The country is richly endowed with natural resources - petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests, and minerals - and is highly dependent on the petroleum sector, which accounts for the largest portion of export revenue and about 30% of government revenue.
Since hydropower companies likely benefit significantly from eco-hydrological services provided by cloud forests, a new generation of incentives for facilitating their engagement in ecosystem protection is desperately needed.
McMorris Rodgers has been a member of the House/Senate energy conference committee, working to pass bipartisan energy legislation that included provisions to boost hydropower and update forest policy.
The state has implemented a series of development plans based on the utilization of its abundant hydropower potential and mineral and forest resources.
Among those friends are Vietnam and China, neighbors to the east and north both jockeying for access to Laos's forests, arable land, hydropower possibilities and other natural resources.
It has rain in plenty, and therefore broad forests and ample hydropower; but also, for all its far lovelier coast, and the historic jewel of Santiago de Compostela, far fewer tourists.
Hydropower projects are always harmful for forest, grassland, and cropland.
Despite the fact that the state-owned enterprises should run their services as financially self-sufficient, as mandated by the enterprise law, the traditional state providers – like hydropower plants and water companies using forest services – still come under strong state protection.
In mid-February, the ministry of environment and forests virtually approved six hydropower dams.
Bureya, the region's largest hydropower project, flooded 270 square miles of forest but has not brought down local power prices.
