China approves more hydropower amid clean energy push
Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:49am GMT
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFTOE6AS06F20101129
BEIJING Nov 29 (Reuters) - China has approved several new hydropower projects recently, in a sign that the government is speeding up development of clean energy after an approvals slowdown in recent years because of concerns including environmental impact.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Monday in reports on its website (www.ndrc.gov.cn) that it had approved the construction of the 2.6-gigwatt (GW) Changheba hydropower project in Sichuan province this month.
The commission said it had also approved the 2.4-GW Guan'di hydropower station and the 600-megawatt Tongzilin hydropower project, both in Sichuan, in September.
The approvals come after the NDRC agreed in late October for China Three Gorges Power Corp (CTGPC) to proceed with early-stage studies for the 8.7-GW Wudongde and 14-GW Baihetan hydropower projects. [ID:nTOE6AE05G]
Approvals for big hydropower projects had almost come to a halt in recent years amid complaints about the environmental impact and economic viability of large dams, as well as the treatment of migrants displaced during the impoundment of reservoirs.
But energy officials have raised an alarm this year that the nation's carbon emission cuts and clean energy goals will be not be met unless more approvals were given for large hydropower projects.
Beijing has not openly acknowledged any policy shift.
The government has pledged to increase the proportion of non-fossil fuels in overall primary energy use to 15 percent by 2020 and to cut carbon intensity -- the amount of carbon dioxide per unit of gross domestic product -- by 40-45 percent during the same period.
The country's total hydropower capacity reached 200 GW in August and top energy official Zhang Guobao said capacity had to reach 380 GW by 2020 if the country was to meet its clean energy and emissions targets.
He said China needed to start building 120 GW of hydropower projects in the six years through 2015 given the longer construction time needed compared with coal-fired plants.
(Reporting by Jim Bai and Tom Miles; Editing by Chris Lewis)
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Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Experts cast doubt over benefits of hydropower
Experts cast doubt over benefits of hydropower
November 24th, 2010 | Global Times
By Fu Wen and Teddy Ng
http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-11/596090.html
When the Ministry of Environmental Protection suspended the construction of the Ludila and Longkaikou hydropower stations last year, environmentalists breathed a sigh of relief, believing that the ecology of the Jinsha River in Yunnan Province had been saved.
However, their joy would prove short-lived. Authorities recently approved a number of similar projects, leading to fears that the two suspended stations would get the green light in the near future.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) confirmed on its website earlier that it has approved construction of two stations – the Jin'anqiao Hydropower Station on the Jinsha River, upstream of the Yangtze River, and the Zangmu Hydropower Station on the Yarlung Zangbo River in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Seven other stations are planned for the Jinsha River.
Others, such as the Songta Hydropower Station on the Nu River in Tibet, could also receive official approval in the near future, National Financial Weekly, published by the Xinhua News Agency, reported earlier.
All this is a result of China setting itself the target of generating 15 percent of its power from non-fossil fuel sources by 2020.
Promoting the use of cleaner energy is one of the aims of the nation's 12th five-year plan (2011 to 2015). If that is to be achieved, the capacity of the hydroelectric system should reach 380 million kilowatts by 2020, said National Energy Administration director Zhang Guobao earlier.
Many of the proposed stations are located in Yunnan, home to more than 600 rivers that form six major river basin systems. The province possesses 24 percent of China's hydropower potential. The Nu, Lancang and Jinsha have some of the biggest scope to produce hydropower, according to a study by Yu Xiaogang, director of non-governmental group Green Watershed.
"I am not against all hydropower station construction, but we need adequate scientific research and plans to decide where to build them so people can benefit to the full extent," Liu Shukun, a professor at the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, told the Global Times.
Environmental fallout
Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times that once a hydropower station is built, a running river turns into a still lake. This does not bode well for the 161 species of fish that inhabit the Jinsha River.
When the Gezhouba Hydropower Station was built in Yichang, Hubei Province, in 1989, the river flow was altered and the Chinese sturgeon vanished from the upper stream of the Yangtze River.
"Some fish species that only live in torrential rivers will disappear and the river will lose its biodiversity," an anonymous fish expert told the Global Times Tuesday.
The ecological fallout is not limited to within China. A report released last month by the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernmental group, said the dams in Yunnan's Lancang River will influence the timing and scale of the natural Mekong pulse to which many other natural, social and economic components of the system are tuned.
The dams will reduce the sediment and nutrient load reaching Kratie in Cambodia from China to 22 percent of current levels, the report said.
It suggested that Lao, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand defer decisions to build dams on the mainstream of the Mekong River for 10 years.
Large-scale hydropower projects in Southwest China have already attracted the attention of, and in some cases disputes with, neighboring countries.
Hong Lei, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said China has always fully considered the concerns of countries along the lower reaches of the Mekong River in its water-resources exploitation.
China Huaneng Group, the prime contractor for the hydropower station project in Yarlung Zangbo River, said water flow downstream will not be affected.
Pros and cons
While officials have stressed that hydropower projects will stimulate local economic development, experts counter that many local residents are actually worse off because of them.
Yu, whose green group conducted a study examining the impact of dams on 7,000 people whose houses were demolished and another 30,000 whose farmlands were swallowed up by waters in 2002 and 2003, found that many of them are now living in poverty. With their homes and farmlands gone, many affected residents have had to change jobs, sometimes with terrible consequences.
"They could originally depend on the farmland to support generations of their family," Yu told the Global Times. "Now some of them can only earn a living by picking up rubbish."
Ma said some local governments have brought in high energy-consuming industries to areas with hydropower, and these industries have caused so much pollution that it has actually offset the benefit the projects were originally intended to bring.
Fan Xiao, the chief engineer of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau, said dam projects also increase the risk of mudslides because of the associated geographical change. "But it is expected that all these projects will go ahead. The NDRC and the Ministry of Environmental Protection cannot bring a halt to all these projects, given the huge interest of local governments and power companies involved."
Zhang, the National Energy Administration director, said that the environmental impact of the hydropower stations has been exaggerated, and China is merely doing what other countries did in the 1960s, the Shanghai-based First Financial Daily reported earlier.
Ma suggested that in the future, the central government introduce a transparent decision-making process for hydropower projects.
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November 24th, 2010 | Global Times
By Fu Wen and Teddy Ng
http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-11/596090.html
When the Ministry of Environmental Protection suspended the construction of the Ludila and Longkaikou hydropower stations last year, environmentalists breathed a sigh of relief, believing that the ecology of the Jinsha River in Yunnan Province had been saved.
However, their joy would prove short-lived. Authorities recently approved a number of similar projects, leading to fears that the two suspended stations would get the green light in the near future.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) confirmed on its website earlier that it has approved construction of two stations – the Jin'anqiao Hydropower Station on the Jinsha River, upstream of the Yangtze River, and the Zangmu Hydropower Station on the Yarlung Zangbo River in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Seven other stations are planned for the Jinsha River.
Others, such as the Songta Hydropower Station on the Nu River in Tibet, could also receive official approval in the near future, National Financial Weekly, published by the Xinhua News Agency, reported earlier.
All this is a result of China setting itself the target of generating 15 percent of its power from non-fossil fuel sources by 2020.
Promoting the use of cleaner energy is one of the aims of the nation's 12th five-year plan (2011 to 2015). If that is to be achieved, the capacity of the hydroelectric system should reach 380 million kilowatts by 2020, said National Energy Administration director Zhang Guobao earlier.
Many of the proposed stations are located in Yunnan, home to more than 600 rivers that form six major river basin systems. The province possesses 24 percent of China's hydropower potential. The Nu, Lancang and Jinsha have some of the biggest scope to produce hydropower, according to a study by Yu Xiaogang, director of non-governmental group Green Watershed.
"I am not against all hydropower station construction, but we need adequate scientific research and plans to decide where to build them so people can benefit to the full extent," Liu Shukun, a professor at the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, told the Global Times.
Environmental fallout
Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times that once a hydropower station is built, a running river turns into a still lake. This does not bode well for the 161 species of fish that inhabit the Jinsha River.
When the Gezhouba Hydropower Station was built in Yichang, Hubei Province, in 1989, the river flow was altered and the Chinese sturgeon vanished from the upper stream of the Yangtze River.
"Some fish species that only live in torrential rivers will disappear and the river will lose its biodiversity," an anonymous fish expert told the Global Times Tuesday.
