LAOS. In the shade of dams

Laos wants to climb up the ranking of the most developed countries in Southeast Asia where it occupies the last position. To do this, it's "selling" its consent to China and to the construction of dozens of dams and hydroelectric power stations on the Mekong and its main tributaries. The population living on the edge of the rivers and the ecosystem are victims of this project. They are literally "relocated" in prefabricated villages on the hills or further downstream, agglomerations reminiscent of Indian reserves. Some dams have been completed, others are under construction, many approved. Pak Beng survives thanks to tourists who with slow boats descend the Mekong towards Luangprabang, and here is planned a dam that within a few years will change the morphology of the landscape and the life of its inhabitants. Further east, on Nam Ou and Nam Khan, there are already thousands of expropriated Laotian people.