Failure and rejection
become constant companions on the PhD road and you learn to make friends with them.
During my second year, I decided to build two case studies: the Rogun Dam in Tajikistan and the
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia. I worked persistently at building a relationship
with an NGO in Uzbekistan to pursue a case study on the Rogun dam, a controversial dam
project in Tajikistan on the Amu Darya River. Ethiopian contacts were tougher. I had been
turned onto Ethiopia’s ambitious dam project by a former colleague. I read about the project on
the web, couldn’t find any confirmation of whether the project was actually happening, but
wanted to dig deeper. I met an Ethiopian professor at a professional conference who spoke about
Renaissance Dam (at that time it was still referred to as the Millennium Dam) from a position of
national pride. The project was real. I reached out to some of the networks connected to my
professors and Oregon State University. The same NGO I was speaking with in Uzbekistan had
an office in Addis Ababa. The director cycling out was interested to host me; the director cycling
in was not. Meanwhile, I applied to at least a dozen funding vehicles for research support.
Fulbright looked promising. I was shortlisted for Uzbekistan, but some months later I was told to
change my country to another Central Asian destination. I wrote an amendment for Tajikistan. I
was not awarded the funding. I still bought my ticket to Tashkent.
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The rejection letters started rolling in. Rejection letters are usually short, usually via email, and
painfully impersonal. There is no way to know if you’ve done something wrong, if it was just the
competition, or if your topic is not popular. In the case of large national-level dam projects, the
answer can also be wrapped up in the delicate politics that influence and surround dam
development. I thought that if the topic is too political, this is all the more reason to find a way to
make the research happen! Then it happened. I was awarded a $10,000 award for geographic
field work to go to Ethiopia through one of the funding applications I submitted. This blew my
mind. I contacted the NGO again in Addis. Armed with funding now in hand. I bought my ticket
to Addis Ababa without a logistical plan. I looked up the dam site on Google maps. No large
towns nearby. No infrastructure aside from Comboni Missionary houses. I reached out to the
director of the American Comboni chapter, and he got back with me, assured me that the
Missions would receive me and help out as best they could. He warned me that sometimes there
was not enough food in these remote locations, so to be prepared.
Weeks before I left Oregon for Ethiopia I attended an event to raise money to dig wells in
Ethiopia. There, I met a local couple who had done 13 years of field research in Ethiopia, exactly
in the remote area where I was planning to travel! They gave me tips about how to conduct
myself in the field, what to prepare for, what health precautions to take like Probiotics and
antimalarials. They also suggested the name of a possible translator. The week before I left
Oregon to make my way to Ethiopia I received a surprise email from the director of the NGO
offices in Addis Ababa. The letter read, “Congratulations, we are willing to sponsor you for a
business visa,”...coincidentally, I flew to New York where the Ethiopian consulate to the UN is
located. I contacted them. They could put the visa in my passport with 48 hours turnaround. I
mailed my passport and crossed my fingers. On the way to the airport, in a horrendous rain
storm, my friend drove me to the Ethiopian consulate to pick up my passport. I went into the
building, up to the 3
rd
floor, while my friend circled the block. I found a woman behind a glass
wall. She handed my passport through a slot. Everything was in good order! Next stop, Ethiopia!
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I arrived in Ethiopia with no network, few contacts. I knew that much of what I needed to
accomplish would take divine intervention and patience. On my first day I approached a Catholic
compound in downtown Addis. I was admitted into the monk’s cells of the Capuchin Franciscan
Order and remained there for the next 2 weeks. I noted straight away that the dam project I had
come to research was the biggest news in the entire country. The Ethiopian priests filled me in. I
started making plans for language lessons and to rent an apartment in Addis Ababa for the
duration of my intended stay in Ethiopia. Then, the leading religious figure, the Orthodox
Christian Patriarch, and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia both passed away, suddenly and
unexpectedly. The country was thrown into mourning. The mourning took place in public, on the
street. Traffic patterns changed, demonstrations were held, commuting became difficult, the
radio played sad piano music in the minibus taxis. I cancelled my plans for language class and
postponed on apartment hunting. One of the priests in the mission suggested we travel south to
get to a safer place out of the capital city, just in case.
