P2

Food or electricity?
Dams and the Mekong River
dam เขือน

The Mekong River (แม่นาโขง)*

ํ , which flows through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and
Vietnam, is the largest river in Southeast Asia and its many different kinds of
fish feed more people than any other river. Tens of millions of people in Laos,
Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam rely on the Mekong River as their main source rely พึงพา
source แหล่ง
of food because the Mekong has so many fish in it.

Governments and companies construct construct สร้าง

produce
generate ผลิต
dams to generate electricity. The word
“hydro” means “water”, so we say that
dams generate hydroelectric power
because dams use the energy of the water
to make electricity.

The Lao government says that

hydroelectric dams will distribute distribute จ่าย
electricity to people who don’t have it.
Now 100% of Lao people have access to access การเข้าถึง
electricity,1 so building electricity network เครือข่าย
networks has given them electricity.
Laos, one of the poorest countries in the
area, has a plan to be “the battery of
Southeast Asia” and selling electricity
mostly to Thailand.2 But there are questions - who will benefit from the sale of
electricity to other countries? All Lao people? Just the Lao government? Just the
Lao elites? And finally, are those benefits worth the problems that dams create? elites ชนชันสูง

First, let’s look at the problems. Many problems occur from building dams, occur เกิดขึน
flood นําท่วม
including floods and droughts from humans controlling the flow of water drought ภัยแล้ง
rather than nature. Dams sometimes break, causing communities, roads, and
lives to be destroyed. In 2018, the Xe Pian Xe Namnoy dam in southern Laos, community
ชุมชน, หมู่บ้าน
built by a South Korean company, broke. Over 14,000 people lost their homes
and 71 people died.3 The South Korean builder did not take responsibility for
until
the dam breaking.4 As of 2021, the villagers still had not received enough as of จนถึง
villager ชาวบ้าน
compensation from either the Lao government or the South Korean company.5 compensation
การชดเชย

There is another big problem with dams: jobs. After the dams are constructed,
manage
only a few workers are needed to operate the dam. Dams do not create jobs. operate จัดการ
They only create a lot of jobs when they are being built. After the dam is built,
fishermen cannot be fishermen anymore. Even people who grow vegetables or rice in
addition to fishing cannot farm their land. Builders of the dams force the communities

Copyright © 2024 Matthew Miklas – Contact the author for permission to distribute this document.
near the river to move to higher ground, which isn’t as good for farming.6 A
dam in Laos being built by a Vietnamese company is compensating farmers compensate ชดเชย

who must move away from the river by giving them 1/5 of the market value market value
มูลค่าตลาด
of the land that they own, so they don’t have enough money to by good land in
another location.7 This means that many people in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam
and even some in Thailand will have no way to support their families. They will
not be able to grow or have access to food like they did before the dams were
built.

The governments of Southeast Asia have a choice: letting poor people have
ability
easy access to food, or developing their country’s hydroelectric capacity. As capacity สมรรถนะ,
ความสามารถ
over 20 dams have already been build and 50 more are planned,8 it’s clear that
the Lao government has already made that choice.

oversupply
More questions remain. Thailand already has an oversupply of electricity.9 อุปทานส่วนเกิน
Thailand also has major solar projects to generate its own electricity.10 So why
is the Laos government planning to continue building fifty more dams when it
already has too many? What’s more, the state-owned enterprise (SOE) that state-owned
enterprise
provides electricity inside Laos is charging Lao people more and more money รัฐวิสาหกิจ
for electricity even though Laos is producing more electricity.11 We might ask boom เจริญ
the question again: are just the Lao elites benefitting from this dam boom?
* In English, ‘Mekong’ is pronounced มี-คอง
>>>> Choose one of these two activities to do with your friend(s) <<<<

PAIR or GROUP SPEAKING ACTIVITY – Talk the Box!

1 2 3
You are from Laos. Do You work at the Lao SOE. You are a dam builder.
you want to see more Explain to a Lao villager why Explain why we need
A dams built? his electricity prices must go dams.
up.
You work at EGAT**. You are a farmer near the If you could meet one of
Will you buy electricity Mekong. What will you do if the Lao elites, what might
B from Laos? Explain why there are floods or droughts you like to ask him or her?
or why not. in your area?
Give us 3 reasons why Do you like fish? Explain why Have you seen the
C you need electricity. or why not. Mekong River? If yes,
what did you do there?
** การไฟฟ้าฝ่ ายผลิตแห่งประเทศไทย
PAIRWORK ACTIVITY - Interview role-play: Interviewer asks, expert answers!
1. Can you tell us why the Mekong River is special?
2. Why do governments build dams?
3. How do hydroelectric dams work?
4. What are some of the problems with hydroelectric dams? Can you give an example?
5. Please talk to us a little about dams and jobs.
6. How do dams affect farmers & fishermen who live near the rivers?
7. How many dams does Laos have? How many are planned?
8. Explain Laos’ future problems with Thailand as a buyer of Lao electricity.
9. In your opinion, why does the Lao government want to build so many dams?

Copyright © 2024 Matthew Miklas – Contact the author for permission to distribute this document.