The ecological fallout is not limited to within China. A report released last month by the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernmental group, said the dams in Yunnan's Lancang River will influence the timing and scale of the natural Mekong pulse to which many other natural, social and economic components of the system are tuned.
The dams will reduce the sediment and nutrient load reaching Kratie in Cambodia from China to 22 percent of current levels, the report said.
It suggested that Lao, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand defer decisions to build dams on the mainstream of the Mekong River for 10 years.
Large-scale hydropower projects in Southwest China have already attracted the attention of, and in some cases disputes with, neighboring countries.
Hong Lei, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said China has always fully considered the concerns of countries along the lower reaches of the Mekong River in its water-resources exploitation.
China Huaneng Group, the prime contractor for the hydropower station project in Yarlung Zangbo River, said water flow downstream will not be affected.
Pros and cons
While officials have stressed that hydropower projects will stimulate local economic development, experts counter that many local residents are actually worse off because of them.
Yu, whose green group conducted a study examining the impact of dams on 7,000 people whose houses were demolished and another 30,000 whose farmlands were swallowed up by waters in 2002 and 2003, found that many of them are now living in poverty. With their homes and farmlands gone, many affected residents have had to change jobs, sometimes with terrible consequences.
"They could originally depend on the farmland to support generations of their family," Yu told the Global Times. "Now some of them can only earn a living by picking up rubbish."
Ma said some local governments have brought in high energy-consuming industries to areas with hydropower, and these industries have caused so much pollution that it has actually offset the benefit the projects were originally intended to bring.
Fan Xiao, the chief engineer of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau, said dam projects also increase the risk of mudslides because of the associated geographical change. "But it is expected that all these projects will go ahead. The NDRC and the Ministry of Environmental Protection cannot bring a halt to all these projects, given the huge interest of local governments and power companies involved."
Zhang, the National Energy Administration director, said that the environmental impact of the hydropower stations has been exaggerated, and China is merely doing what other countries did in the 1960s, the Shanghai-based First Financial Daily reported earlier.
Ma suggested that in the future, the central government introduce a transparent decision-making process for hydropower projects.
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Tuesday, November 23, 2010
IDB Eyes China Projects Financing
*IDB Eyes China Projects Financing*
Latin Business Chronicle, Tuesday, November 23, 2010 **
www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=4652
Latin Business Chronicle, Tuesday, November 23, 2010 **
www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=4652
China moves beyond mere trading with a growing role in financing
China-Latin American business.
BY CHRONICLE STAFF
The Inter-American Development Bank is looking at potential Chinese bank
participation in large renewable energy and transportation projects in
South America.
"We are exploring potential Chinese bank participation in large
renewable energy and transportation projects in Guyana, Ecuador and
Colombia," IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno tells Latin Business Chronicle.
Meanwhile, several Chinese companies have become suppliers of
IDB-financed infrastructure projects in Latin America.
The IDB has ramped up its China focus as a result of the growing trade
and business between Latin America and the Asian country. Last year,
trade reached $118.2 billion, according to a Latin Business Chronicle
analysis of data from the International Monetary Fund.
China is now the second-largest trade partner for Latin America after
the United States, according to a Latin Business Chronicle ranking of
trade data from the region's top trade partners.
Last month, IDB announced that it had signed a letter of intent with the
Export-Import Bank of China to finance up to $200 million worth of
China-Latin America trade.
SINOHYDRO EXPANDS
One Chinese company looking to boost its business in Latin America is
Sinohydro Corporation, China's top dam builder. It is pursuing projects
in several markets, including Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile,
Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela, according to Song Dongsheng, the
company's Executive Vice President.
It currently has two gas plants on Venezuela and a hydro power project
in Ecuador as well as representative offices in five cities in Latin
America.
Chinese interest in Latin America and vice versa is expected to increase
after the IDB co-organized the China-Latin America Business summit in
Chengdu, China last month.
"The event in Chengdu surpassed our expectations," Moreno says. "It
brought together more than 1,200 participants, including top executives,
trade promotion agencies and senior public officials from Asia and the
LAC region, including 400 participants from both governments and private
sectors from all 26 IDB borrowing member countries in LAC. … On one
remarkable single day, there were more than 700 matchmaking business
sessions ranging from agri-business to clean energy. "
Among the participants was Sinohydro's Song Dongsheng. "Since the
difference between Latin America and China may be the largest comparing
with any other region of the world, such kind of activities are always
useful," he says.
The $200 million loan program isn't the only major China initiative from
the IDB. It also has an agreement with China-based Alibaba, the largest
electronic trading platform, to promote SME trade between China and
Latin America. "We have signed financial cooperation agreements with
Chinese banks [and] several Chinese banks have joined the IDB's trade
financing program," Moreno points out.
BROAD ASIA FOCUS
The Chengdu summit follows major IDB summits in Korea in 2007 and in
Japan in 2008. "We are truly stepping up our efforts to help forge a
strategic relationship between China and Asia and Latin America and the
Caribbean," Moreno says.
The IDB plans an event in Asia next year as well. The purpose of the
Asia-Latin America Business Summits the IDB has been promoting in recent
years is to bring together top level government officials and business
executives to expand and strengthen the commercial ties between both
sides of the Pacific Rim.
Next year, IDB expects to launch in 2011 an ambitious program financed
by China for high-level economic officials from the private, public
sectors and academia to participate in an exchange program to share
business models, economic development and integration.
"This is one of the first steps and we are looking forward to an
exponential growth in this relationship," Moreno says. "I am a firm
believer that this is the moment of opportunities for Latin American and
Caribbean and our future should be built in part by increasing the
relationship with Asia, by creating the conditions and building the
partnerships to promote this South-South cooperation."
________________________________________________
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international dam projects.
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New hydro projects on Siang River
50 pc Subansiri project work completed: Centre
Spl Correspondent
The Assam Tribune, NEW DELHI, Nov 22 –
Spl Correspondent
The Assam Tribune, NEW DELHI, Nov 22 –
The hue and cry over mega dams in Arunachal Pradesh notwithstanding, the
Centre has said 50 per cent of the works on the Lower Subansiri
Hydroelectric Power Project has been completed, while plans have been
firmed up for implementation of Siang Upper (stage I) and Lower hydro
projects.
The confirmation in the Parliament came on a day, when the National
Alliance for Peoples Movement (ALPM) staged a demonstration at Jantar
Mantar demanding halt to mega dam projects, relief and rehabilitation of
affected people. The demonstration and a symbolic march to Parliament
was joined by Asam Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (AKMSS) led by Akhil Gogoi.
In a written reply, Union Minister for Power, Sushil Kumar Shinde said
that couple of hydro projects on River Siang have been identified for
execution in Arunachal Pradesh.
The 2700 MW Siang (Lower) executed by Jaiprakash Associates Limited has
been cleared by Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in February. The
Project is yet to be cleared from the Environment and Forest angle by
the Ministry of Environment and Forest.
The NTPC Limited has prepared feasibility report for 6000 MW Siang Upper
Stage – I and 3750 MW Stage – II by avoiding submergence of important
towns like Tuting and Yingkiang, as desired by the Arunachal Pradesh
Government.
About Siang Lower Hydroelectric Project, Ministry of Environment and
Forest has accorded sanction to terms and reference for installed
capacity of 2700 MW for carrying out detailed Environmental Impact and
Resettlement of displaced persons due to submergence, impact on flora
and fauna, impact on bio-diversity of area and impact on ecology.
Further, Central Water Commission (CWC) would be carrying out
comprehensive EIA studies for Siang sub-basin, Shinde said.
About reports of China's bid to construct dams on river Yarlung Tsangpo
impacting the flow of water in the downstream area in India has been
taken up with the Chinese authorities at the highest level. The Chinese
side has categorically denied that it is constructing a dam on
Brahmaputra River for the purpose of diversion, he claimed.
Shinde in reply to an un-starred question by Biren Baishya admitted that
several groups including KMSS, All Assam Students Union (AASU) and Takam
Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK) are opposing construction of Subansitri Lower
Hydropower Project and other big dams proposed to be constructed in
Arunachal Pradesh.
The work on major components of the Subansiri hydro power project is in
advanced stage and almost 50 per cent of the work has been completed. An
expenditure of around Rs 4263.67 crore has already been incurred, Shinde
said.
On the direction of Government of Assam, a comprehensive Downstream
Impact Study was awarded to a Group of Experts from IIT, Guwahati,
Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University by NHPC, which submitted its
draft report in June. NHPC has already sent the detailed comments on
the draft report to the expert group for finalizing the report, Minister
said.
