China Energy Industry
China’s Lacang River dams – impacts already ‘extensive’
Already, newly completed cascade dams along China’s Lancang River (Upper Mekong) are altering the river’s hydrological regime and sediment flow, threatening fish migration and posing a risk to food security and livelihoods. As more cascade dams roll out along the Lancang, International Rivers offers a better understanding through their research of the environmental impacts of current development and what further impacts can be expected as more projects come online.
The Environmental and Social Impacts of Lancang Dams
International Rivers have spent two and a half years travelling, researching and collecting data to gain a better understanding of the environmental impacts of dam development on the upper reaches of China’s Lancang River (the Upper Mekong), a waterway which passes through more countries than any other river in Asia. Despite the completion of a cascade of six hydropower dams in 2014 — with another seven dams to come, along the middle reaches of the Lancang-Mekong River — International Rivers’ findings reveal the existing dams’ impacts are “extensive with significant implications for the millions of people who rely directly on the lower Mekong river for their livelihoods.”