I spent the next ten days in Southern Nations town of Sodo in a complex that included a
monastery, convent, technical high school, and girl’s school. I used the time to learn more about
Ethiopia and make strategic plans about how to find willing interviewees. The priest and I took
local transport for 8 hours to get to Sodo. This trip introduced me to how local Ethiopians travel
around the country. I ended up using this system often in Ethiopia, though the system is
completely in Amharic language and not easily penetrable even by local Ethiopians. Most of the
public transport is in horrible condition. There are not enough buses. People fight to get a seat.
The fatality by motor vehicle accident is the highest in the world. This is probably because of
overcrowding, no seatbelts, and the incredible risks that the drivers take to make good time.
There are highway policeman who are meant to fine drivers who go over their limits on number
of passengers, but unfortunately, these guys are usually corrupt and just take bribes. The roads
though, are quite good. Brand new in fact. Built by “the Chinese”. Despite the risks, I found over
the months staying in Ethiopia that overland travel is a wonderful way to understand the
landscape of Ethiopia, to understand the difference between the urban centers and the rural
312
populations, to experience the changes in region and in culture. Ethiopia is a country divided by
ethnicity. Most people walk along the road, not having the means for car or bus. Hairstyles,
clothes, skin color, bone structure all change with the changing places passed through.
Once it looked like there would not be any major revolution in the streets of Addis Ababa, I
returned to the city and rented a room in the house of an Ethiopian family. I had a meeting with
one of the lead researchers at the NGO that sponsored my business visa and found that though
they were willing to offer me an office, they were not willing to help me network for interviews.
The dam was too political.
With the help of the Catholic Missions, I began to reach out across the city, looking for people to
interview, guaranteeing anonymity, and investigating how I might gain access to the dam site. I
wanted to find out who I needed to approach. I was a ferenji – a foreigner – and people went out
of their way to help me figure out the Addis Ababa public transport. Locals take minivans –
called the line taxis or blue donkeys – that take you anywhere in the city. There are no street
signs. Everything is noted by neighborhoods and the neighborhoods are noted by landmarks. I
had to memorize the urban landscape. I conducted my first round of interviews with
professionals and tried to snowball from these contacts. People in Ethiopia do not respond to
email. There is no voice mail. People actually are very good about answering their phone. Every
meeting I set up was either over the phone or because I tracked people down at their place of
work. I answered my phone any time it rang, day and night. Finally, during an interview at a
coffee shop with a young professional, I was given the blueprint of how to approach the
government for access to the dam site.
I was told to go to the main Ethiopian Electric Power Company (EEPCO) building in the center
of the city. This interviewee suggested I find the CEO office and ask his secretary for a meeting.
I entered the building, showed my US passport, and waved in with a smile. I located the CEO’s
office, but his secretary said he was not available. I decided to wait. She wanted to speak with
313
me in English; she had studied as a girl in an American school. We spoke about her family and
mine for about 15 minutes. Suddenly she stood up, smiled, and knocked on the CEO’s door. He
was there and she told him in Amharic who I was. He received me warmly and we spoke for
about an hour. I explained my research intentions, offered my letter from OSU (I carried official
letters from my program everywhere I went. Letters, with official stamps and signatures, are very
important), and asked permission to travel to the dam site. I explained that I had already a plan to
take the local transportation to the missions and make a plan from there as to how to find a
translator. The CEO surprised me. He not only granted my access to the site, he made
arrangements that I should travel with the project engineer on his next trip out to the site. He also
arranged meetings for me with two additional employees of EEPCO so I could better understand
the immediate and future plans of development in Ethiopia.
