Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy. 2012. Presentation from Session 9: Mekong Experiences with Sustainable Hydropower Development

1. Professor Guoqing SHI
National Research Center for Resettlement (NRCR)
Hohai University ， Nanjing, CHINA
Member of International Displacement and Resettlement Network (IDRN)
Email:gshi@hhu.edu.cn
Website: www.chinaresettlement.com

2. Background
Why we talk about Involuntary Resettlement
in Sustainable Hydropower ？
 Hydropower= Dam/hydropower plant
+Resettlement
+Other impacts and mitigate measures (social, env.,
etc.)
 Involuntary resettlement
– Is key challenge in hydropower worldwide
– are key issue of hydropower development
– should be sustainable and successful
– should accompany advanced sustainable hydropower

3. The Magnitude of Development
Displacement and Resettlement
 14-15,000,000 new DDPs /year in 2000-2010
 Compared to only 10,000,000 each year in 1991-2000
 Dams Alone displaced between 40-80,000,000 (data WCD)
 India: 65 million over 55 years (1950-2005)
 China: 80 million over 60 years (1950-2010)

4. Some good cases in China
 Three Gorges Dam: 1.3 millions DDP 1993-2009
 Xiaolangdi Dam: 199,000 DDP 1994-2003
---One of best practice assessed by World Bank
 Danjiangkou phase 2: 350,000 DDP 2009-2011
 Jinghong Dam- Lancan River- Upstream of Mekong
2003-2010, 5285 DDP
 Nuozhadu Dam-Lancan River- Upstream of Mekong
2006- ,46,000 DDP
……..

5. Three Gorges Dam Project-1.3 millions APs 三峡 130 万移
民
Budget (price in May 1993) 10.2 Billions USD,
Resettlement Budget 5 Billions USD 1993-2009

6. Three Gorges Dam 三峡工程
 1.3 millions APs, 44% rural farmers and 56%
urban citizen, in 2 provinces and 21
county/districts
 1,626 enterprises and 11 towns, 2 cities affected
 200,000 rural APs relocated with long distant in
11 coast or downstream provinces, others
relocated within county
 resettlement budget 5 billions USD, 44.6% of dam
project budget (12 billions USD) estimated in the
price in May 1993
 All APs have been relocated before June 2009
smoothly

7. • One of the state key projects--flood control, power, and
irrigation in Yellow River, Funded by World Bank
• Impact scope of the land requisition involves provinces,
8 counties 29 townships, 174 villages, 200,000 APs mainly
rural people, 134,000 ha cultivatable land
•Budget: Project’s-- 3.5 Billion USD, resettlement--1Billion
•Finished resettlars’ relocation in 2004

8. IR relevant topics in HSAP
(Preparation stage)
Key topics Associated topics
 P-13 Affected communities &  P-1 Communications and
livelihoods Consultation
 P-14 Resettlement  P-3 Governance
 P-15 Indigenous people  P-5 Environmental and Social
Impacts Assessment &
Management (ESIAM)
 P-6 Integrated Project
Management
 P-10 Project Benefits
 P-18 Public Health
 P-22 Reservoir Planning

9. Contents of Involuntary Resettlement
 Three different displacement
– Physical displacement (houses, facilities etc.)
– Economic displacement (farmland, livelihood, jobs,
employment etc.)
– Social displacement (network, education, religious…)
 Resettlement & Reconstruction (R&R)
– Resettlement of the population
– Relocation of the affected persons
– Reconstruction of the facilities and communities

10. What challenges?
 Resettlars were impoverished, rather than better off in
many hydropower project in the past world widely
 Many hydropower dams can not be built or delayed
construction due to Involuntary resettlement
 A lot of argument, conflict and complain arise in the public
caused by IR
 Resettlement cost is increasing rapidly in the hydropower
sector
 Can we take the Risks to be the Opportunities?---YES!

11. Challenges--Impoverishment Risks
 Michael M Cernea  Landlessness
developer  Joblessness
 Homelessness
 IRR Model  Marginalization
Impoverishment  Food Insecurity
Risks &  Increased Morbidity
Reconstruction Mortality
Model  Loss of Access to Com.
Prop.
 Social Disarticulation

12. Key challenges
How to reach the good objectives of IR
--Benefit sharing through Hydropower
Opportunities
 Better living standards (houses, road, water,
electricity, school, clinics, market, community,
religious facility
 Better and sustainable livelihoods (farmlands,
frestry,fishing, grassland, jobs etc.)
 Better and sustainable income (amount, structure
etc.)
 Better socio-economic environment for living

