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Dams on the Mekong River: Lost fish protein and the implications for land and water resources

Orr, Stuart; Pittock, James; Chapagain, Ashok; Dumaresq, David

Description

Proposed dam construction in the Lower Mekong Basin will considerably reduce fish catch and place heightened demands on the resources necessary to replace lost protein and calories. Additional land and water required to replace lost fish protein with livestock products are modelled using land and water footprint methods. Two main scenarios cover projections of these increased demands and enable the specific impact from the main stem dam proposals to be considered in the context of basin-wide...[Show more]

dc.contributor.authorOrr, Stuart
dc.contributor.authorPittock, James
dc.contributor.authorChapagain, Ashok
dc.contributor.authorDumaresq, David
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-10T23:22:53Z
dc.identifier.issn0959-3780
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/66709
dc.description.abstractProposed dam construction in the Lower Mekong Basin will considerably reduce fish catch and place heightened demands on the resources necessary to replace lost protein and calories. Additional land and water required to replace lost fish protein with livestock products are modelled using land and water footprint methods. Two main scenarios cover projections of these increased demands and enable the specific impact from the main stem dam proposals to be considered in the context of basin-wide hydropower development. Scenario 1 models 11 main stem dams and estimates a 4-7% increase overall in water use for food production, with much higher estimations for countries entirely within the Basin: Cambodia (29-64%) and Laos (12-24%). Land increases run to a 13-27% increase. In scenario 2, covering another 77 dams planned in the Basin by 2030 and reservoir fisheries, projections are much higher: 6-17% for water, and 19-63% for land. These are first estimates of impacts of dam development on fisheries and will be strongly mediated by cultural and economic factors. The results suggest that basic food security is potentially at a high risk of disruption and therefore basin stakeholders should be fully engaged in strategies to offset these impacts.
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.sourceGlobal Environmental Change: Part A - Human and Policy Dimensions
dc.subjectKeywords: cultural change; dam; dam construction; economic impact; environmental impact assessment; fish; food production; food security; hydroelectric power; land use change; protein; stakeholder; water footprint; water resource; Cambodia; Mekong River Dam; Environmental impact assessment; Fish; Food security; Freshwater; Hydropower; Land footprint; Protein; Water footprint
dc.titleDams on the Mekong River: Lost fish protein and the implications for land and water resources
dc.typeJournal article
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.citationvolume22
dc.date.issued2012
local.identifier.absfor079901 - Agricultural Hydrology (Drainage, Flooding, Irrigation, Quality, etc.)
local.identifier.absfor050209 - Natural Resource Management
local.identifier.ariespublicationf5625xPUB1330
local.type.statusPublished Version
local.contributor.affiliationOrr, Stuart, WWF International
local.contributor.affiliationPittock, James, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationChapagain, Ashok, WWF UK
local.contributor.affiliationDumaresq, David, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.bibliographicCitation.issue4
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage925
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage932
local.identifier.doi10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.06.002
local.identifier.absseo960999 - Land and Water Management of environments not elsewhere classified
dc.date.updated2016-02-24T08:45:12Z
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-84866170448
local.identifier.thomsonID000309788000011
CollectionsANU Research Publications

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