Meanwhile, in a separate report progress of hydro power projects in
North Eastern Region (NER) targeted for commissioning in the 11th and
12th Plan is being reviewed periodically by the Power Ministry at
different levels and other concerned agencies like CEA and CWC for their
expeditious implementation. Moreover, progress of hydro electric
projects in NER is also reviewed at periodic intervals by Planning
Commission, Cabinet Secretariat and Ministry of North Eastern Region,
Shinde said.
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Friday, November 19, 2010
WB to partially fund Diamer-Bhasha Dam: Pakistan
WB to partially fund Diamer-Bhasha Dam: Wapda chief
By Khalid Mustafa
The News (Pakistan), November 10, 2010
By Khalid Mustafa
The News (Pakistan), November 10, 2010
ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the World Bank, which had earlier
refused to provide funding for the Diamer-Bhasha Dam, arguing it was
situated in a disputed area as claimed by India, has now given
indications that it is ready to provide financing for some components of
the mega project. The Asian Development Bank, however, will continue to
be the biggest donor, Wapda Chairman Shakil Durrani told The News in an
exclusive interview.
"During the recent Pak-US Strategic Dialogue in Washington, we received
some signals from the World Bank's top management that it was ready to
provide finances for some components of the mega project," he said.
He said with the completion of this project, having live storage
capacity of 6.4 MAF and electricity generating capacity of 4,500MW,
Pakistan will get the dividends of $1.5 billion per annum in the shape
of cheap hydro power and half-a-billion dollars in the shape of water
storage that will be used for irrigating more land.
Till the repayment of the loans, he said, the hydro generation cost will
be hovering between 6-7 cents per unit and after retirement of the
entire loans, the cost will drastically tumble to just 2 cents per unit.
The World Bank, Durrani said, was also extending $700 million for
installing two turbines at the Tarbela Dam, which will enhance power
generation significantly. "We have scrutinised the world class
consultants, who will be assigned to design the project within 48 months."
When asked why the World Bank had refused to provide funding for the
Bhasha Dam, the Wapda chairman said it would be better to ask the Bank.
Asked if the US had agreed to provide funding for strengthening of water
infrastructure in Pakistan, Durrani said that Washington had committed
to providing funding of $40 million for Gomal Zam Dam and $20 million
for the Satpara Dam. And $17 million have been released for the Tarbela
Dam under $125 million assistance that Hillary Clinton made during her
visit to Pakistan.
"With the US funding, all generators in the Tarbela Dam will be
repaired, which will increase power generation by 80MW." Under the same
programme, three power generation companies will also be upgraded,
ensuring an increase of 400MW of electricity in the system. "Besides,
the US assistance will also be used in upgrading motors of 1,100
tubewells across the country."
The Wapda chairman pointed out that the country possessed the potential
to produce 100,000 MW of hydropower as per new studies. "Earlier,
estimates had put the potential capacity at 56,000 MW," he said.
"We have carved out a plan that will be initiated in the next five years
to harness hydro generation up to 20,000MW." He mentioned that the
country could get the cheapest 7,000MW of electricity from the Bunji Dam
and 4,300MW by constructing the Dasu Dam. Through completion of the
Neelum-Jehlum hydropower project, the country will get an additional
969MW and a further 1,100MW by constructing the Kohala hydropower project.
The Bunji Dam will be completed at a cost of $10-11 billion and the
Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has accorded approval to the
feasibility study of the project under which a 3-kilometre tunnel will
be excavated to ensure protection to the dam in case of an earthquake.
Coming to the $11.3 billion Diamer-Bhasha Dam, Durrani disclosed: "We
have almost completed the four safeguards (terms and conditions) of the
Manila-based Asian Development Bank to qualify for its credit line for
the mega project."
The ADB had set four conditions to fund the project that include: 1)
seeking national consensus for the Diamer-Bhasha Dam; ii) assurance in
procurement transparency in line with the procurement rules of WB and
ADB; iii) No forcible acquisition of land for the project and iv) the
resettlement action plan to the satisfaction of the ADB.
Durrani said that the CCI had approved the project with consensus and no
federating unit had any objection to the project. Even Gilgit-Baltistan
has raised no objection. "We have assured transparency in procurements,
which will be in line with the procurement laws of WB and ADB."
He said the ADB had sought the report of resettlement issue that they
had prepared. A panel of consultants will examine and fine-tune it. "To
this effect, ADB will send its fact-finding mission to examine the
report. Prequalification of various contractors and consultants will be
made next year."
Durrani also disclosed that Wapda was going to launch the Sukuk bond of
Rs 10 billion every year for four years to generate Rs 40 billion that
will be used for acquisition of land. The government has earmarked Rs 5
billion for land acquisition for the current fiscal.
________________________________________________
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You received this message as a subscriber on the list: ifi@list.internationalrivers.org
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WB to partially fund Diamer-Bhasha Dam: Pakistan
WB to partially fund Diamer-Bhasha Dam: Wapda chief
By Khalid Mustafa
The News (Pakistan), November 10, 2010
By Khalid Mustafa
The News (Pakistan), November 10, 2010
ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the World Bank, which had earlier
refused to provide funding for the Diamer-Bhasha Dam, arguing it was
situated in a disputed area as claimed by India, has now given
indications that it is ready to provide financing for some components of
the mega project. The Asian Development Bank, however, will continue to
be the biggest donor, Wapda Chairman Shakil Durrani told The News in an
exclusive interview.
"During the recent Pak-US Strategic Dialogue in Washington, we received
some signals from the World Bank's top management that it was ready to
provide finances for some components of the mega project," he said.
He said with the completion of this project, having live storage
capacity of 6.4 MAF and electricity generating capacity of 4,500MW,
Pakistan will get the dividends of $1.5 billion per annum in the shape
of cheap hydro power and half-a-billion dollars in the shape of water
storage that will be used for irrigating more land.
Till the repayment of the loans, he said, the hydro generation cost will
be hovering between 6-7 cents per unit and after retirement of the
entire loans, the cost will drastically tumble to just 2 cents per unit.
The World Bank, Durrani said, was also extending $700 million for
installing two turbines at the Tarbela Dam, which will enhance power
generation significantly. "We have scrutinised the world class
consultants, who will be assigned to design the project within 48 months."
When asked why the World Bank had refused to provide funding for the
Bhasha Dam, the Wapda chairman said it would be better to ask the Bank.
Asked if the US had agreed to provide funding for strengthening of water
infrastructure in Pakistan, Durrani said that Washington had committed
to providing funding of $40 million for Gomal Zam Dam and $20 million
for the Satpara Dam. And $17 million have been released for the Tarbela
Dam under $125 million assistance that Hillary Clinton made during her
visit to Pakistan.
"With the US funding, all generators in the Tarbela Dam will be
repaired, which will increase power generation by 80MW." Under the same
programme, three power generation companies will also be upgraded,
ensuring an increase of 400MW of electricity in the system. "Besides,
the US assistance will also be used in upgrading motors of 1,100
tubewells across the country."
The Wapda chairman pointed out that the country possessed the potential
to produce 100,000 MW of hydropower as per new studies. "Earlier,
estimates had put the potential capacity at 56,000 MW," he said.
"We have carved out a plan that will be initiated in the next five years
to harness hydro generation up to 20,000MW." He mentioned that the
country could get the cheapest 7,000MW of electricity from the Bunji Dam
and 4,300MW by constructing the Dasu Dam. Through completion of the
Neelum-Jehlum hydropower project, the country will get an additional
969MW and a further 1,100MW by constructing the Kohala hydropower project.
The Bunji Dam will be completed at a cost of $10-11 billion and the
Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has accorded approval to the
feasibility study of the project under which a 3-kilometre tunnel will
be excavated to ensure protection to the dam in case of an earthquake.
Coming to the $11.3 billion Diamer-Bhasha Dam, Durrani disclosed: "We
have almost completed the four safeguards (terms and conditions) of the
Manila-based Asian Development Bank to qualify for its credit line for
the mega project."
The ADB had set four conditions to fund the project that include: 1)
seeking national consensus for the Diamer-Bhasha Dam; ii) assurance in
procurement transparency in line with the procurement rules of WB and
ADB; iii) No forcible acquisition of land for the project and iv) the
resettlement action plan to the satisfaction of the ADB.
