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Chapter 2: Accounting for the Difference

7. Social Impacts

Social impact research in the Chinese literature generally covers the extent of the dams influence on domestic groups, rather than examinations of downstream social impacts in Southeast Asia. Transnational impacts are more commonly addressed in research pertaining to sediment flow (i.e. and its impacts on the Tonle Sap lake) and hydrological changes. Typically within Chinese literature, social impacts are described as a factor dependent largely on the socioeconomic status of a given region, and therefore

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the impacts of the cascade are both highly variable and highly dependent on local situations downstream, which are both fair and valid points.

However, a basic overview of the status social impact science is in order, and is perhaps more fully addressed in the next chapter as social impacts are much more intertwined with the activism of civil-society organizations (CSOs) as described by Magee (2006a), or as they are typically referred to, NGOs.

In other case studies of relocations after evidence surrounding the Three Gorges Dam indicates that displaced populations in China are vulnerable to landlessness, joblessness, homelessness, food insecurity, community disarticulation, increased morbidity, loss of community resources, and depression among displaced residents (Brown et al 2008). Overall, research around the world studying the social impacts of dam-induced resettlement suggests that only very rarely do conditions for resettled communities improve, with most conditions getting worse (WCD 2000; Cernea 2003;

Galipeau et al 2013). Some go even farther saying that there is not a single case in which dam-induced displacement resulted in improved livelihoods for local people (Scudder 2005). Specific studies on the social impacts of the upper and lower Mekong seem to be relatively sparse, compared to other projects like the Three Gorges Dam. The Upper Mekong (Lancang) cascade, with its multiple development projects spreads out the impact of resettlement among a culturally heterogeneous region of a number of minority nationality groups, in areas that are frequently less populated relative to other large hydropower projects.

7.1 Dam Specific Impacts

In a number of the articles reviewed by the author, locals typically supported or at least believed in the importance of the hydropower projects as a means of improving China’s economy, yet had near unanimous agreement that resettlement was bad for households, communities, and local culture (Galipeau et al 2013).

Currently, China has roughly 86,000 dams, with a number of them having relocation issues of local populations. Of the issues already addressed in this chapter, relocation issues are something the central government has been actively dealing with

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since the 1980s (Yu & Jia, n.d.). The Central Government Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation claimed that of the 10.2 million people displaced domestically, 7 million are living in poverty-stricken conditions. The Ministry of Water Resources allocated 1.9 billion RMB to 46 resettlement projects to help roughly 5 million resettled people (Yu and Jia, n.d.). As described by Yu and Jia, typically in these projects insufficient attention was paid to social impacts, and as such the short-term and long-term needs of resettled populations are often overlooked. Compensation for displacement and resettlement does rest with locals, but rather the local government. Compensation funds are given to village and township-level governments, as technically all land is collectively owned (Galipeau et al 2013). As such, while local officials may claim they want to do right by their constituents, how resettlement compensation is distributed depends on higher-level officials.

In addition, in cases like the Nuozhadu dam, reallocation of land to relocated villagers left them with smaller portions of agricultural and forest land than that they lost, thus worsening livelihoods for already marginalized groups (Galipeau et al 2013). Wang et al (2013) in a study of impact on resettled communities, delineated wealth types into three categories: material wealth (land holdings, crops, money, etc.), embodied wealth (agricultural skills, etc.) and relational wealth (social connections and physical

infrastructure, hospitals, roads, etc.). Generally speaking, compensation does not

explicitly cover losses of embodied wealth, i.e. a loss of application of agricultural skills by reduced and/or lower-grade farmland, forcing the farmer to go into manual labor.

Relational wealth also is frequently ignored by decision-makers (as seen below), despite its long-lasting impacts on the society of the community. That said, in some resettlement cases the quality of life did sometimes improve, and steadily improved with each

consecutive project from the Manwan to the Nuozhadu dams as compensation laws and policies gradually improved.

