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Foreign Correspondent: New dam, new house: The Mekong

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Stilt houses beside Mekong
Foreign Correspondent: New dam, new house: The Mekong

SUBJECTS:  Geography

YEARS:  7–8, 9–10


The mighty Mekong river provides a way of life for millions of people, and is arguably the most important resource in the developing country of Laos.

Discover how villagers are being relocated to make way for hydropower dams on this river, which stretches for nearly 5,000 kilometres from the mountains of Tibet to Vietnam.

How does the lifestyle of these villagers change?


Things to think about

  1. 1.Entire villages of people have been moved to make way for the development of hydropower dams in Laos. Imagine having your highly productive land and river access taken away and being made to resettle elsewhere with a small amount of money and some other benefits as compensation. How would you feel? How might this change your life?
  2. 2.What is the downside of the new village's location? The village meeting is focusing on creating an income. Why is this now important to the villagers? What features of the new houses connect villagers to the modern world? How does the Lao Government benefit from the dam?
  3. 3.Create a 'before and after' chart showing the impact of relocating the villagers. How did they get their food before being moved? How did this change after their resettlement? Describe the new housing and modern technology. From what you've seen in the clip, how do you think their lifestyle has changed?
  4. 4.How might people's views on the value of water differ depending on their circumstances? Create a comic-style text to show how each of these people may respond: a local villager who is relocated; a member of government; and a local person employed to work on the dam. In your opinion, is the construction of the dam in the best interests of the people of Laos? Why or why not?



Date of broadcast: 5 Oct 2010


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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