Scott W.D. Pearse-Smith

Bio: Scott W.D. Pearse-Smith is an academic researcher from University of Otago. The author has contributed to research in topics: Conflict theories & Development geography. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 4 publications receiving 101 citations.

The Impact of Continued Mekong Basin Hydropower Development on Local Livelihoods

Abstract: Hydropower development of the Mekong Basin is proceeding at an increasingly rapid pace. Hydropower has already affected the natural and social environments of the Mekong, and threatens to cause further devastation for local livelihoods as hydropower projects increase in size and number. This article builds upon scientific knowledge of the environmental effects of Mekong hydropower development to consider what impacts these environmental changes will have on local livelihoods. Attention is focused on how hydropower development will affect crucial renewable resources, and how this will affect the production of food and income for millions of the basin‟s inhabitants. This study contends that the food and economic security of the majority of the local population is inextricably intertwined with the integrity of the natural environment. Therefore, continued hydropower development will have a devastating impact on the livelihoods of millions of the basin‟s inhabitants. More sustainable alternatives are desperately required.

‘Water war’ in the Mekong Basin?

Abstract: The Mekong River system provides a crucial source of natural resources for riparian nations. However, the increasingly rapid pace of hydro-development in the Mekong Basin is threatening the integrity of the river system, posing a real concern for Lower Basin states, which are particularly dependent on the basin. This scenario has led to warnings of armed conflict, or even ‘water war’, between riparian states. Certainly, the expanding scale of hydro-development can be expected to continue increasing interstate tensions in the Mekong region; but are these tensions really likely to escalate to armed conflict? This paper explores this question by drawing on the water and conflict theory of Aaron Wolf. Ultimately, this paper concludes that interstate tensions over Mekong hydro-development are unlikely to generate armed conflict. This is in part due to the strategic impracticality of such a conflict as well as the presence of a river basin management institution. Most compellingly, though, armed conflict is unlikely because the economic imperative shared by Mekong states is better served by cooperation – or at least non-interference – than conflict, over regional hydro-development. In closing, the paper urges that the study of water and conflict in the Mekong Basin be refocused at the intrastate level.

The Return of Large Dams to the Development Agenda: A Post-Development Critique

Abstract: Large dams are making a comeback. However, large dams reflect an outdated development paradigm narrowly focused on economic growth through modernization. This article employs a post-development lens to highlight three biases of the narrow development perspective that underlies large dams. First, it views rivers, and nature more generally, as an unrealized source of economic growth and an input to production. Second, it is blind to distributional impacts and is resultantly inequitable: The benefits of large dams are concentrated in the hands of the wealthy, while conditions for the poor worsen or do not improve. Third, it disempowers its supposed beneficiaries by de-politicizing the development decisions to pursue large dam projects. Each of these biases is illustrated in reference to the Mekong River Basin’s experience with large dam development. It is alarming, therefore, that large dams seem to be making a resurgence in Asia, Africa and South America, and are once again receiving World Bank support. This article serves as a reminder of why large dams do not deliver equitable development and why they thus faded from the development agenda at the turn of the century. Author’s Note Scott Pearse-Smith is a research affiliate of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago, New Zealand. Scott’s research interests lie in development geography and political ecology. He is particularly interested in the role of the natural environment in development.

Rivers of Peace Institutionalised Mekong River Cooperation and the East Asian Peace

Abstract: East Asia represents a remarkable example of a region that has transformed from one of the most violent in the world, in terms of interstate wars and internationalised intrastate conflicts, towards a relatively peaceful region. What explains East Asian peace? This study adopts an institutional perspective, arguing that a crucial role in the creation and development of East Asia’s peace, and in the Mekong region in particular, has been the emergence of transnational river cooperation in the Mekong Basin. It examines the nature and drivers of such institutional cooperation. Explanations can be found in a combination of external support from third parties, and an internal economic growth imperative held by the Mekong states themselves. It provides useful policy lessons for the creation and development of peace and cooperation through institution-building.

국제정치이론 = Theory of international politics

Abstract: Therefore, the seeker after the truth is not one who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them, but rather the one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he gathers from them, the one who submits to argument and demonstration, and not to the sayings of a human being whose nature is fraught with all kinds of imperfection and de‹ciency. Thus the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself the enemy of all that he reads, and, applying his mind to the core and margins of its content, attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency. (Ibn al-Haytham)1

Sustainable hydropower in the 21st century

Abstract: Hydropower has been the leading source of renewable energy across the world, accounting for up to 71% of this supply as of 2016. This capacity was built up in North America and Europe between 1920 and 1970 when thousands of dams were built. Big dams stopped being built in developed nations, because the best sites for dams were already developed and environmental and social concerns made the costs unacceptable. Nowadays, more dams are being removed in North America and Europe than are being built. The hydropower industry moved to building dams in the developing world and since the 1970s, began to build even larger hydropower dams along the Mekong River Basin, the Amazon River Basin, and the Congo River Basin. The same problems are being repeated: disrupting river ecology, deforestation, losing aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, releasing substantial greenhouse gases, displacing thousands of people, and altering people’s livelihoods plus affecting the food systems, water quality, and agriculture near them. This paper studies the proliferation of large dams in developing countries and the importance of incorporating climate change into considerations of whether to build a dam along with some of the governance and compensation challenges. We also examine the overestimation of benefits and underestimation of costs along with changes that are needed to address the legitimate social and environmental concerns of people living in areas where dams are planned. Finally, we propose innovative solutions that can move hydropower toward sustainable practices together with solar, wind, and other renewable sources.

Zombie economics: how dead ideas still walk among us

Abstract: Zombie economics: how dead ideas still walk among us, by John Quiggin, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2010, viii + 238 pp., $24.95 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-691-14582-2

Water Grabbing in the Mekong Basin – An Analysis of the Winners and Losers of Thailand’s Hydropower Development in Lao PDR

Abstract: There are currently over 60 tributary and mainstream dams planned or under construction in Lao PDR with 95% of the electricity from these dams slated to be exported to neighbouring countries. In the Mekong basin, the structure of the Thai energy sector – the country’s lack of domestic hydropower development and the current and planned power purchase agreements between Thailand and Laos – differentiates Thailand from other regional investors. Using a political ecology approach, this paper examines how powerful state and private actors from within Thailand and Lao PDR mobilise power to control the benefits from hydropower while the social and environmental impacts are largely ignored, thereby constituting a form of water grabbing. The analysis shows that the structure and politics of the Thai electricity sector, private-sector profiteering and a strong domestic civil society are driving Thailand’s hydropower investment in neighbouring Laos. Thai investments are enabled by Laos’ weak enforcement of laws, a lack of capacity to regulate development, the existence of corruption and a tightly controlled state. These drivers and enabling factors combine with short-term economic focused regional development to create opportunities for water grabbing. The winners of this water grabbing are the powerful actors who control the benefits, while the losers, local livelihoods and the environment, are negatively impacted.