Xayaburi Dam
Laos pushed ahead with the Xayaburi Dam to become the largest energy exporter in the region, or the “Battery of Asia.”
A massive 1,285 megawatt Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River is built by Ch. Karnchang, one of Thailand’s largest construction companies. However, the dam is expected to bring enormous profits to these companies and the Lao government. However, 202,000 people living near the land used for the construction and operation of XHPP have been directly affected and at least 2,100 people need to be resettled.
Changes in stream flow and level of water will cause substantial threat in countries downstream and will have an impact on some of the river’s complex ecosystems that serve as important fish habitats including the iconic Mekong Giant Catfish. Long-term environmental effects will decline a number fish stocks that feed millions of people along the riverbanks and reduce food security and agricultural productivity. Not only it heightens the environmental change and but also it increases more Climate Change threats in the Lower Mekong Basin.