A week later, I met with the project engineer in his offices across town. He explained that I
should be prepared to leave at short notice and that he wasn’t sure if we would fly or drive. I
packed a bag and waited for the phone call. It finally came. A car was coming to pick me up one
morning. I waited a few hours and wasn’t sure if this was indeed happening. Eventually the
driver arrived. We ended up flying to a city near to the dam site, which cut the driving time out
by about 12 hours. The roads are not paved in this part of Ethiopia. As it was, we had to travel 5
hours on bumpy roads to the dam site. We got a flat tire on the way, but our driver was quick and
efficient to repair it.
I spent about 5 days at the dam site during my initial visit, was free to speak with employees to
some extent, and was given an extensive tour of operations. I was also free to wander away from
the construction areas to view the river and climb up a hillside for a birds-eye view. I fell in love
with this river valley immediately. The place is green and lush, teeming with bird life, exotic and
curious to the senses, the locals were mysterious, ducking off the road into the tall grass as soon
as I spotted them walking toward me. I felt eager to get into the villages.
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I had, over the course of the first month in Ethiopia, tracked down the translator that the Ahlands
had suggested I ask to work with me. He, it turns out, was also well-known by the Catholic
missionaries for his mediation skills. He is one of the only English/Gumuz speaking people in
Ethiopia. There are only 200,000 Gumuz speakers in the region (Ethiopia and Sudan combined).
I was given his phone number and rang him. When I was finally able to get a hold of him –
service is spotty in remote areas – he said he was more than willing to help. He arrived on my
fourth day at the site. I was told that I had to seek permission of a local government official in
order to move in the local villages. I was sent with two high ranking members of the project staff
and my translator two hours away to visit the local government official. We arrived at a small
poor town, houses of mud, streets unpaved. We drove around town a bit, looking for the
government official. He found us. We went into his offices to ask for permission formerly. He
refused our request. The jurisdiction of the EEPCO officials, it turned out, was only for the dam
site itself. I needed separate permission, preferably from the president of the state, to enter the
villages and speak with locals.
I returned to Addis the following day with lead engineer. That was September. I did not return to
the project site until November. I tried different channels and then just waited. I went to the
Ministry of Water and Energy. I made phone calls to the lead engineer who promised to find the
way on my behalf. I had lost my room in the Ethiopian family’s house because construction had
irreparably damaged their water and electricity lines. I bounced between another Catholic
mission and friendly researchers at the campus where the NGO who had sponsored my visa were
located. I decided to travel while I waited. Standing in an airport, headed for Addis Ababa, I
struck up a conversation with the man in line behind me. He told me that he lived in LA for
many years. He asked what I was doing in Ethiopia, why I was traveling on my own. I told him
about my research. I also told him about how things had stalled out because I couldn’t find the
right person to give me permission to conduct research in the villages. He said he knew who I
had to speak with and gave me his phone number. It turned out that he was the childhood friend
of the minister I needed to ask. It turns out that officials were not comfortable to grant my
315
request. I had to go to the top leaders to get permission and from there, all things would be
possible.
I found this minister’s offices but my US passport was not opening this fortress. I began calling
and texting the minister and eventually his secretary got back with me and we established what
day he could see me. This was a full four weeks after my initial trip to the field. I met with him
and he listened to what I planned to do and we spoke for about 45 minutes. He granted me
permission. Two weeks later I was in possession of more interviews, two letters of permission
from federal ministers, a letter of permission from EEPCO, and permission granted from the
president of the state where the dam is being constructed. The government arranged that I should
have a car and a guard while conducting my work with my translator. I was driven out to the dam
site. Seventeen hours on bad roads is intense, but I was grateful for the lift and not to have to take
two days required by public transport. I was hosted at the dam site and fed.
Issues came up, translation limitations, miscommunications, gender complications, missing
chiefs. We approached local chiefs to gain permission to interview in each village. We brought
our letters, but most of the people we met were illiterate. We ended up transporting local people
to the dam clinic, people who were sick with malaria, children who were so sick they were
unconscious. The field work was intense due to the heat and conditions. I worked with both the
guard, who was our driver, and my translator for 10 to 12 hours a day. I then spent each evening
transcribing the interviews until I collapsed in bed. During the day we worked as a team. We
laughed, argued politics, explored the villages, discussed the culture, and finally were successful
in completing the interviews. I was flown back to Addis grateful for how smoothly everything
went. Patience won out in the end.
