Assessing hydrologic changes across the Lower Mekong Basin

Lyon, Steve W.; King, K.W.; Polpanich, Orn-uma; Lacombe, Guillaume

doi:10.1016/j.ejrh.2017.06.007

Cited by 37 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Large dams have had well-documented negative impacts on inland fisheries throughout the world [37][38][39][40]. Such impacts are also documented for some dams in the LMB [12,21,27,41,42]. Dams create reservoirs that may support large fisheries, but the overall effect of large dams is usually a loss of fish production [16,24,43].…”

Section: Impacts On Fisheriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hydro peaking refers to different discharge and downstream water heights due to the release of water retained in the storage basin to generate electricity for market demand [41]. As a result, when energy demand becomes high during the day time, the power production is escalated depending on the power of large downstream flows.…”

Section: Hydro Peaking Impacts On Fish Capture Yieldsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impacts of Mainstream Hydropower Dams on Fisheries and Agriculture in Lower Mekong Basin

et al. 2020

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The riverine ecosystems of the Mekong River Basin possess the world’s most productive inland fishery and provide highly productive food crops for millions of people annually. The development of hydropower potential in the Mekong River has long been of interest to governments in the region. Among the existing 64 dams, 46 dams have been built in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) to produce up to 8650 MW of electricity. Additionally, of the 123 proposed built hydropower dams, eleven hydropower plants have been nominated for the river mainstream and are expected to install a total of 13,000 MW in the LMB countries. However, serious concerns have intensified over the potential negative economic consequences, especially on fisheries and agriculture in Cambodia and Vietnam. To date, most of the concerns have concentrated on the impacts on hydrology, environment, livelihood, and diversity in the LMB attributed to hydropower development. This paper, however, discusses the fishery and agricultural sectors of the LMB and focuses on the downstream floodplains of Cambodia and Vietnam. The dam construction has caused greater losses of biodiversity and fisheries than climate change in the LMB. The reduction of 276,847 and 178,169 t of fish, 3.7% and 2.3% of rice, 21.0% and 10.0% of maize will contribute to a decrease of 3.7% and 0.3% of the GDP of Cambodia and Vietnam, respectively. Lao PDR may benefit the most revenue from electricity generation than the other country in the LMB, as most of the proposed dams are projected in the country. Cambodia burdens 3/4 of the reduction of total capture fishery destruction, whilst Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam endure the remaining 1/3 losses. The tradeoff analyses reveal that losses of capture fisheries, sediment or nutrients, and social mitigation costs are greater than the benefits from electricity generation, improved irrigation, and flood control of the LMB region. The socioeconomic and environmental damage caused by hydropower dams in developing countries, including the Mekong, is greater than the early costs in North America and Europe. It is proposed that dam construction for hydropower in the Mekong River, as well as other rivers in developing countries, should be gradually removed and shifted toward solar, wind, and other renewable resources.

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Section: Impacts On Fisheriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Hydro Peaking Impacts On Fish Capture Yieldsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Mainstream Hydropower Dams on Fisheries and Agriculture in Lower Mekong Basin

et al. 2020

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“…They found that on average this cascade of dams increased the December-May discharge by 34 to 155% and decreased the July-September discharge by 29 to 36% at Chiang Saen. Analysis of the impacts of large-scale changes in hydrological response in the LMRB [147] indicate that the majority of catchments (64%) exhibited no apparent trends in hydrological response. Lauri et al [8] evaluated the impact of massive hydropower construction and climate change on the hydrology in the Mekong for the next 20-30 years and found that the associated changes in discharge have more effect on the hydrograph than climate change (25 to 160% higher dry season flows and 5 to 24% lower flood peaks in Kratie).…”

Section: Hydrological Impacts Of Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Integrated Effects of Changing Climate, Land Use, and Dams on Mekong River Hydrology

Pokhrel

Burbano

Roush

et al. 2018

Water

196

112

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Abstract:The ongoing and proposed construction of large-scale hydropower dams in the Mekong river basin is a subject of intense debate and growing international concern due to the unprecedented and potentially irreversible impacts these dams are likely to have on the hydrological, agricultural, and ecological systems across the basin. Studies have shown that some of the dams built in the tributaries and the main stem of the upper Mekong have already caused basin-wide impacts by altering the magnitude and seasonality of flows, blocking sediment transport, affecting fisheries and livelihoods of downstream inhabitants, and changing the flood pulse to the Tonle Sap Lake. There are hundreds of additional dams planned for the near future that would result in further changes, potentially causing permanent damage to the highly productive agricultural systems and fisheries, as well as the riverine and floodplain ecosystems. Several studies have examined the potential impacts of existing and planned dams but the integrated effects of the dams when combined with the adverse hydrologic consequences of climate change remain largely unknown. Here, we provide a detailed review of the existing literature on the changes in climate, land use, and dam construction and the resulting impacts on hydrological, agricultural, and ecological systems across the Mekong. The review provides a basis to better understand the effects of climate change and accelerating human water management activities on the coupled hydrological-agricultural-ecological systems, and identifies existing challenges to study the region's Water, Energy, and Food (WEF) nexus with emphasis on the influence of future dams and projected climate change. In the last section, we synthesize the results and highlight the urgent need to develop integrated models to holistically study the coupled natural-human systems across the basin that account for the impacts of climate change and water infrastructure development. This review provides a framework for future research in the Mekong, including studies that integrate hydrological, agricultural, and ecological modeling systems.

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“…The LMB and the Mekong region at large has reportedly undergone substantial LULC change in recent decades (Lyon et al, 2017;Yasmi et al, 2017;Pokhrel et al, 2018b), though questions and uncertainties remain as to the location and geospatial extent for specific kinds of LULC change. An assortment of satellite data has been used to map and quantify LULC change in the region, including AVHRR (Giri et al, 2003), Landsat data (Heinimann et al, 2007), SPOT-4 Vegetation (Stibig et al, 2004), and MODIS data (Leinenkugel et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%