dominance. good is still the head with d w business beyond. imagine how many portion of lunch are thrown out in the world . climate change can be very hard to store. this is my plan, the way from just one week. how much we can really get we still have time to act. i'm doing all with what ah, ancient tradition, untouched nature and urban development. laos is a country where these 3 worlds collide. in a very distinct laotian way the country is building dams. these enormous works of engineering. ah, what the buddhist country is hoping would allow it to catch up with its wealthier neighbors. but during a debt crisis, can the country break out of isolation? the me cone river is where fisherman, so hurt, grew up. he knows it inside out the 25 year old has deployed a bottom set gil net, he lives in a small village in laos further upstream. a huge hydro power plant is being built on the me kong fishermen are concerned about fish migration roots spawning grounds and fishing waters on asia. most important waterway the red. if the dam is built, i might not be allowed to fish here any more bad them. this whole section of the river could be declared a nature reserve because we are right behind the future power plant here. but my family is fishing rights only for this section. the fishing times could also chamberlain. the marks is lennon is government of laos, wants to see the country become the battery of southeast asia, building around 100 dams, by 2030. so far, 78 have been built. one of them is located on the nam oh, a tributary of the me call river. the number one power plant, one of 7 on this river alone was built by china 3 years ago. at a cost of 2700000000 euros. in return, the chinese state owned company power. china will sell electricity to the country for the next 29 years after which the power plant will be taken over by louse. the village lieut. our hair located directly behind the dam, had to give way for the plant. the only trace the old village temple by now mostly submerged in the reservoir. buddhist monk, buncha soto, mano is now worshipping at a newly built temple. further up the mountain. none clung. what was that he had, i knew the old temple was a gift to me and said that the government really had no choice but to hand pick him up and see me. and i had to do something to make the population better, to put it up to him. the dam brings important exchange to the country to the hand, with a donation of about 14 euros per mural. the villagers can bring color to the new building, piece by piece. the painter has been working tirelessly and the monk seems pleased with the result. he is content with the change, but not everyone in the village below shares his stoicism. the state gave every resident the same compensation when they were re settled, with each household receiving $600.00 euros and 400 square meter plot of land, the farmer, sou temps, some dried chillies once dried on a large porch they need but me know, i could put my house was twice the size of this one with 2 floors on it boom, or whole number, the new license just small until i started to extend it myself piece by the no, there's hardly enough space for that. what can cause zuni with the identical partition plans, the village has lost its soul, the resident se, and the soil up in the mountain is no match for the fertile ground by the river, where animals thrived and crops flourished. the meek on river is the vital archery of laos spanning along its western border. the communist ruled country is one of the poorest in asia. 7000000 people live here, most of whom look and agriculture downstream. the quality of the soil is degrading thanks to the hydro power plants further ramp. by slowing the flow of the river itself, the dams limit the supply of valuable nutrients to more fertilizer has to be used in the fields to compensate. but fertilizer prices, as soaring, says farm upon the collapse of the lowest currency. the camp can be felt nationwide as i've also i am and dad is a home still buying the say and things at the so they can they how, what can i say on there now? they're on powdered milk for my baby, perhaps the anger they say the gower or alkaloid as i and i've had to start using up my savings. hell and borrow money from relatives i buy di hm. ally, how about or last 2 is borrowing money from china? the number one investor in the land of the temples high amounts of foreign debt are largely to blame for the currency decline. the situation only exacerbated by the coven pandemic, like many places in the capitol, the vienne chan shopping mall has seen a huge decline in commerce. miss news boutique on the 2nd floor is only just starting to draw customers again. the rent has doubled rent. she pays in dollars got to some kind of government get inflation on troll soon. hang line before the currency can opt out. i could buy 10 pairs of pants for about 50 euros fatigue and you may be 9. now i get fine. and utilities have grown up too many small bucket, couldn't get dowman and could not at one store, however, customers are lining up. train tickets have been sold on the 1st floor since late 2021. china has built a 414 kilometer railroad line from the chinese border to novices, capital b, n chand. during the day, high speed trains hurt all through the country. at night, freight trains bring goods over the border the train speed through dozens of tunnels and valleys. in the next few years, the line will be extended to bangkok in thailand until vietnam's deep sea port. laos is the only land long country in southeast asia. so the new rail line could improve things for many, especially farmers will benefit according to alex kraemer of the world bank. what laos often uses the phrase, moving from land locked to land linked. and we've looked at the numbers and we think that that actually is a very realistic vision for that country. what will ready, seeing farmers, particularly in the north of the country, take advantage of the proximity to very fast growing markets for agricultural products. and in fact, this has really lifted the poverty rate in the north of the country. we are now running long instead of a treacherous day, long jo, me bypass on muddy tracks the trip from the capital to the world. heritage site long pro bang now only takes a few hours at the destination, a modern train station, the likes of which are usually seen in china. the new ra way has opened the door for tourism, which brings new opportunities for the city. if you take a walk here in the morning, you might think that time has stood still. buddhist monks performed their daily morning arms round 20 years ago, a quarter of lauins lived below the poverty line. today that number has fallen to just 7 percent but if that number is to continue improving now is the time for action, the communist party of laos must find a better way to finance itself than through additional debt. according to the world bank, new dams cost money that laos does not have, and money from hydro power must be invested properly. for example, in better roads and bridges. for a long time, there was only a single bridge over the me kong to thailand. to day, there are 4, and the 5th will open in 2024. at the market in vienne chan, the hope is that prices will sink. most of the products here are imported. so faster delivery would be an advantage. the war in ukraine has seen energy cost to explode. even here, how am i got lad? hello. the rise comes from loud solemnity that has a long transport route. so i have to charge twice as much heads up that one. hey, buddy, i didn't get one. and even though i glanced like these on grown here, these ones from viet nam, a bigger and i've gotten much more expensive. i almost pumpkins come from the south so they cost around 30 percent more. and math night falls in the capital and the streets come to life. louse is a young nation, but also a patient one. yeah, people here don't want to hear of our protests despite the high prices and corruption in the country. there is hope that the end of the pandemic will bring about change. the hope that the many takes the form of a hydro, electric power plant. for many lotions, green hydropower, and tourism of the light at the end of the tunnel. and the potential is huge electricity from hydro power alone could bring the country foreign exchange earnings about to 2600000000 euros annually. but opposition to too many dams is growing in neighboring countries. studies worn the impact on fishing, for example. oh, well it fishermen to her calls it a day for the time being. he's glad that he can fish a toll. you know my look well don't like the one a few months ago. the gasoline was so expensive that i couldn't go out at all. hadn't that was a real blow? our whole village depends on fishing and the catch this afternoon was modest. it's hard to say for sure. what will come of the me kong it's incredibly diverse, wildlife or it's fisherman when the dam is completed. but for now, the river flows, his source of life and livelihood. for some 60000000 people. ah what making the headlines and what's behind them? dw news africa. they show the fact the issues shape in the continent. life is slowly getting back to normal. you well, in the street to give you in the reports on the inside our correspond, that was on the ground reporting from across the continent and all the trend stuff . the mazda you next on d, w, from slave trading to smuggling. they cross people from west africa to europe. human traffic is in murray, tonya, they make fat profits because they helping their suffering country people are they just modern day slave traders? in 45 minutes on dw, we've got some hot tips for your bucket list. romantic corner check hot spot for food and some great cultural memorials to boot w travel off. we go. this is d, dublin years, africa coming up on the program, the wounds of war. and if the opium with sexual violence used as a weapon of war, we hear the harrowing testimony of a 16 year old girl who was raped, she says, fine ethiopian soldier. also coming up take.