The rest of my time spent in Ethiopia was conducting follow up interviews, analyzing the
interviews with the situation mapping, delivering thank you notes, experimenting with network
analysis software, and giving lectures at two universities. During this time I was informed that it
316
would be impossible to study the Rogun dam. I cancelled my ticket to Tashkent. I replaced the
case study on the Amu Darya to the Xayaburi dam on the Mekong in Laos. I would begin the
process all over again for the next five months. This is another story.
Field research went so well because I met generous and helpful local people who went out of
their way to make sure I could get interviews and could visit the dam sites. Because of this, I
made friendships that persist and had such a rich experience in both places. For my part, I found
that honesty, openness, and persistence helped my work succeed. It helped to stay in the
countries longer than a few weeks, to connect with the local scene, to find peers, to relate.
Field research, if you have the opportunity to do it, is the best part of the PhD process. The
experience can shape you as a researcher, and as a person. You can test your limits and
boundaries. The work can be a very challenging experience, but it can be so rewarding. You can
apply all the junk you learn in your coursework. It turns out that much of what you learn is not,
in fact, useless. In my experience, the rewards of field research outweigh the challenges one
million times. The places you have privilege to see, the people the honor to meet, the food and
music and laughter, even the tears, are all so enriching.
I had a unique opportunity and experience. I took a big risk in being open, not planning too
much, and trusting the process. Each new layer you can peel back in another place, whether it is
a foreign country or just a new community, reveals new levels of complexity and connection.
Work such as this – poking around sensitive topics, like controversial dam projects – takes a
level of respect and maturity as a researcher. The doors do not open all at once, but they do open
if you ask. Sometimes you have to ask more than once.
The only warning I would give is this: the world is not going to care as much as you do about the
things you learn out there. Find a way to tell your story that honors those who told you theirs.
Don’t give up your persistence – the persistence you learn in the field – in the face of rules and
317
regulations, methods and lit reviews, and the other conformities of the ivory tower. You might
find that the world of academics is too limited, too calculated, too removed to understand or even
take interest in what is really going, what you have dug up to show to the daylight. This does not
mean that you too should grow apathetic once the dust is washed out of your clothes and you cut
that sun-bleached hair. Find alternatives. I don’t aim to publish in the most reputable journals to
boost my academic career, instead I reach out to free online publications to get the story out, and
quickly, and to my audience in Ethiopia and Laos. I keep a blog about my research and have
made many interesting and fruitful connections with other people interested in my topics. I write
for a student newspaper at a college I attended in the 1990s. Because of these efforts I was
brought to a workshop in Egypt to speak on the dam in Ethiopia. I was offered my first job the
week after I defended because of my web-presence. I speak with reporters and researchers from
all over the world who reach out to me to better understand the situation in Ethiopia. I talk about
the river. I bring up the environmental issues, the social issues. I remind them about the reality of
the 20,000 Gumuz people who will be relocated. I describe that amazing river valley. I talk about
the Ethiopian government’s honest intentions to create economic development opportunities and
alleviate the sufferings from poverty. I highlight how the situation is too complex to quickly
judge and dismiss as good or bad.
Remember your integrity. As a researcher, the work is not about you. You are a vessel. You are
expected to be objective. You will find that this is actually very rare in the world. Try to be
objective but at the same time remember to be reverent. Try to be an advocate for truth, even if
the truth is different than you expected it to be. Approach global challenges thoughtfully. Our
global discourse is missing balanced understanding, missing dialogue without agenda. Be brave.
Find a way that will inspire others to listen. Push the boundaries. Push your own boundaries.
Gently. And never forget to honor the work and those who helped you create it.
318
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