Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/undp1laosedfdam062508.html
UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- Fighting corruption in the water sector was the title of a laudable-sounding UN Development Program panel discussion on Wednesday. Two of the six speakers were from UNDP, another was listed on the invitation as Jean-Michel Devernay of the "International Hydropower Association." Mr. Devernay spoke mostly about the $1.6 billion Nam Theun 2 dam in Laos, of which his real employer, Electricite de France, owns 35 percent.
The connection between transparency and this for-profit investment in a big dam in Laos, the electricity from which will be sold almost entirely in Thailand was murky. Inner City Press asked Devernay to respond to criticism of the project, that impacted people are not being compensated and that decaying or burned biomass will dirty the water and causes greenhouse gasses. That is a problem, Devernay acknowledged. But, he claimed, there was a lot of public outreach by the Laotian government.
Another audience member, just back from surveying Laos for a water NGO, reported that the lack of public participation in Laos rendered dubious Devernay's claims. Inner City Press asked about people who have yet to receive any compensation. Devernay wrote this off to "timing" issues, and praised the project and EDF for having a "respected" Panel of Experts. This Panel, however, recently reported on quality of life that "a further decline is likely if the dam shuts because the settlers will be unable to cultivate draw-down areas for rice during the rainy season this year. Buffaloes are dying of disease and there are cases of starvation at many villages and a drop in employment opportunities associated with the construction of the project." This is transparency?
Even the sponsorship of the event was murky. While it was promoted with the four panel logo of UNDP, when one tried to register online from UNDP's website, one was whisked to the site of the U.S. Committee for the UNDP, an organization which UNDP disowned connections to (when it was exposed the the military contractor Lockheed Martin has a seat on the UNDP-USA board).
There was muttering as the event ended that UNDP's own standardless engagement with Laos might explain some of the above. We'll see -- we will continue to follow these issues.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1laosedfdam062508.html
