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Aspirations undone: hydropower and the (re) shaping of livelihood pathways in northern Laos

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Title Aspirations undone: hydropower and the (re) shaping of livelihood pathways in northern Laos
 
Creator Suhardiman, Diana
Rigg, J.
 
Subject hydropower
planning
resettlement
livelihoods
compensation
rules
procedures
farming systems
strategies
decision making
dam construction
institutions
rural areas
households
villages
upland crops
 
Description This paper looks at how local livelihoods and to a certain extent their transitions are embedded in, and in thrall to, power relations at higher levels. Placing the (re)shaping of livelihood pathways within the context of top-down hydropower planning, it shows how the latter predetermines farm households’ current farming strategies and future livelihood pathways. Taking two villages along the Mekong River, both of which are to be impacted by the planned Pak Beng hydropower dam in Pak Beng district, Oudomxay province, the paper illustrates how the pathways that rural livelihoods are taking in northern Laos are being shaped by decisions and processes embedded in national and regional exigencies. We argue that top-down approaches in hydropower planning, as manifested in the current institutional vacuum to formally deal with resettlement and compensation issues at the village level result in village authorities’ and potentially affected villagers’ inability to strategically convey and negotiate their views and concerns. Moreover, we reveal how it is the specter of change which drives livelihood adaptation, not change itself, thus illustrating how the defined compensation rules and procedures (re)shape farm households’ farming strategies and future livelihood pathways even prior to the construction of the hydropower dam.
 
Date 2021-12
2021-03-15T05:04:21Z
2021-03-15T05:04:21Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Suhardiman, Diana; Rigg, J. 2021. Aspirations undone: hydropower and the (re) shaping of livelihood pathways in northern Laos. Agriculture and Human Values, 38(4):963-973. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-021-10203-3]
0889-048X
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/113000
https://rdcu.be/cgiE6
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-021-10203-3
H050311
 
Language en
 
Rights Copyrighted; all rights reserved
Limited Access
 
Format 38(4):963-973
 
Publisher Springer Science and Business Media LLC
 
Source Agriculture and Human Values