Dams and indigenous peoples in malaysia: development, displacement and resettlement

Abstract

Large dams have proliferated in Malaysia in recent decades. Constructed mainly to meet mounting domestic demand for water and energy, they have destroyed large tracts of speciesrich tropical rain forest and displaced many already poor and marginalized indigenous groups from their homes and ancestral lands without their consent. Evicted indigenes were promised a better life in resettlement villages, but for the most part this has not occurred. Invariably traumatized by resettlement and widely forced into cash-based economies for which they were ill prepared, many resettled indigenes suffered from frayed social relationships, high rates of unemployment and enduring poverty, in large part because the authorities failed to internalize project costs. The consequences for indigenous groups of dam-induced environmental change and development-forced displacement and resettlement (DFDR) are explored through a critical reading of the literature on four large dams: Sungai Selangor, Babagon, Batang Ai and Bakun. More large dams are under construction and many others have been proposed, resulting in threats to the future well-being of many indigenous communities. Generally speaking, the experiences of Malaysia's dam-affected indigenes mirror those of other indigenous minorities in the greater Southeast Asian region.

Understanding the drivers ofSoutheastAsian biodiversity loss

“…The direct loss due to flooding of large regions of intact forest (and in the case of karst regions high levels of endemism) is often enormous; for example, the construction of the three Gorges dam is known to have directly impacted upon over 3418 insect species, 6388 plants, 552 terrestrial vertebrates, 350 fish, and over 1085 other aquatic taxa (MEP , , Huang ). Negative social and environmental impacts resulting from dam construction have been found repeatedly particularly for indigenous groups and the rural poor (Aiken and Leigh , Kirchherr et al. , Siciliano and Urban ).…”

“…The direct loss due to flooding of large regions of intact forest (and in the case of karst regions high levels of endemism) is often enormous; for example, the construction of the three Gorges dam is known to have directly impacted upon over 3418 insect species, 6388 plants, 552 terrestrial vertebrates, 350 fish, and over 1085 other aquatic taxa (MEP 2000, Huang 2001. Negative social and environmental impacts resulting from dam construction have been found repeatedly particularly for indigenous groups and the rural poor (Aiken and Leigh 2015, Kirchherr et al 2016, Siciliano and Urban 2016. There is the additional loss of habitat from relocating settlements, plus if fish biomass has decreased due to changing river conditions, then there are the additional needs for protein though raising livestock which requires significantly more land, as the fisheries along the Mekong are currently estimated to feed over 65 million people (Economist, 26 July 2012, Xu et al 2013).…”

Emerging challenges for sustainable development and forest conservation in Sarawak, Borneo

“…Some of the infrastructure expansion projects may cause long-lasting social stress, particularly in indigenous communities. It can happen in various forms such as involuntary displacement from ancestral lands and generational poverty, cultural changes, limited availability of long-practiced livelihood activities, and frayed social relationships [18,72]. While the highway will provide modest benefits-access to better road network-to the indigenous people, none of the dams would provide electricity to local people [14].…”

“…The Bakun and Murum dams required the relocation of 10,000 and 3,400 indigenous people respectively, the majority of which was done involuntarily [14]. The wellbeing of previouslyrelocated indigenous populations has declined since the resettlement because of the lack of internalizing indigenous population's aspiration in the project structure and resultant failure of the projects and associated policy commitments to provide required financial and social supports to the indigenous populations [72]. Accordingly, indigenous communities are largely oppositional towards several proposed hydroelectric dams in Sarawak, as evident by various protests [73,74].…”

Is Land‐based Resettlement Still Appropriate for Rural People in China? A Longitudinal Study of Displacement at the Three Gorges Dam

“…The impacts of land acquisition, displacement and resettlement on livelihoods are typically adverse. The literature documents the negative effects of dams on rural people, which includes fewer options for economic activities (Kura et al., ); land scarcity, lower land quality and changes to control over resources (Dao, ); high rates of unemployment and enduring poverty (Aiken and Leigh, ); and forced share‐cropping due to land becoming unaffordable (Fujikura and Nakayama, ). These are just a small selection of the more recent publications from a catalogue that began in 1956 when Colson () and Scudder () produced the earliest studies of the Gwembe Tonga.…”