Archive for 4.2.1 Dams in China

China’s Three Gorges Dam: A Model of the Past

Abstract The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is the world’s largest and most controversial hydropower project. The 660 kilometer-long reservoir displaced 1.3 million people and is wreaking havoc on the environment. The reservoir was scheduled to reach its final height in 2010, but many of its impacts are only now becoming apparent. China will deal with the project’s legacy for generations to come. As the project has been completed, International Rivers has published an updated factsheet which summarizes its legacy and recommendations for the future.  It has also published a slideshow, Three Gorges Dam: Through the Lens of the Artist, which illustrates the impacts of the Three Gorges Dam through music, photography and painting. http://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/three-gorges-dam-through-the-lens-of-the-artist-3524
Author International Rivers Network, Factsheet, February 27, 2012
Publisher
Link http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/attached-files/3gorgesfactsheet_feb2012_web.pdf
Attachment
4 Hydropower, 4.2 International Rivers Reports, 4.2.1 Dams in China

Xiaoxi and Xiaogushan CDM Hydropower Projects: Report from a Field Trip, November 2008

Abstract German power utility RWE, one of the biggest CO2 emitters in Europe, intends to buy CDM credits from numerous large hydro projects in China. RWE has commissioned certification company TÜV SÜD to write WCD compliance reports for the Xiaoxi and Xiaogushan dams. TÜV SÜD has ruled both projects WCD compliant. (TÜV SÜD was previously hired by the developer of Xiaoxi to validate its eligibility for the CDM. It gave the dam a positive validation). Xiaogushan Dam was “registered” (approved) by the CDM Executive Board in 2006. Xiaoxi’s application for approval was stalled in October 2008 when the Executive Board requested a review of the project’s validation on several grounds related to additionality. The aim of this report is to present findings relevant to judging whether the Xiaoxi and Xiaogushan hydropower stations are indeed likely to be WCD compliant. We also make some remarks relevant to the issue of additionality. It is not the aim of this report to make an argument for or against the expansion of hydropower in China (or, for/against particular dam projects).
Author Tina Lea, International Rivers, 27 November 2008
Publisher
Link http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/attached-files/xiaoxixiaogushanreport.pdf
Attachment
4 Hydropower, 4.2 International Rivers Reports, 4.2.1 Dams in China

Yunnan Hydropower Expansion Update on China’s energy industry reforms & the Nu, Lancang & Jinsha hydropower dams

Abstract Energy sector reforms in China have unleashed an explosion in power industry development proposals across the country. Nation-wide there is an intention to almost double hydropower capacity by 2010. The reforms have led to a nation-wide surge in competition between corporate generators to secure actual and potential power-producing ‘assets’, and nowhere are dam builders aspirations’ greater than in the south-west, especially Yunnan Province. Mekong Region is taken to encompass the territory, ecosystems, people, economies and politics of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China’s Yunnan Province (Mingsarn Kaosa-ard and Dore 2003). In the past Yunnan has been seen as a peripheral province – both geographically and sociopolitically. However, in terms of both the Mekong Region and China, Yunnan is increasingly important. The purpose of this research paper is to provide a brief update on what is happening in Yunnan – looking at the Nu, Lancang and Jinsha rivers – and then situate this within the wider context of China’s changing political economy.
Author International Rivers/ WORKING PAPER Chiang Mai University’s Unit for Social & Environmental Research & Green Watershed, Kunming, PR of China March 2004
Publisher
Link http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/attached-files/yunnanhydropower.pdf
Attachment
4 Hydropower, 4.2 International Rivers Reports, 4.2.1 Dams in China

China’s Upper Mekong Dams Endanger Millions Downstream

Abstract This 2002 Fact Sheet describes China’s plans to dam the Mekong River and the expected impacts to millions of people living downstream.
Author International Rivers Network, Factsheet: Briefing Paper 2, October 2003
Publisher
Link http://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/china-s-upper-mekong-dams-endanger-millions-downstream-2674
Attachment
4 Hydropower, 4.2 International Rivers Reports, 4.2.1 Dams in China

Navigation Project Threatens, Livelihoods, Ecosystem

Abstract The Upper Mekong Navigation Improvement Project, funded by the Chinese government, is part of a grand scheme to allow large ships to freely navigate from Simao, China to Luang Prabang in Laos. The first stage of the project would destroy 11 major rapids and 10 scattered reefs along a 331-kilometer section of the Mekong from the China-Burma border to Ban Houayxai in Laos. Two rapids have already been blasted along the Lao-Burma border. The second and third stages would involve further channelization of the river. This paper focuses on the impacts of the first stage of the project.
Author International Rivers Network, Factsheet: Briefing Paper 2, October 2002
Publisher
Link http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/attached-files/02.navfactshet.pdf
Attachment
4 Hydropower, 4.2 International Rivers Reports, 4.2.1 Dams in China

China’s Nu River Dam Projects Threaten Magnificent World Heritage Site

Abstract Known as the Salween River in Burma and Thailand, the Nu River stretches over 3,200 kilometers from its origins on the Tibetan Plateau to its delta at the Andaman Sea in Burma. It is the second longest river in Southeast Asia and is one of only two undammed rivers in China. Yet the Chinese government has plans to build up to 13 dams on one of China’s last free-flowing rivers.
Author International Rivers Network, Factsheet
Publisher
Link http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/attached-files/nu_river_fact_sheet.pdf
Attachment
4 Hydropower, 4.2 International Rivers Reports, 4.2.1 Dams in China