Cambodia: Villagers displaced by Lower Sesan 2 Dam say govt. proposed relocation site too far, cash not enough to cover loss of property; proposed two new dams could drop fish biomass, inundate 21 villages
"'This is development': Cambodia's electricity push leaves the dead swimming in their graves and the living begging for land",
...62 of the village's ethnic Kreung, Bunong and Lao minority families...refused the government's offer to move them to a newly-built village. Instead they have decamped to a settlement near the reservoir that flooded their homes, and are now stuck in limbo.
They say the government's proposed site to is too far from the Sesan River, where their people have fished for generations, and the cash is not enough to cover the loss of property and crops.
...Cambodia is considering two new dams, both of which would dwarf the Lower Sesan 2 in terms of size and output, as well as the impact on land and fisheries.
...Underscoring its importance to Cambodia's power plan, Prime Minister Hun Sen inaugurated the project, dismissing the concerns of "radical environmentalists"....
...The project generated controversy even before its approval in 2012. ...[A] 2012 study predicted that the Lower Sesan 2 Dam alone would cause a 9.3 per cent drop in fish biomass throughout the Mekong River Basin – "the biggest inland fishery in the world".
...Upriver from Sambor, the proposed 978MW Stung Treng Dam would inundate 21 villages that are home to 10,617 people, according to the Mekong River Commission, which is comprised of the four countries overseeing the river's development.