Durrani said that the CCI had approved the project with consensus and no
federating unit had any objection to the project. Even Gilgit-Baltistan
has raised no objection. "We have assured transparency in procurements,
which will be in line with the procurement laws of WB and ADB."
He said the ADB had sought the report of resettlement issue that they
had prepared. A panel of consultants will examine and fine-tune it. "To
this effect, ADB will send its fact-finding mission to examine the
report. Prequalification of various contractors and consultants will be
made next year."
Durrani also disclosed that Wapda was going to launch the Sukuk bond of
Rs 10 billion every year for four years to generate Rs 40 billion that
will be used for acquisition of land. The government has earmarked Rs 5
billion for land acquisition for the current fiscal.
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: sasia@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
NGOs campaign to defer dams construction in Lower Mekong Basin
NGOs campaign to defer dams construction in Lower Mekong Basin
http://china-wire.org/?p=5906
September 08th, 2010 | Xinhua
http://china-wire.org/?p=5906
September 08th, 2010 | Xinhua
Campaigners on Tuesday expressed concern against the members from the
Lower Mekong Basin to continue building dams to meet energy demands.
In an interview with reporter in Bangkok on Tuesday, Carl Middleton from
International Rivers said that concerned activists have been calling the
Mekong River Commission (MRC) to defer the construction of 12 dams.
He gave the remark as several civil and environmental groups, including
International Rivers, Probe International and World Wildlife Fund
gathered together in Bangkok and called on the MRC to live up to its
mandate to protect the Mekong River.
International Rivers, a U.S.-based NGO, seeks to protect rivers and
defend the rights of communities that depend on them, Carl said.
Carl said the MRC, which comprises Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam,
also seemed to be slow or even fail to carry out its duty by turning a
blind eye to the decision to construct dams in the Lower Mekong Basin.
The Mekong River originates in the Tibetan plateau and flows 4, 800
kilometers (2,980 miles) through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia
before entering into the sea from Vietnam.
"Any dam built on downstream sections would cause dramatic changes to
the river. By blocking vital fish migration routes and sediment flows,
the dams will significantly alter the river's rich biodiversity," said
Carl, "this will result in fishery losses, impacting the livelihoods and
food security of millions."
Experts have repeatedly warned that any Lower Mekong mainstream dam will
carry important risks to food security, given its impact on fisheries
and agriculture.
It is estimated that the Lower Mekong produces 2.5 to 3 million tons of
fish annually. An important part of this production – between 600,000 to
1.4 million tons would be at risk if Lower Mekong mainstream dams were
constructed, they said.
"All impacts are incremental," said Marc Goichot, Sustainable
Infrastructure Senior Advisor to the World Wildlife Fund's Greater
Mekong Program.
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Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Celebrating the Memory of Hope on the Ten Year Anniversary of the WCD
A personal reflection on the 10th anniversary of the World Commission on Dams report, by Liane Greeff of SA (who was an integral NGO player for the entire WCD process).
Sorry for x-postings!
---------------
Celebrating the Memory of Hope on the 10 Year Anniversary of the World Commission on Dams
Today, ten years ago I was in London, listening to Nelson Mandela, Kader Asmal, Achim Steiner, and Medha Patkar all talking about the promise of the World Commission on Dams – how it would change the world of dams and development, and how you could walk the tight-rope towards a future where the poor did not lose everything and the rich did not gain everything. I remember feeling very proud of the final report of the World Commission on Dams entitled "Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-making" which showed the way towards such a future in concrete manageable steps. I remember feeling proud that I had been part of a process and a product that represented a key milestone in the direction of a brighter future for humanity and for the planet. Something that offered a fairer future – one where those who had previously lost everything to dams would be compensated fairly or would be better off than before, one where the environmental and social impacts of dams would be given equal status to technical and economic considerations.
Six years before November 2000, I had felt the same sense of pride in the beginnings of the New South Africa, indeed in the promise of the New South Africa – that the world would be better than before, that those who had lost everything would be compensated and that future looked fairer for all.
I am disillusioned now - disillusioned that the promise of the WCD was sabotaged by amongst others, the World Bank and the Hydropower Industry; that the promise of the New South Africa was sabotaged by the politics of power and the economics of greed.
Its 2010 now, climate change - that was seen as science fiction until recently - has put his foot in the door, and the door is opening wider and wider to all the devastation that the future can bring, the future we are climatically wedded to. No matter what we do now, we as a species together with all the other species and biomes and regions and communities are facing the unleashing of a volatile, angry earth.
Today could have been a day of great celebration: "Wow! Look at all we have achieved this past decade! Look how our world, so lost ten years ago, is so much better! How dams so devastating ten years ago have been overthrown by greener technologies! Wow, look at what we have achieved!"
Instead what we have achieved perhaps is better statistics to document what we are losing. UNEP's Millenium Assessment and their Global Outlook 2010 outlines in dismal detail the tragedies that unfold upon the earth – tragedies of extinction, climate change, loss of water, desert encroachment, etc"
The New South Africa is busy trying to squash journalistic freedom by introducing a twenty-five year jail sentence for telling the truth, the Lesotho Highlands Phase 2 Dams look all set to bring water to quench Gauteng's economic hunger whilst the rising acid waters from old mines are threatening to offset the city's thirst in unwelcome ways; Ethiopia is all set to build the Gibe 3 Dam which will not only destroy Lake Turkana but also the livelihoods of over half a million agro-pastoralists; and all those I visited five years along the banks of the Narmada River have been flooded out by the heightening of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, and all those I visited a month ago in the Town of Temaca, Mexico, face that same submergence if the El Zapotillo Dam is built. Once you have met the people affected, you can never unmeet them, and you know intimately the price paid by development. It is like meeting the killer and the killed.
My heart aches for the Earth and for all of us who blunder our way in the direction of our species extinction – extinction to join the unprecedented species extinction plague that has hit planet earth. In our development path we press delete, delete, delete and the extinction folder is full. In UNEP speak it is translated into: "This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth"
- 20% of the world's coral reefs were lost and 20% degraded in the last several decades
- 35% of mangrove area has been lost in the last several decades
- Amount of water in reservoirs quadrupled since 1960
- Withdrawals from rivers and lakes doubled since 1960
- 5-10% of the area of five biomes was converted between 1950 and 1990
- More than two thirds of the area of two biomes and more than half of the area of four others had been converted by 1990
So, I raise my glass as the sun sets into the Atlantic Ocean to a decadal anniversary of Hope, feeling rather Hopeless. My partner Roy is playing his guitar and singing the Beatles song about the fool on the hill who sees the sun going down and "the eyes in his head sees the world spinning around". I feel like that fool - maybe I have seen too many Apocalypse movies – the plethora of which I think represents the unconsciousness of humanity trying to tell us to wake up, that we are treading on climate induced thin-ice, telling us to do something whilst we still can.
I salute too the World Commission on Dams as a brave attempt to change a world before it was ready, and I salute all those colleagues of the ICDRP and all those around the world who honour our planet and recognize our role in its plight, and our potential role in its recovery. And lastly, I salute Hope, although for now it is just a memory of something I believed when I thought a brighter future was coming our planet's way.
Liane Greeff, Coordinator, EcoDoc Africa, Tel: + 27 +83 415 2365, liane@kingsley.co.za
China begins damming Brahmaputra river for hydropower project
China begins damming Brahmaputra river for hydropower project
November 16, 2010
November 16, 2010
China has started damming the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra river, or the Yarlung Tsangpo as it is known in Tibet, to begin construction on a 510 MW hydropower project that has raised concerns in India.
The government for the first time revealed that it has, since November 8, begun damming the Tsangpo's flow to allow work to begin on the hydropower project at Zangmu. This is the first major dam on the Brahmaputra and has been billed by the Chinese government as a landmark hydropower generation project for Tibet's development.
A news report on Monday said the "closure of the Yarlung Zangbo river on November 12 marked the beginning of construction." Work is expected to continue beyond 2014, when the first set of generators will be put into operation. The total investment in the project is 7.9 billion yuan ($1.2 billion).
The Indian government has raised concerns about the possible downstream impact of this project during talks with China earlier this year. Chinese officials have assured their Indian counterparts that the project would be "run of the river," having little impact downstream.
China has said that its projects were only for hydropower generation, and were neither storage projects nor designed to divert the water.
Officials at India's Ministry of External Affairs have, however, voiced frustration over China's general lack of willingness to share information regarding the Zangmu project, meaning they had little means to verify claims on the specific construction plans and impact on flows.
