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
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.