ABSTRACT

Laos has rapidly expanded its hydraulic infrastructure, creating profound environmental, economic and social ruptures. We combine frameworks of environmental justice with political ecology to examine the multiple expressions of water injustice evident in three hydropower project case studies involving resettlement. We find that livelihood restoration measures have not ameliorated, but reproduced underlying problems of poverty, inequity, exclusion and coercive expressions of social injustice. These are viewed as the structural outcomes of political choices. We conclude that there is little potential for a water justice paradigm in Laos without significant reforms to the national frameworks for water governance and human rights.

摘要

老挝迅速扩大了其水利基础设施，造成了深刻的环境、经济和社会断裂。我们将环境正义的框架与政治生态学相结合，研究了三个涉及移民安置的水电项目案例研究中明显的水不公平的多种表现形式。我们发现，生计恢复措施并未改善，而是再现了贫困、不平等、排斥和社会不公正的强制性表达等潜在问题。这些被视为政治选择的结构性结果。我们得出的结论是，如果不对国家水治理和人权框架进行重大改革，老挝的水司法范式几乎没有潜力。