According to Ramaswamy R. Iyer, former Water Resources Secretary of the Government of India, for India "the point to examine would be the quantum of possible diversion and the impact it would have on the flows to India."
Usually, to ensure that the flow downstream remains unaffected during the period of construction of a dam, the water is diverted through streams around the construction site and returned to the river.
"Since the flow of the water cannot be stopped, the water will be diverted so there will be no reduction of flow in this stage," Mr. Iyer, who is an authority on dams and transboundary water issues, told The Hindu on Monday, speaking from New Delhi.
He stressed that he was speaking in general terms regarding any dam construction, and did not have specific details regarding how China was carrying out this particular project.
There is still some uncertainty on what China intends for the project, and whether or not a storage reservoir, which could affect downstream flows, will be built beyond the minimal "pondage" required to operate the turbines.
Chinese media reports indicated that the Zangmu project is unlikely to be the last on the Brahmaputra. A news report on the widely read portal Tencent said the Zangmu dam was "a landmark project" for Tibet's development, being the first major dam in Tibet, and "a project of priority in the Eleventh Five Year Plan."
The report said that such projects would "greatly relieve the energy stress in the middle regions of Tibet" and upgrade power capacity from 100 MW to over 500 MW.
'No treaty'
Mr. Iyer said a larger concern for India was the absence of a water-sharing treaty with China, which does not allow India to either qualify or address Chinese claims regarding specific projects.
"Between India and Pakistan, we have a treaty which specifies what we should do," he said. "We're not supposed to retain a drop, and [even] during a stated period of construction, inflow is equal to outflow."
"But with China," he added, "we have no treaty. So what they will do, we have no idea."
________________________________________________ You received this message as a subscriber on the list: china@list.internationalrivers.org To be removed from the list, please visit: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jspChina seen quietly opening sluice for mega hydro projects
China seen quietly opening sluice for mega hydro projects
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFTOE6AE05G20101116?sp=true
Tue Nov 16, 2010 7:01am GMT
BEIJING Nov 16 (Reuters) - China may have quietly opened the floodgates to build new massive hydropower projects after a near halt due to environmental, immigration and other concerns, as Beijing steps up efforts to achieve clean energy and emissions targets.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) agreed in late October for China Three Gorges Power Corp (CTGPC) to proceed with early-stage studies of the 8.7-gigawatt (GW) Wudongde and 14-GW Baihetan hydropower projects, according to CTGPC.
In July, the NDRC formally approved construction of the 2.4-GW Jin'anqiao hydropower project.
China's Ministry of Environment Protection also gave clearance in July to China Huadian Corp's 2.16-GW Ludila and China Huaneng Group's 1.7-GW Longkaikou hydropower plants, two projects already under construction but halted from June last year because they lacked mandatory environmental impact assessments.
All five projects are on the Jinsha River, the largest tributary to the Yangtze River.
Beijing has not openly acknowledged any policy shift, and calls to the NDRC were not answered. A fax sent in September to the environment ministry asking about changes to environmental requirements did not receive a response.
China, with the largest hydropower capacity in the world, is also the world's largest producer and consumer of carbon-intensive coal, the source of more than 80 percent of national electricity output.
The government has pledged to increase the proportion of non-fossil fuels in overall primary energy use to 15 percent by 2020 and to cut carbon intensity -- the amount of carbon dioxide per unit of gross domestic product -- by 40-45 percent during the same period.
National Energy Administration officials have repeatedly said that hydropower was the best option and the main tool for clean energy, as scattering biomass energy and intermittent wind and solar lacked competitiveness in terms of scale, technology and economics, while nuclear construction plans had almost exceeded sustainable levels.
China's total hydropower capacity reached 200 GW in August and top energy official Zhang Guobao said the number had to reach 380 GW by 2020 if the country was to meet its clean energy and emissions targets.
He said China needed to start building 120 GW of hydropower projects in the six years through 2015 given the longer construction time needed compared with coal-fired plants [ID:nTOE64U02I]
Approvals for big hydropower projects had almost come to a halt in recent years amid complaints about the environmental and economic viability of large dams, as well as the treatment of migrants displaced during the impoundment of reservoirs.
Massive dam-building plans were axed or put on hold, including one involving the UNESCO-protected Nu River in southwest China's Yunnan province, scrapped after the intervention of Premier Wen Jiabao. (Reporting by Jim Bai and Tom Miles; Editing by Chris Lewis)
________________________________________________ You received this message as a subscriber on the list: china@list.internationalrivers.org To be removed from the list, please visit: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFTOE6AE05G20101116?sp=true
Tue Nov 16, 2010 7:01am GMT
BEIJING Nov 16 (Reuters) - China may have quietly opened the floodgates to build new massive hydropower projects after a near halt due to environmental, immigration and other concerns, as Beijing steps up efforts to achieve clean energy and emissions targets.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) agreed in late October for China Three Gorges Power Corp (CTGPC) to proceed with early-stage studies of the 8.7-gigawatt (GW) Wudongde and 14-GW Baihetan hydropower projects, according to CTGPC.
In July, the NDRC formally approved construction of the 2.4-GW Jin'anqiao hydropower project.
China's Ministry of Environment Protection also gave clearance in July to China Huadian Corp's 2.16-GW Ludila and China Huaneng Group's 1.7-GW Longkaikou hydropower plants, two projects already under construction but halted from June last year because they lacked mandatory environmental impact assessments.
All five projects are on the Jinsha River, the largest tributary to the Yangtze River.
Beijing has not openly acknowledged any policy shift, and calls to the NDRC were not answered. A fax sent in September to the environment ministry asking about changes to environmental requirements did not receive a response.
China, with the largest hydropower capacity in the world, is also the world's largest producer and consumer of carbon-intensive coal, the source of more than 80 percent of national electricity output.
The government has pledged to increase the proportion of non-fossil fuels in overall primary energy use to 15 percent by 2020 and to cut carbon intensity -- the amount of carbon dioxide per unit of gross domestic product -- by 40-45 percent during the same period.
National Energy Administration officials have repeatedly said that hydropower was the best option and the main tool for clean energy, as scattering biomass energy and intermittent wind and solar lacked competitiveness in terms of scale, technology and economics, while nuclear construction plans had almost exceeded sustainable levels.
China's total hydropower capacity reached 200 GW in August and top energy official Zhang Guobao said the number had to reach 380 GW by 2020 if the country was to meet its clean energy and emissions targets.
He said China needed to start building 120 GW of hydropower projects in the six years through 2015 given the longer construction time needed compared with coal-fired plants [ID:nTOE64U02I]
Approvals for big hydropower projects had almost come to a halt in recent years amid complaints about the environmental and economic viability of large dams, as well as the treatment of migrants displaced during the impoundment of reservoirs.
Massive dam-building plans were axed or put on hold, including one involving the UNESCO-protected Nu River in southwest China's Yunnan province, scrapped after the intervention of Premier Wen Jiabao. (Reporting by Jim Bai and Tom Miles; Editing by Chris Lewis)
China, Myanmar, Thailand Study $10 Billion Hydro Dam
China, Myanmar, Thailand Study $10 Billion Hydro Dam
November 16, 2010, 5:07 AM EST
November 16, 2010, 5:07 AM EST
By Bloomberg News
(Updates with analyst's comments in fourth paragraph.)
Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- China, Myanmar and Thailand agreed to study a $10
billion hydropower project that would be Southeast Asia's largest by
generation capacity, the Chinese government said.
The 7-gigawatt project would be built on the Salween River in Myanmar
over 15 years, China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration
Commission said in a statement on its website today. Companies from the
three countries signed an accord on the project on Nov. 10, according to
the statement.
China, the world's largest energy consumer, is planning to add
hydropower capacity in its southern provinces such as Yunnan and help
build hydro dams in neighboring countries including Myanmar, Laos and
Cambodia to meet demand from the region. The Asian Development Bank in
September raised its 2010 economic growth forecast for Asia, excluding
Japan, to 8.2 percent.
"Asia�s power demand is set to rise with the economy, and Chinese
developers are keen to tap the rich hydro resources in Southeast Asia to
fuel regional growth," said Dave Dai, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Daiwa
Securities Capital Markets Co.
China Three Gorges Corp., Sinohydro Corp. and China Southern Power Grid
Co. will work with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and
the International Group of Entrepreneur Co. in Myanmar on the study,
according to the statement.