7.1.1 Manwan & Dachaoshan

The resettlement of the Manwan remains a controversial case of poorly and inadequately compensated populations. Officially displacing 3208 people, the Manwan

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reservoir forced many off their land through land degradation from landslides (Wang et al 2013). As is true with a number of other studies, those villages displaced near to their original location suffered significant losses of farmland, with insufficient funding to build new housing (Wang et al 2013). Others gained slightly from the influx of professionals constructing the dam, allowing some locals to supplement their income through

restaurants, ferries, etc. This eventually declined once the dam was complete and only a nominal maintenance staff remained (Tilt et al 2009), with <4% of households reporting a family member working at the dam (Galipeau et al 2013). Typically resettlement

locations had fewer resources, and strongly negatively impacted living standards for villages involved (see: Yu and Jia n.d., Zi et al 2004; Tilt et al 2009; Galipeau et al 2013;

Wang et al 2013). All studies reported deep psychological impacts on communities as gender norms shifted in favor of men (Yu and Jia, n.d.), and shifts away from traditional community bonding activities (e.g. free construction labor, etc.) (Wang et al 2013). Other communities were resettled far from the reservoir, and did better as they had better information access and job opportunities.

The Dachaoshan dam, finished in 1999 relocated roughly 6363 people, with government built houses build with bricks and timber (Wang et al 2013). Like the Manwan, however, jobs created from the dam itself remained <4% for local populations (Galipeau et al 2013). Some resettled populations had improved conditions after

relocating to areas with better access to transport and healthcare.

7.1.2 Xiaowan and Nuozhadu

Populations resettled by the Xiaowan dam received significantly more

compensation from their Manwan counterparts, with 16 times the value of the average yield of the past three years of farmland (Wang et al 2013). While perhaps the best compensated of the groups studied in the articles examined, they seemed to be the least satisfied (Wang et al 2013). As Wang et al (2013) describes, villagers lost much of their embodied wealth through loss of the application of agricultural skills. As with the Manwan, communities settled nearby first compensated for income decreases from farmland losses by building restaurants and other services for those workers involved in

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the construction of the dam. However, after the completion of the Xiaowan, those opportunities disappeared. Currently, roughly 40% of households reported job gained from the Nuozhadu construction, but these too are likely to drop off after its completion (Galipeau et al 2013).

Generally speaking, the losses created from resettlement force communities, for better or worse, to become more dependent on wages outside of the traditional agriculture after resettlement (Zhang et al 2008). In addition, compensation programs from the government seem to be improving over time, with progressively better compensation for material wealth (land ownings, crops, money, etc.), with more recent acknowledgement of “relational wealth” (e.g. social structures and physical infrastructure) with laws stating that resettled populations should be given priority for hospitals, roads, etc. However, generally speaking resettlement results in a general decline in income, forcing populations to find new means of income, which is not always accessible.

“Our data suggests that, in line with recent policy changes, compensation for resettled households in rural China appears to be improving over time. Overall, these findings paint a picture of resettled households moving away from traditional agricultural livelihoods to an economic strategy based on intensified agriculture and smaller landholdings, supplemented by a new and growing wage-based economy” (Galipeau et al 2013).

These economic shifts have led to increased inequity through variations in access to opportunities.

7.2 Frameworks:

Improved infrastructure and access to opportunities: Certain resettled communities do in fact benefit from improved access to infrastructure. These, in turn, lead to more income opportunities (in some cases), and, at least temporarily, create jobs immediately around the reservoir. The dams do not, however, create long-term employment for the locals.

Increased vulnerability to socioeconomic changes: Resettled populations, although more or more successfully compensated for loses, are more reliant on outside job opportunities.

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Resettlement typically reduces the usefulness of farmers’ skills sets through shifts to lower quality land. Communities lacking diverse resources are shown to be vulnerable to economic changes and perturbations. This combined with several cases of farm

production falling to barely subsistence levels, makes these populations particularly vulnerable.

General decline in quality of life of resettled population: The decline in quality of life derives from a number of factors. The psychological stress of a community shifted out of its original home disrupts traditions that support the locals through preserved culture, and more practically through community services like favor-based labor. It shifts the burdens of income wage-earners to new jobs (if available) away from agriculture towards work requiring skill sets outside of agriculture, and in some cases increases both gender and wealth disparities through new jobs. In addition, while some new locations are located closer to infrastructure, a number of communities are forced into areas with poorer quality agricultural land.