While Thailand Looks Away From Mekong Devastation, its People Start to Feel the Pain

Hydropower generates 7,000 megawatts of energy in Thailand alone. Isaan Record’s Olivia Everett sits down with Geography Professor Ian Baird of the University of Wisconsin-Madison to see how dams impact people in and out of the country. 

Thailand is the largest energy consumer out of all the countries along the Mekong River, according to BP. This consumption funds many of the dams built throughout the region.  

While hydropower may seem like a better deal for Thailand, the academic Ian Baird has found the destructive potential of dams on the Mekong River, the effects of which are starting to be felt within the borders of Thailand. 

‘The Flooded Forests Are Dying’

After researching areas along the Mekong River for three decades, Baird knows firsthand the effects that large-scale dams have had on the people living in the Mekong River Basin. 

His most recent research led him…