Bolikhamxai province
Bolikhamsai Province, one of the provinces of Laos, located in the middle of the country. The province is also home to Nam Theun 2 Dam, the one of country’s largest hydroelectric projects in Laos, is also in this province.
Bolikhamsai Province covers an area of 14,863 square kilometres. It borders Xiangkhouang Province to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Khammouan Province to the south, and Thailand to the west. The province includes the Annamite Range, stretching east to Vietnam, while to the west are the Mekong River and Thailand. At 3,700 square kilometre, the Nakai–Nam Theun National Biodiversity Conservation Area in Bolikhamsai and Khammouane Provinces is the third largest protected area in Laos.
58% of the province is covered by forests (in 2018), most of the protected areas are located in watersheds linked to hydropower projects.
The Nakai–Nam Theun National Biodiversity Conservation Area comprises mixed semi-tropical forests. The wetlands of the Nam Kading National Protected Area and the Phou Khao Khouay National Protected Area attract numerous migratory birds, and also has some 13 globally and 12 regionally endangered mammals. The saola (spindle horn) was discovered in neighbouring Vietnam in 1992 and sighted since then in this conservation area. In 1996, the saola was discovered living in the adjoining Khammouane Province.
Community livelihoods rely on upland farming systems that are based on paddies, swidden agriculture, natural ecosystems and the services they offer, such as the provision of food, medicines, fuel, and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) that are both consumed and sold to help generate rural incomes.
Nam Theun 2 Dam (NT2), began operation in March 2010. The scheme diverts water from the Nam Theun, a tributary of the Mekong River, to the Xe Bang Fai River. At the time of signing in 2005, NT2 was the largest foreign investment in Laos, the world’s largest private sector cross-border power project financing, the largest private sector hydroelectric project financing, and one of the largest internationally financed IPP projects in Southeast Asia. The dam also marked a return by the World Bank to funding large-scale infrastructure, after a decade-long hiatus. The dam exports energy to neighboring Thailand.
References:
- Wikipedia ‘Bolikhamxai province’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolikhamsai_Province
- WCS Lao PDR ‘Bolikhamxay Landscape’: https://laos.wcs.org/Saving-Wild-Places/Bolikhamxay-Landscape.aspx