13. Good approach
To use IRR’s Model in the IR
Four functions
• Predictive
• Diagnostic
• Problem-Resolution
• Research

14. Good approach
• From Landlessness to Land-Based Reestablishment
• From Joblessness to Reemployment
• From Homelessness to House Reconstruction
• From Disarticulation to Community Reconstruction
• From Marginalization to Social Inclusion
• From Expropriation to Restoration of Community Assets/Services
• From Food Insecurity to Adequate Nutrition
• From Increased Morbidity to Better Health Care

15. Fundamental good policy and practice
----International experiences WB/ADB…
Policies Practice
 Minimize the land acquisition and  Land for land option
resettlement  House for house or cash
 If it can not avoid, income restoration compensation in
and livelihoods recovering of pre- replacement cost or
resettlement level (no project) market value
 RAP (Resettlement Action Plan)  Institution arrangement
 Compensation in replacement cost and full time staff
 All cost covered by Project  Supervision
 Participation and consultation process  Monitoring
 ……….. ……..

16. Good Governance-Chinese experiences
 Law-Land Administration Law
 National Regulations-Reservoir Resettlement Regulation
 National Technique standards- PD standards “1+7”
 Institution system -Resettlement Bureau +Staffs
in National, Province, City and county level
 Capacity building -education/ Ph.D+Master+training
+Research-NRCR-Hohai University
 Good Policies: Compensation +Pre-/Im-/Post assistants
 Implementation+ Monitoring +Supervision
 Benefits sharing mechanism
 Consultation process + Participation+ Transparence……

17. Bases of good practices in resettlement
and affected communities and livelihoods
 Good resettlement policies and legislation system
 Good governance and institution system
 Good RP (resettlement plan) prepared with participation approach
and consultation process
 Good detail designs
 Good RIP and its implementation
 Independent monitoring and supervision mechanism
 Participation of APs
 Consultation and grievance process
 Self- organization and self-management of ACs
 High attention the special impacts in social, culture and traditional
livelihoods and develop mitigation measures for affected
indigenous people or ethnic minority
 Capacity building through research, training and education

18. What are best-practices in resettlement ？
Deliver better living conditions for resettlars
 House  Housing
– Better quality – Replacement price as fundamental
– Larger space – Minimal compensation standard in
– Higher value
concrete-brick structure house 24 m² per
 Community facilities capital (benefits for poor families)
– Water supply
– Electricity supply
 Community facilities rehabilitation
– Roads – good location selected by local government
– Clinics and satisfied by APs
– School – public facilities rebuilt in better standards,
– Market cost by project and local government
– TV and internet…

19. Danjiangkou Dam- Resettlement Villages/ 2011
House space per person in 10 villages (pre- vs post-) photos: Guanggou Village

20. Danjiangkou Dam IR- Guanggou Village photo in 2011
School teachers (pre- vs post-) in 10 villages

21. Danjiangkou Dam IR- Guanggou Villages/ 2011
Water supply in 10 villages (pre- vs post)

22. What are best-practices in resettlement
(affected community and livelihoods) ？
 Restoration and development
of sustainable livelihoods of
affected people
– Land for land as the first
priority option for rural farmers
– Help to generate multi income
sources Farmlands and food/pp in 10 villages ( pre- vs post-)
– Deliver the post-resettlement
support fund for livelihoods
– Deliver micro credit support
– Deliver technique skills and
training
– Create non-farming jobs and
deliver employment services

23. Danjiangkou Dam IR- Guanggou Village
2011

24. Best practices in Resettlement and Affected
Community and Livelihoods
innovation --Benefits sharing mechanism
 Higher reconstruction standards for houses and
community’s public facilities in resettlement villages
 Income restoration and improvement for APs
– Long term compensation (LTC) for farmers who loosen farmlands
according to annual output of farmlands annually up to the end of life of
the hydropower station, rather than compensation once when land
acquisition happens
– Socioeconomic pension replaced farmland use (SPRFU) for old
farmers- standard high than the income from farmlands
– Farmlands asserts securitization (FAS) as the Patten of sustainable
hydropower development through the “farmland resource assertslization-
asserts capitalization- capital securitization” innovation mechanism
– Skills and employments with high wages for young and middle age APs

25. Possible results of good practices
 Affected people want to be resettled
 From Involuntary resettlement to Voluntary
resettlement
 Turn risks to opportunities through
resettlement
 Affected people shares benefits of hydropower
development rather than be impoverished
 Increase social sustainability and social
friendship of hydropower development

26. Conclusion
 IR is one of the most important issues
 IR has many challenges especially in livelihoods
reconstruction and living standard recovering
 IR can be successful
 PAPs can share the benefits of hydropower
 The good policies, planning and design,
implementation are basic elements of good IR

27. Thanks
for
your attention!