From its headwaters in the Tibetan plateau, the 2,800- kilometer
(1,740-mile) Salween traverses Yunnan and Myanmar before emptying into
the Andaman Sea. The river is known as Nu Jiang in China.
--Wang Ying. Editors: Ryan Woo, John Chacko.
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Gandhian L.C. Jain passes away
(In addition to many other honorable assignments, LC Jain was the
vice-chair of the World Commission on Dams, which published its
ground-breaking report ten years ago today. We remember his passion, wit
and wisdom with gratitude. International Rivers)
vice-chair of the World Commission on Dams, which published its
ground-breaking report ten years ago today. We remember his passion, wit
and wisdom with gratitude. International Rivers)
Gandhian L.C. Jain passes away
The Hindu, November 15, 2010
www.thehindu.com/news/national/article886494.ece
Well-known Gandhian and Magsaysay Award winner L.C. Jain passed away on
Sunday following prolonged illness.
He was 85.
An economist, organiser, commentator and activist, Mr. Jain spent more
than six decades of his life as an impassioned crusader for what Mahatma
Gandhi called India's second freedom struggle — the fight against
socio-economic oppression.
Known as a fierce opponent of overwhelming state control and an ardent
advocate for social action, his efforts to keep alive the legacy of the
freedom struggle through the intervention of civil society led to him
being awarded the Magsaysay Award in 1988.
Mr. Jain is survived by his wife and two sons.
Much of the first phase of his entry into public life was spent working
on cherished Nehruvian projects, but it was Gandhi who remained a beacon
throughout his career, guiding and illuminating his responses.
It was this association that led him to accept one of his few forays
into official life, as High Commissioner to South Africa, where he was
plunged into that country's own struggles to build an inclusive society.
Mr. Jain subsequently became a member of the Planning Commission, where
he served from 1989 to 1990.
The last years of his life were spent in documenting some of the
struggles he had been associated with in a book called /Civil
Disobedience/, which will be released on December 13. Mr. Jain also
studied the growth of the Bhoodan movement.
While working on the book, he also put up a courageous fight against
cancer. The cremation will take place at the Lodhi crematorium at 7.30
p.m. on Sunday. — PTI
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Breaking a Path for Rivers and Rights
Breaking a Path for Rivers and Rights
By Peter Bosshard
Huffington Post, November 16, 2010
www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-bosshard/breaking-a-path-for-river_b_783607.html
By Peter Bosshard
Huffington Post, November 16, 2010
www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-bosshard/breaking-a-path-for-river_b_783607.html
Ten years ago on this day, Nelson Mandela launched the report of the
independent World Commission on Dams (WCD) at a glitzy ceremony in
London. The Commission - composed of prominent members of governments,
the dam industry, civil society and academia - had carried out the first
in-depth assessment of the development impacts of dams. It found that
while "dams have made an important and significant contribution to human
development," in "too many cases an unacceptable and often unnecessary
price has been paid to secure those benefits." For example, dams have
displaced 40 to 80 million people worldwide, and most of these people
have been impoverished in the process.
The Commission proposed a new framework for decision-making, which
avoided simply pitting economic against social and environmental
interests. It presented innovative recommendations on how best to assess
available needs and options in the energy and water sectors, integrate
the various interests from the beginning of the planning process, and
respect the rights of all parties whose interests are at stake. Most
importantly, the Commission proposed that affected people should become
active parties at the negotiating table, not just passive victims or
beneficiaries of dam projects.
"Where rights compete or conflict, negotiations conducted in good faith
offer the only process through which various interests can be
legitimately reconciled," the WCD report suggests. The Commissioners,
who represent very different interests in the big dams debate, showed
through their own example how negotiations and dialogue conducted in
good faith can produce innovative solutions.
The WCD framework was embraced by international organizations and
environmental groups and by some government agencies, banks and
companies. In countries such as South Africa, Nepal, Germany and Sweden,
governments and civil society groups adapted the recommendations to
their national contexts through dialogue processes. The European Union
decided that hydropower projects that sell carbon credits on the
European market would have to respect the WCD framework. On the other
hand the dam industry, the World Bank and many dam-building governments
claimed that the new approach was too time-consuming and complicated.
During the last 10 years, the rights-based approach to development has
found support beyond the dams sector. In September 2007, the United
Nations General Assembly approved the Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples with 144 votes to four. The Declaration recognized
that indigenous peoples have the right to free, prior informed consent
regarding any projects "affecting their lands or territories," and in
particular projects which require their relocation. In countries such as
India, Brazil, Burma and China, a disproportionate share of dam projects
affects indigenous peoples. Their right to free, prior informed consent
has also been recognized by the Asian Development Bank, the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights and other international bodies.
Even the dam industry's new Hydropower Sustainability Assessment
Protocol recognizes consent as "proven best practice."
Just as importantly, the WCD framework has proven its value in practice.
A survey conducted by the UN Environment Programme found that many
governments have used WCD recommendations when revising their water and
energy laws, and in specific projects. The South African government,
whose water minister had chaired the Commission, used the WCD
recommendations to prepare an innovative program to share the benefits
of the Maguga Dam with the communities affected by it. The communities
participated in preparing the program, and have escaped the fate of
impoverishment that has beset so many dam-affected people.
In my native Switzerland, people have for a long time had the right to
vote on hydropower projects at local or state level. As a consequence,
dam builders make sure that they minimize resettlement and share
benefits with affected communities. Since the 1960s, no people have been
displaced by dams in Switzerland, even though scores of projects have
been built. In some cases, communities have also stopped projects for
environmental reasons. In January 2009, the mountain village of Bergün
for example voted to stop an $82 million hydropower project which would
have impacted an important watershed. Other environmentally damaging
projects meanwhile went ahead. Experience shows that a rights-based
approach will not resolve all conflicts, but will overall lead to better
development outcomes.
I was present when the World Commission on Dams was conceived, and when
Nelson Mandela delivered the final report in London. I had the privilege
to get to know the Commissioners as people of the highest integrity, who
came up with an innovative approach through good faith negotiations. The
time for a rights-based approach to development has come, and the WCD
report offers great guidelines on who to turn it into practice. Happy
Birthday, World Commission on Dams!
Peter Bosshard is the policy director of International Rivers.
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The right course for rivers
The right course for rivers
Peter Bosshard
China Dialogue, November 16, 2010
www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/3943-The-right-course-for-rivers
Peter Bosshard
China Dialogue, November 16, 2010
www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/3943-The-right-course-for-rivers
A decade after the World Commission on Dams launched its seminal report
on responsible water and energy projects, Peter Bosshard says its
recommendations are still spot on.
Ten years ago today, Nelson Mandela launched the report of the
independent World Commission on Dams (WCD) at a glitzy ceremony in
London. The commission - composed of prominent members of governments,
the dam industry, civil society and academia - had carried out the first
in-depth assessment of the development impacts of dams.
It found that, while "dams have made an important and significant
contribution to human development", in "too many cases an unacceptable
and often unnecessary price has been paid to secure those benefits". For
example, dams have displaced 40 to 80 million people worldwide, and most
of these people have been impoverished in the process.
The commission proposed a new framework for decision-making, which
avoided simply pitting economic against social and environmental
interests. It presented innovative recommendations on how best to assess
available needs and options in the energy and water sectors, integrate
the various interests from the beginning of the planning process and
respect the rights of all parties whose interests are at stake. Most
importantly, the commission proposed that affected people should become
active parties at the negotiating table, not just passive victims or
beneficiaries of dam projects.
"Where rights compete or conflict, negotiations conducted in good faith
offer the only process through which various interests can be
legitimately reconciled," the WCD report suggests. The commissioners,
who represent very different interests in the big dams debate, showed
through their own example how negotiations and dialogue conducted in
good faith can produce innovative solutions.
The WCD framework was embraced by international organisations and
environmental groups and by some government agencies, banks and
companies. In countries such as South Africa, Nepal, Germany and Sweden,
governments and civil-society groups adapted the recommendations to
their national contexts through dialogue processes. The European Union
decided that hydropower projects that sell carbon credits on the
European market would have to respect the WCD framework. On the other
hand, the dam industry, the World Bank and many dam-building governments
claimed that the new approach was too time-consuming and complicated.
During the last 10 years, the rights-based approach to development has
found support beyond the dams sector. In September 2007, the United
Nations General Assembly approved the Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples by 144 votes to four. The Declaration recognised that
indigenous peoples have the right to free, prior informed consent
regarding any projects "affecting their lands or territories", and in
particular projects that require their relocation.
