Food, Water, Energy Security Tradeoffs: 3-S River Basin and Tonle Sap

Transcription

1 The Nexus Realities Visioning Day: Food, Water, Energy Security Tradeoffs: 3-S River Basin and Tonle Sap By T. Farrell, T. Piman, T. Cochrane and M. Arias IUCN Nexus conference, March 2014

2 Hydropower and Agriculture Powerplay dynamics between countries Laos receives 70% of benefits/export revenues, with Chinese and Thai companies investing receiving half of those benefits in early phases. Social impacts of dams and ELCs forced migration and population displacement of hundreds of thousands have to resettle benefit sharing mechanisms required. Weak enforcement legislation. Massive land conversion - ELCs have wiped out 2.6 million ha in Cambodia in the last two years alone. Similar rates in Laos. Displaced thousands of small scale farmers. And no taxes/revenues for protection collected/income from farming leaves the country. Trade-offs-Loss of 30% of protein sources (fish) for parts of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Not easily replaceable, recent study showed that there is not enough land in Cambodia left to grow meat protein

3 Greater Mekong Geopolitics and the nexus Countries are integrated and connected, hugely dependent on resource extraction and conversion to meet poverty alleviation and development goals. Dependence on ecosystem goods and services, yet ecosystem conversion/degradation and services are being lost and decisions made do not recognize tradeoffs. Service trade-offs are both trans-boundary and domestic. Decisions must be made about which services are most critical, to whom, and which tradeoffs are acceptable.

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5 Tonle Sap Fisheries Vital for Cambodia s food security Fourth-largest inland fishery in the world, larger than U.S. and Canada combined; 12% of GDP About 500,000 tonnes of fish caught annually (>55 tonnes/hour) 60% of entire country s protein is from inland fisheries in Cambodia Over 1 million people in floating villages on Tonle Sap Lake rely on fishing; another 2M in floodplain

6 3-S river hydropower dam impacts and their implications 3-S river mainstem dams developed would increase dry season flows by 63% and wet season by 22%, with minimal additional impact from tributary dams Some of these Lower Sesan II and Sambor effectively block most fish migration and sediment flow. Need to understand other environmental ramifications sediment, nutrients, food web, biodiversity Hundreds of thousands displaced upstream resettlement and compensation plans disputed

7 Agriculture and Concessions and their Implications

8 What does this mean for food security for those living in or around the TS lake?

9 We need to know a lot more about what drives fisheries production

10 Trade-offs are inevitable Basic information and data about the ecology/biology of the lake system and the larger watershed: Determine what can and cannot thrive/survive in the FW system, understand thresholds. Data to highlight changes in water flows for energy, food options under various hydro/ag scenarios : Define and articulate trade-offs to increase transparency, use existing models, develop decision support tools.

11 Using Multi-Scale Integrated Models of Ecosystem Services (MIMES)-decision support Input/Output exchange between catchment and Mekong mainstem Spatially explicit dynamics at the scale subcatchments and within discrete flood zones

12 Watershed Mgt. and Training Training in SEAs Institution building Private sector, model concessions Trans-boundary conservation of the Sekong PA/ES areas Use of sustainable hydropower planning tools. CSO capacity building.

13 Advocacy: Hydropower Impacts and Alternatives

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15 Some Take Aways.. Nexus issue discussions can force much needed transparency in trans-boundary and domestic development dialogues. Trade-offs are inevitable, now is the time to encourage informed choices while resources are relatively plentiful. Downstream countries need to not only advocate for their poor people but also use zoning and protection to prepare for income/loss of services shocks.

16 Thank you for your kind attention!!