Nathanial Matthews
PhD Student
Department of Geography
King’s College London
Strand
London
WC2R 2LS
Email nathanial.matthews@kcl.ac.uk
Title
Using the impact assessment process to analyse the drivers and enablers of hydropower decision making in the Mekong Basin
Supervisors
Dr Daanish Mustafa and Professor Tony Allan
Research
My doctoral research revolves around the water, energy and food nexus. I use the impact assessment process as a lens, or starting point, to analyse the drivers and enablers of hydropower decision making in the Mekong Basin, specifically in Lao PDR. The Mekong Basin is currently undergoing a massive hydropower expansion with more than 100 dams being constructed along its mainstream and tributaries. This expansion is being driven by new sets of actors and in a different enabling environment than previous hydropower construction in the basin. My research aims to understand who these actors are, who stands to benefit and lose from these dams and what is enabling this construction boom. The research aims to be useful for policy makers, NGOs and water managers working with transboundary rivers.
Biography
Nate was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He obtained a BA (Hons) in Political Science from Acadia University in 1999. After graduation he worked and traveled for a year across southern and eastern Africa in various positions including guiding rafting expeditions and volunteering for 3 months in water and sanitation projects in Madagascar. Nate then moved to Japan where he ran a successful small business in accommodation management. In 2006 he sold his business and completed a Masters of International Development and Environmental Analysis (First Class) at Monash University, Australia. During his masters he worked for Oxfam Australia, Greensteps, and Monash University. He then accepted a position as the education and research officer at the International WaterCentre in Brisbane, where he co-coordinated a master of integrated water management, lectured at the University of Queensland, and worked as a consultant in integrated water management projects in Africa and S.E. Asia. He was also a trainer with Greensteps Australia teaching environmental sustainability courses.
Nate is a member of the London Water Research Group and UNESCO Water Culture and Diversity working group.
Recent Publications
MATTHEWS, N., Nicol, A. and Seide W. 2012. Constructing a new water future: An analysis of Ethiopia’s current hydropower development’ in John A. Allan and Martin Keulertz et al (eds) Handbook of Land and Water Grabs in Africa: Foreign Direct Investment and Food and Water Security, London and New York: Routledge.
MATTHEWS, N. 2012. Lao PDR. In Encyclopedia of Energy, ed. M. Pierce, Golson Media: Salem Press.
Silva, G, Dubé, M., Pugsley, T., Shaw, D., Hiltz, M, MATTHEWS, N., and Robarts R. 2012. An Integrated Framework for Assessing the Power Generation Water Pathways within the Water-Energy Nexus. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. Submitted February 2012.
MATTHEWS, N. 2012. Water grabbing in the Mekong basin – An analysis of the winners and losers of Thailand’s hydropower development in Lao PDR. Water Alternatives 5(2): 392-411
MATTHEWS, N. 2011. Drowning Under Progress: Water and Culture in the Mekong Subregion. In Johnson, B. R. (Ed.) Water, Cultural Diversity & Global Environmental Change: Emerging Trends, Sustainable Futures. UNESCO-IHP, Springer
MATTHEWS, N. and Missingham, B. 2009, Social accountability and community forest management: the failure of collaborative governance in the Wombat Forest, Development in Practice,19:8,1052 — 1063
Oliver, P., Lant, P., MATTHEWS, N., & Wegener P. 2009. On blending teaching, learning and institutional arrangements: collaboration across four Australian universities in the development and delivery of a Master of Integrated Water Management. Peer Reviewed Published Conference Paper, Fourth International Blended Learning Conference: “Engaging Students in the Curriculum”
Cornford, J. & MATTHEWS, N. 2008. Hidden Costs: The underside of economic transformation in the Greater Mekong Subregion, Oxfam Australia. (Translated into Thai, Lao and Cambodian and featured in a report by Aljazeera in 2008)