To protect the environment and the Lao PDR’s precious natural resource base, the Nam Theun 1 Power Company works in cooperation with the Government of Lao PDR to ensure that all activities of the Nam Theun 1 Project operate under the national, regional, and international framework of laws, policies, guidelines, and agreements for natural resource management and environment protection.
As required by the Law on Environment Protection regulation, NT1PC has conducted a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to identify the appropriate mitigative strategies to address the environmental effects of the project. The EIA focuses on two main areas of the Theun-Kading Basin with distinct impacts:
- The future upstream reservoir area and its immediate surroundings; and
- The downstream area between the dam site and the confluence of the Nam Kading with the Mekong River.
Moreover, an Environmental and Social Management and Monitoring Plan (ESMMP), which provides the guidelines for implementing the mitigation and monitoring measures for the project, has also been formulated in compliance with the Lao PDR Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures and Guidelines, Lao PDR national standards, as well as the international standards of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank.
All areas of the environment affected by the project, including water quality and hydrology, fish and fisheries, and the ecosystem are carefully managed and closely monitored by our environmental project staff on a regular basis, according to the measures specified under the ESMMP, to detect environmental trends and ensure that our operations are in compliance to national and international environmental standards.
