Dammed - stories from the LOWER SESAN 2
“I just can’t leave my culture behind. I can’t leave the dead bodies of my father and the other ancestors.” (Broch Rithy - activist and former villager of Kbal Romeas)
The controversial Lower Sesan 2 is Cambodia’s largest hydropower dam and one of the most significant energy projects ever built in the country.
Constructed by China’s Hydrolancang in Stung Treng Province, near the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok rivers, the dam began operations in 2018. The project was designed to supply a substantial share of Cambodia’s electricity demand, to provide power to much of the capital, Phnom Penh, and to support the country’s rapid economic growth.
When the dam’s gates were closed in 2017, approximately 34,000 hectares of land were inundated, forcing around 2,700 households—mostly from indigenous Lao and Phnong communities—to leave their ancestral villages, sacred forests, and burial grounds. Entire communities were relocated, often with limited access to the natural resources that had sustained them for generations.
Beyond its environmental impact, the project profoundly altered the social and cultural fabric of the region. Changes to the river’s natural flow and fish migration disrupted local fisheries, while the loss of land and forest undermined traditional livelihoods, social structures, and cultural practices deeply tied to the landscape.
I have visited several communities affected by the construction of the Lower Sesan 2 dam since 2015. This collection of photographs documents those encounters and reflects the long-term human and environmental consequences of the project.