In countries such as India, Brazil, Burma and China, a disproportionate
share of dam projects affects indigenous peoples. Their right to free,
prior informed consent has also been recognised by the Asian Development
Bank, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and other international
bodies. Even the dam industry's new Hydropower Sustainability Assessment
Protocol - a voluntary standard - recognises consent as "proven best
practice".
Just as importantly, the WCD framework has proven its value in practice.
A survey conducted by the UN Environment Programme found that many
governments have used WCD recommendations when revising their water and
energy laws and in specific projects. The South African government,
whose water minister had chaired the commission, used the WCD
recommendations to prepare an innovative programme to share the benefits
of the Maguga Dam in Swaziland with the communities affected by it.
(South Africa part-funded the project and is guaranteed 60% of its
water.) The communities participated in the programme's preparation, and
have escaped the impoverishment that has beset so many dam-affected people.
The Chinese government was initially opposed to an approach that
strengthened the rights of dam-affected people. Yet in 2007 the
government, like most other developing nations, voted in favor of the UN
declaration recognising indigenous peoples' right to consent. At the
same time, several Chinese dam builders - hoping to sell carbon credits
on the European market - claim that their projects comply with the
recommendations of the WCD. An investigation by my organisation,
US-based NGO International Rivers, found that the reality often does not
live up to these claims. Yet hydropower companies can no longer claim
that a framework that respects the rights of affected people and the
environment cannot be implemented.
In my native Switzerland, people have long had the right to vote on
hydropower projects at local or state level. As a consequence, dam
builders make sure that they minimise resettlement and share benefits
with affected communities. Since the 1960s, no people have been
displaced by dams in Switzerland, even though scores of projects have
been built. In some cases, communities have also stopped projects for
environmental reasons. In January 2009, the mountain village of Bergün
for example voted to stop an US$82 million (547 million yuan) hydropower
project, which would have impacted an important watershed. Other
environmentally damaging projects meanwhile went ahead. Experience shows
that a rights-based approach will not resolve all conflicts, but will
overall lead to better development outcomes.
I was present when the World Commission on Dams was conceived, and when
Nelson Mandela delivered the final report in London. I had the privilege
to get to know the commissioners as people of the highest integrity, who
came up with an innovative approach through good faith negotiations. The
time for a rights-based approach to development has come, and the WCD
report offers great guidelines on who how to turn it into practice.
Happy Birthday, World Commission on Dams!
Peter Bosshard is policy director at International Rivers.
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China begins damming Brahmaputra river for hydropower project
China begins damming Brahmaputra river for hydropower project
The Hindu, November 16, 2010
Ananth Krishnan
The Hindu, November 16, 2010
Ananth Krishnan
Indian government has raised concerns about possible downstream impact
of project
China has started damming the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra river,
or the Yarlung Tsangpo as it is known in Tibet, to begin construction on
a 510 MW hydropower project that has raised concerns in India.
The government for the first time revealed that it has, since November
8, begun damming the Tsangpo's flow to allow work to begin on the
hydropower project at Zangmu. This is the first major dam on the
Brahmaputra and has been billed by the Chinese government as a landmark
hydropower generation project for Tibet's development.
A news report on Monday said the "closure of the Yarlung Zangbo river on
November 12 marked the beginning of construction." Work is expected to
continue beyond 2014, when the first set of generators will be put into
operation. The total investment in the project is 7.9 billion yuan ($1.2
billion).
The Indian government has raised concerns about the possible downstream
impact of this project during talks with China earlier this year.
Chinese officials have assured their Indian counterparts that the
project would be "run of the river," having little impact downstream.
China has said that its projects were only for hydropower generation,
and were neither storage projects nor designed to divert the water.
Officials at India's Ministry of External Affairs have, however, voiced
frustration over China's general lack of willingness to share
information regarding the Zangmu project, meaning they had little means
to verify claims on the specific construction plans and impact on flows.
According to Ramaswamy R. Iyer, former Water Resources Secretary of the
Government of India, for India "the point to examine would be the
quantum of possible diversion and the impact it would have on the flows
to India."
Usually, to ensure that the flow downstream remains unaffected during
the period of construction of a dam, the water is diverted through
streams around the construction site and returned to the river.
"Since the flow of the water cannot be stopped, the water will be
diverted so there will be no reduction of flow in this stage," Mr. Iyer,
who is an authority on dams and transboundary water issues, told /The
Hindu/ on Monday, speaking from New Delhi.
He stressed that he was speaking in general terms regarding any dam
construction, and did not have specific details regarding how China was
carrying out this particular project.
There is still some uncertainty on what China intends for the project,
and whether or not a storage reservoir, which could affect downstream
flows, will be built beyond the minimal "pondage" required to operate
the turbines.
Chinese media reports indicated that the Zangmu project is unlikely to
be the last on the Brahmaputra. A news report on the widely read portal
Tencent said the Zangmu dam was "a landmark project" for Tibet's
development, being the first major dam in Tibet, and "a project of
priority in the Eleventh Five Year Plan."
The report said that such projects would "greatly relieve the energy
stress in the middle regions of Tibet" and upgrade power capacity from
100 MW to over 500 MW.
'No treaty'
Mr. Iyer said a larger concern for India was the absence of a
water-sharing treaty with China, which does not allow India to either
qualify or address Chinese claims regarding specific projects.
"Between India and Pakistan, we have a treaty which specifies what we
should do," he said. "We're not supposed to retain a drop, and [even]
during a stated period of construction, inflow is equal to outflow."
"But with China," he added, "we have no treaty. So what they will do, we
have no idea."
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Monday, November 15, 2010
China's environmental strains spark warning
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-11/15/c_13608033.htm
China's environmental strains spark warning
November 16th, 2010 | Xinhua
China is placed at a crossroad in terms of its sustainable development
as its huge and increasing demand for resources, amid its fast-paced
urbanization, have been outpacing what its ecological system can
provide, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said in a report Monday.
"The average Ecological Footprint per capita in China has recently
crossed the threshold that is considered sustainable on an average
global level," James Leape, director general of WWF International, said
at the issuance of the report �China Ecological Footprint Report 2010."
Changing lifestyles and migration to cities associated with new economic
opportunities are contributing to the increasing demand for resources
and mounting impact on the natural environment, he said.
The report said the per capita Ecological Footprint of the average
Chinese was 2.2 global hectares (gha) in 2007, higher than the available
biological capacity per capita at 1.8 gha. However, this figure was
lower than the global average level of 2.7 gha.
The Ecological Footprint measures whether a country, region or the world
as a whole is living within its ecological means.
A world consuming resources and producing wastes at Chinese levels for
2007 would need the equivalent of 1.2 planets to support its activities,
compared to 0.8 of a planet at 2003 Chinese consumption levels, the
report said. It added that if global consumption patterns were the same
as in the U.S., it would require 4.5 Earths to meet resource needs.
Further, the report said changes in individual consumption patterns have
overtaken population to become the principal driver in the growth of
China's total Ecological Footprint.
Today, China is at a stage of its rapid urbanization, with 46.6 percent
of its 13 billion people living in urban areas by the end of 2009.
The findings also showed that in 2007 the carbon footprint accounted for
54 percent of China�s Ecological Footprint. Household consumption data
indicated that demand for buildings, transportation, goods and provision
of public services are the major drivers of growth in the carbon footprint.
The challenge facing China today is that of decoupling economic
development from growth in its Ecological Footprint, while leaving space
for nature, the report said.
"Due to rapid social and economic development in recent years,
environmental issues are increasingly becoming a bottleneck for future
economic growth," said Zhu Guangyao, Secretary General of the China
Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.
"The next twenty years will be critical for China to realize sustainable
development," he said.
The report "tells us that to achieve its goal of a harmonious society,
China must find ways to grow its economy while protecting the natural
systems," James Leape said.
China has introduced a group of measures on energy-saving and emission
cuts, including shutting down outdated industrial capacity and limiting
exports of energy-intensive and high polluting products.
Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said on Nov. 12 that China would
accelerate economic restructuring and pursue a low-cost and sustainable
development path featuring low carbon emissions. The government will
also continue its efforts to save natural resources and protect the
environment.
Further, Gao Guangsheng, an official with the National Development and
Reform Commission, said on Nov. 11 that a significant reduction in
energy consumption intensity and carbon emissions intensity is likely to
be a binding goal in China�s new five-year development program.
