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== Dams ==
[[File:Lao Mekong River freighters (12237386085).jpg|thumb|A freighter on the Mekong in Laos]]
Laos is a water-rich country which benefits immensely from the [[Mekong|Mekong River]] and its tributaries for economic development, and demands for irrigation and hydropower are increasing. Damming of the Mekong in Laos negatively affects [[biodiversity]] and the [[Hydrology|hydrological]] profile of the river.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/15505-Lao%20PDR%20Country%20Profile-WEB.pdf |title=Climate Risk Country Profile: Lao PDR |date= |publisher=World Bank |year=2021}}</ref>{{Rp|page=15}} In April 2011, ''[[The Independent]]'' newspaper reported that Laos had started work on the controversial [[Xayaburi Dam]] on the [[Mekong River]] without getting formal approval. Environmentalists say the dam will adversely affect 60 million people and Cambodia and Vietnam—concerned about the flow of water further downstream—are officially opposed to the project. The [[Mekong River Commission]], a regional intergovernmental body designed to promote the "sustainable management" of the river, famed for its [[Mekong Giant Catfish|giant catfish]], carried out a study that warned if Xayaburi and subsequent schemes went ahead, it would "fundamentally undermine the abundance, productivity and diversity of the Mekong fish resources".<ref>{{cite news|last=Buncombe|first=Andrew|date=20 April 2011|title=Mekong ecology in the balance as Laos quietly begins work on dam|newspaper=The Independent|location=London|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/mekong-ecology-in-the-balance-as-laos-quietly-begins-work-on-dam-2270082.html|url-status=dead|access-date=20 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423014601/http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/mekong-ecology-in-the-balance-as-laos-quietly-begins-work-on-dam-2270082.html|archive-date=23 April 2011}}</ref> Neighbouring Vietnam warned that the dam would harm the [[Mekong Delta]], which is the home to nearly 20 million people and supplies around 50 percent of Vietnam's rice output and over 70 percent of both its [[seafood]] and fruit output.<ref>{{cite web|title=Vietnam worries about impacts from Laos hydroelectric project|url=https://khampoua.wordpress.com/tag/laos-hydroelectric-project/|access-date=20 April 2011|publisher=Voices for the Laotian Who do not have Voices}}</ref> By building dams Laos is willing to become the battery of Asia by selling electricity to its neighboring countries.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Laos to keep building dams despite negative impacts|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/09/laos-building-dams-negative-impacts-180911043821027.html|access-date=11 September 2018|website=www.aljazeera.com}}</ref>
[[Milton Osborne]], Visiting Fellow at the [[Lowy Institute for International Policy]] who has written widely on the Mekong, warns: "The future scenario is of the Mekong ceasing to be a bounteous source of fish and guarantor of agricultural richness, with the great river below China becoming little more than a series of unproductive lakes."<ref>{{cite news|author=Osborne, Milton|date=29 June 2011|title=Mekong dam plans threatening the natural order|newspaper=The Australian|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/mekong-dam-plans-threatening-the-natural-order/story-e6frg6ux-1226083709322}}</ref>
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== Deforestation ==
{{Main|Deforestation in Laos}}
[[Illegal logging]] is also a major problem. Environmental groups estimate that {{convert|500000|m3}} of logs are being cut by [[Vietnam People's Army]] (VPA) forces, and companies it owns, in co-operation with the [[Lao People's Army]] and then transported from Laos to Vietnam every year, with most of the furniture eventually exported to western countries by the VPA
A 1992 government survey indicated that forests occupied about 48 percent of Laos's land area. [[Forest cover]]age decreased to 41 percent in a 2002 survey. Lao authorities have said that, in reality, forest coverage might be no more than 35 percent because of development projects such as dams, on top of the losses to [[illegal logging]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Illegal Logging Increasingly Prevalent in Laos|url=http://www.voanews.com/lao/news/a-52-2009-02-24-voa3-90694899.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511104809/http://www.voanews.com/lao/news/a-52-2009-02-24-voa3-90694899.html|archive-date=11 May 2011|access-date=20 April 2011|publisher=voanews.com}}</ref>
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