Project Description
Scoping Nature-based Solutions for Enhanced Dam Safety in Lao PDR
Donor: The World Bank (WB)| Duration: September 2024 – June 2025 | Location: Savannakhet, Lao PDR
Project Background:
With a rapidly growing portfolio of large dams, and a considerable portfolio of smaller dams, issues associated with dam safety have become increasingly important, particularly as infrastructure ages, new infrastructure is developed, downstream populations increase, demographics shift, and climate patterns change.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) has indicated the need for support in enhancing its institutional framework and capacity for safety assurance of irrigation dams and downstream communities, as the first step of dam safety assurance of irrigation dams. Considering this, the World Bank (WB) has initiated the Lao PDR Dam Safety Assessment and Management Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA) (P500558) being undertaken between July 2023 – July 2024. The objective of the ASA was to undertake a preliminary assessment of the existing irrigation dams’ portfolio, to identify priority dams for interventions, and to provide technical support for introducing a risk-informed dam safety management approach for water security.
Building on the findings from the ASA, and with support from NBS Invest, the WB has commissioned ICEM – International Centre for Environmental Management to undertake a Scoping Study to Integrate Nature-based Solutions for Dam Safety in Lao PDR.
Project objective
The main objective of the study is to identify potential NbS for priority irrigation dams in the Xe Champhone catchment, particularly for water source protection and increasing storage capacity of the dams, improving the performance of the dams, and flood hazard reduction. The NbS are intended to be integrated with built infrastructure to address storage gaps and enhance the resilience of water management systems.
Project activities
The objective of the study is to be achieved through the following activities:
- An institutional and policy mapping to understand which actors and stakeholders are currently involved in the design, development, management, operations and maintenance, and monitoring and evaluation of the dams and surrounding areas, and those involved with environmental conservation and management, particularly those already engaged with existing NbS efforts in the country;
- Water catchment profiling and delineation of the catchment into sub-zones;
- Hydrological and groundwater assessments to understand the impacts of Xe Champhone and Xe Bang Hieng back flooding on the operation of existing irrigation dams;
- Soil erosion in the catchments and sediment accumulation in the reservoirs;
- An analysis of the reservoirs’ capacity and changes over time due to sediment build-up;
- A dam break assessment (using scenarios as agreed with the WB) to understand the potential risks of dam break and downstream impact on communities and assets;
- A climate change assessment to understand the impacts of climate change on potential flooding issues that can affect the safety and operation of the dams;
- Recommendations for potential NbS for protection of water resources, prevention of sediment build-up and improvement of the operation of the irrigation dams and flood hazard mitigation; and
- Advise on key considerations on potential environmental and social impacts, the monitoring, operation and maintenance, and the costing of the recommended NbS options.
