Dr. Ian Baird

Ian Baird (UW-Madison)

Title: The Political Ecology of Cross-Sectoral Cumulative Impacts: Modern Landscapes, Large Hydropower Dams and Industrial Tree Plantations in Laos and Cambodia

Abstract: Environmental and social impact assessment is now a widely accepted tool in the Mekong Region for assessing the impacts of big hydropower dams and large-scale industrial tree plantations. However, the cross-sectoral and cumulative effects of such projects have not been sufficiently addressed. Where cumulative impacts have been considered, studies typically focus on a single sector, such as multiple hydropower dams. A separation between land and water management frequently often leads those assessing project impacts to overlook or underestimate project impacts. In this presentation I draw on case studies from Laos and Cambodia to consider interactions between industrial plantations and hydropower projects. In particular, I strive to demonstrate that it is the diverse livelihoods of rural-based villagers engaged in semi-subsistence economies that crucially connect aquatic and terrestrial environments. The combined social and environmental changes wrought by resource projects can thus produce particular challenges for these communities, as multiple systems are enclosed and degraded.