Hydropower, development, and poverty reduction in Laos: promises realized or broken?

ABSTRACT While hydropower projects have been seen as a sort of panacea for clean energy production in an increasingly environmentally-sensitive time, allowing for continued development, dam projects have nevertheless been a source of significant negative social and environmental impacts. The topic of hydropower projects, associated political-administrative processes, and the outcomes of these projects with regard to poverty reduction remain understudied. This paper reviews hydropower projects and impacts on poverty and environmental quality in the case of Laos, querying intent and realization of goals. The research questions asked in this paper are: How have hydropower projects in Laos affected the nation’s economic prospects? Has promised poverty reduction, particularly among the nation’s rural poor, been seen as a result of infrastructure projects? The paper begins with a view of Laos in terms of development and priorities. A section on infrastructure development, in light of poverty reduction, follows. Next, hydropower projects and implications for forest management are discussed. It is suggested that the connection between electricity provision and poverty reduction in rural areas is unclear; further, the benefit of mega-scale energy projects is limited to increases in energy export, with direct benefits being seen primarily by officials and elites.