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Chinese overseas hydropower dams and social sustainability: the Bui Dam in Ghana and the Kamchay Dam in Cambodia

Chinese overseas hydropower dams and social sustainability: the Bui Dam in Ghana and the Kamchay Dam in Cambodia
Chinese overseas hydropower dams and social sustainability: the Bui Dam in Ghana and the Kamchay Dam in Cambodia
There is a shortage of empirical studies on the relationship between Chinese hydropower dams and social sustainability. Comparative research on Chinese-funded and Chinese-built hydropower projects is rare. This article aims to fill parts of this gap by discussing these issues in relation to Chinese overseas hydropower dams in Ghana (Bui Dam) and Cambodia (Kamchay Dam). Both projects are built by Sinohydro and financed by ExIm Bank. This article draws on in-depths interviews and focus group discussions with local communities affected by the dams, institutional actors in Ghana and Cambodia, Chinese actors, and dam builders. The article uses an environmental justice perspective as an analytical framework. The article concludes that the dam projects could improve their social sustainability framework in practice and theory; social benchmarking should be introduced and social policies need to be improved to be in line with international social standards on hydropower projects.
social sustainability, hydropower, china, Ghana, cambodia
573-589
Urban, Frauke
26206e27-cfa8-4efb-97cb-d06f22d8ed5f
Nordensvard, Johan
44e3b534-aa45-4124-9680-35e8fb6f2e98
Siciliano, Giuseppina
f7c7e3c0-606b-4f56-ad27-c61db1f020ef
Li, Bingqin
0edc8fcc-455d-4c25-9794-d8a74b971986
Urban, Frauke
26206e27-cfa8-4efb-97cb-d06f22d8ed5f
Nordensvard, Johan
44e3b534-aa45-4124-9680-35e8fb6f2e98
Siciliano, Giuseppina
f7c7e3c0-606b-4f56-ad27-c61db1f020ef
Li, Bingqin
0edc8fcc-455d-4c25-9794-d8a74b971986

Urban, Frauke, Nordensvard, Johan, Siciliano, Giuseppina and Li, Bingqin (2015) Chinese overseas hydropower dams and social sustainability: the Bui Dam in Ghana and the Kamchay Dam in Cambodia. Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, 2 (3), 573-589. (doi:10.1002/app5.103).

Record type: Article

Abstract

There is a shortage of empirical studies on the relationship between Chinese hydropower dams and social sustainability. Comparative research on Chinese-funded and Chinese-built hydropower projects is rare. This article aims to fill parts of this gap by discussing these issues in relation to Chinese overseas hydropower dams in Ghana (Bui Dam) and Cambodia (Kamchay Dam). Both projects are built by Sinohydro and financed by ExIm Bank. This article draws on in-depths interviews and focus group discussions with local communities affected by the dams, institutional actors in Ghana and Cambodia, Chinese actors, and dam builders. The article uses an environmental justice perspective as an analytical framework. The article concludes that the dam projects could improve their social sustainability framework in practice and theory; social benchmarking should be introduced and social policies need to be improved to be in line with international social standards on hydropower projects.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 9 September 2015
Published date: September 2015
Keywords: social sustainability, hydropower, china, Ghana, cambodia
Organisations: Social Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 382496
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/382496
PURE UUID: 5aba883c-db01-4716-b825-f3285504ffea

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Date deposited: 06 Oct 2015 11:10
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 21:29

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Contributors

Author: Frauke Urban
Author: Johan Nordensvard
Author: Giuseppina Siciliano
Author: Bingqin Li

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