Lower Sesan 2 is a 400-megawatt hydropower dam in northeastern Cambodia operated by the Chinese–Cambodian–Vietnamese joint venture Hydro Power Lower Sesan 2 Company Limited. Under investigation by various actors since the 1990s, but not approved until 2012, Lower Sesan 2 is Cambodia’s largest hydropower dam. The project has met significant resistance because of its impacts on indigenous communities and aquatic ecosystems. The dam became fully operational in 2018 but has struggled to achieve full generation capacity due to drought. Frictions continue over population resettlement, livelihood impacts, human rights violations, and concerns about the project’s contribution to cumulative environmental change in the Mekong Basin.

Project Impacts

• Employment: The company reported employing more than 2,000 local people during construction. In September 2021, the company told local media that around 110 Chinese and 100 Cambodians were employed in operations.
• Fisheries: The dam has dramatically altered water and fish circulation in the Srepok and Sesan rivers, with implications for the Mekong Basin more broadly.
• Deforestation: Forests have been logged in areas flooded by the dam reservoir and beyond.
• Land and fisheries conflict: Conflicts over land and fisheries between local communities have escalated since the project due to a major influx of migrants during and after dam construction.
• Indigenous peoples: Frictions exist between the Bunong parties in an indigenous communal land title claim area and the Stung Treng Provincial Government.
• Displacement and threats: Involuntary resettlement has dramatically disrupted community livelihoods, cultural ties to customary lands, and intracommunity relationships. Villagers reported intimidation by the military and police during episodes of active resistance to the dam.
• Transparency: Villagers identified poor transparency on the part of government and the company during resettlement negotiations, which fell short of international safeguards, including those that protect the rights of indigenous communities.