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China's Three Gorges Dam is full up for first time
China's Three Gorges Dam is full up for first time
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101026/sc_afp/chinaenergydamenvironment
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101026/sc_afp/chinaenergydamenvironment
BEIJING — The water level in China's Three Gorges Dam reached full capacity Tuesday for the first time since the world's biggest hydroelectric project began generating power in 2008, state media said.
The amount of water in the dam's reservoir along the Yangtze river, China's longest, reached its design capacity of 175 metres (577 feet) early Tuesday morning, Cao Guangjing, project head told Xinhua news agency.
Cao called the high water mark "a milestone in the construction of the gigantic reservoir," which will allow the dam to fulfill its flood control, power generation and navigational functions.
Construction of the controversial 22.5 billion dollar dam began in 1993, but water storage in the 600-kilometre-long (372 mile) reservoir only started in 2003, the report said.
In 2008 when the dam began to generate power, the water level in the reservoir had reached 172.8 metres.
About 1.4 million people were displaced to make way for the dam project, the construction of which put several heritage sites deep underwater.
Critics of the dam have long warned of environmental pollution and geological hazards along the massive reservoir.
During the first six months of power generation, landslides and mudflows caused by rising and falling waters behind the dam forced the relocation of an
additional 28,000 people, Xinhua said at the time.
In August, the English-language China Daily reported that layers of trash and debris were building up in the reservoir, threatening to jam the massive dam.
According to the Three Gorges Project Corporation, the dam currently operates 26 generators with a total designed capacity of 84.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.
Another six generators are under construction and expected to go into operation in 2012.
________________________________________________ You received this message as a subscriber on the list: china@list.internationalrivers.org To be removed from the list, please visit: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jspChina-built power project to be handed over to Republic of Congo
China-built power project to be handed over to Republic of Congo
Xinhua, November 05 2010
Xinhua, November 05 2010
The government of the Republic of Congo will on Wednesday receive the
Imboulou hydroelectric power station, which was constructed by Chinese
<http://china.globaltimes.cn/> technicians, public works officials told
Xinhua here on Thursday.
The information was released after the head of Republic of Congo's
public works department, Jean Jacques Bouya, was sent to the site to
evaluate the work.
Bouya told a press conference that the Imboulou hydroelectric power
station has been functional for the last four months, supplying 60
megawatts to the capital Brazzaville.
The station, which was launched on Sept. 23, 2003, was built by China
Machinery and Equipment Company (CMEC).
The project involves 2,000 Congolese, 400 Chinese and 20 German
nationals from the Fichtner Engineering Council. The Chinese ambassador
in the Republic of Congo, Li Shuli, hailed the cooperation as "the most
important" under the Sino-Congolese cooperation.
The project of an estimated 280 million US dollars was 85 percent funded
by China and 15 percent by the Republic of Congo.
This hydroelectric power station with the capacity of 120 megawatts is
one of the strategic partnership projects between the two countries
launched in Brazzaville in 2006.
The dam will help ease the energy deficit that had made Brazzaville
import 50 megawatts from the Inga dam in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DR Congo).
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Sunday, November 14, 2010
Loei residents, conservationists oppose plan for latest Mekong dam [The Nation, 11.11.10]
Loei residents, conservationists oppose plan for latest Mekong dam
Local residents and conservationists yesterday stood in strong opposition against the Thai-Laos plan to jointly construct a Bt69-billion hydroelectric dam over the Mekong River.
The dam, if constructed, will be partially located in Loei's Pak Chom district and will have the capacity to generate up to 1,079 megawatts of electricity.
More than 200 residents, conservationists and representatives from various organisations attended a public forum on the Pak Chom Hydroelectric Dam yesterday.
The event, held to sound out the public opinion, was organised by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, the Office of the National Health Commission and other organisations along with the Senate panel on anti-corruption and good governance and the Senate subcommittee on the mekong Basin development and its impacts.
Pitakchai Singbun, who represents the Tai Chiang Khan Love Their City Group, said local residents would not benefit from the dam at all. "With the dam, flood levels will likely rise by another two metres during the rainy season," he warned.
Representative of the Pak Chom Conservation Group, Pornpimon Janhorm, asked: "Who will be responsible if the dam ruins the beauty of the Mekong? Today, the mekong is home to more than 1,000 species of fish."
She added that local residents should not be forced to sacrifice their livelihoods for the benefit of people living elsewhere. "The dam will also disintegrate our communities," she said.
According to Udon Thani Rajabhat University's lecturer Santipap Siriwattanapaiboon, locals would end up becoming migrant workers after the dam destroyed their hometown's environment and natural abundance.
Niwat Roykaew, a conservationist from Chiang Rai, said people should learn a lesson from what the China-based dams have done to the lives of people living downstream of the Mekong.
"The dams have not eased water shortage or drought," he pointed out. "They've only caused problems."
A local resident said he wanted the dam-construction plan to be scrapped. "Who will help us if our houses get flooded?" he asked.
Deputy director general of the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency, Suthep Liamsiricharoen, said yesterday that his department had not included the construction of the Pak Chom Dam in the national energy-development plan.
"We are just in the process of conducting a study," he said.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Fledgling Academies Focus on Access to Electricity in Africa
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/11/11/11greenwire-fledgling-academies-focus-on-access-to-electri-44424.html
Fledgling Academies Focus on Access to Electricity in Africa
By LAURA PETERSEN of Greenwire
Published: November 11, 2010
Despite ample natural resources, some 558 million or 70 percent of
people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity. In
some countries, the situation is even more dire -- more than 90
percent of Ugandans do not have electricity and rely primarily on
firewood for cooking and heating.
"It's not really so much that we don't have, we have the power," said
Paul Nampala, the executive officer of the Uganda National Academy of
Sciences. The country produces hydropower from a dam on the Nile
River. "But one, we export it, and two, most people cannot afford it."
Science academies and policymakers from sub-Saharan Africa have been
meeting this week in Cape Town, South Africa, to discuss how to
improve energy access, and in turn, human health, education,
livelihoods and the environment.
"If African countries are going to have any chance of meeting the
Millennium Development Goals, they really have to look at energy
access as a key or significant factor," said Roseanne Diab, the
executive officer of the Academy of Science of South Africa,
referencing a United Nations push to eradicate poverty by 2015.
A coalition of science academies launched a consensus report Tuesday
recommending governments reform state-owned utilities, attract private
investment to the power industry and promote renewable energy
development. To reduce consumption of fuelwood, they recommended
distributing more efficient cook stoves. This would also prevent tens
of thousands of deaths every year stemming from health problems caused
by open cooking fires inside homes.
The report is the latest from the group of science academies
participating in the African Science Academy Development Initiative,
which includes South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon
and Senegal.
ASADI is a program organized by the U.S. National Academies to
strengthen the academies' ability to provide authoritative, evidence-
based advice to their governments, much like the National Academy of
Sciences (NAS) does in the United States or the Royal Society in the
United Kingdom.
"Many of the challenges that developing countries face in overcoming
poverty are scientific challenges," said Patrick Kelley, the director
of the ASADI program for NAS. "Often it is an underuse of scientific
information that could be helpful."
There are top-notch universities and highly regarded researchers
throughout Africa, but science-based government policies have been hit
or miss. For example, the first human heart transplant was performed
by South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard in 1967 in Cape Town. But
in the same country, former President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki questioned
whether HIV causes AIDS and banned antiretroviral drugs in state
hospitals.
"We've got a reasonably strong tradition of using science for
policymaking," Diab said. "That's not to say we don't have a long ways
to go. We do have long ways to go."
Fourteen African nations have science academies, many of which are
primarily honorific organizations. In 2005, NAS received a 10-year
grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to pay and train
academy staff to organize national and international meetings, and
produce consensus reports about the scientific understanding of topics
being weighed in the public sphere -- topics such as child and
maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS and climate change.
"The funding has been hugely important in getting us off the ground,
enabling us to establish our profile within the country and building
our confidence," Diab said.
One way the academies work to gain recognition and advance their
mission is to invite policymakers to the annual ASADI meetings, like
the one wrapping up in Cape Town yesterday.
"When they come back, they have learned and seen the convening power
of the academies, so then they attach a lot of importance to [Uganda
National Academies of Science] as an academy in country," Nampala
said. "That is a big, big benefit."
The academies are starting to make inroads in the public policy. For
example, after South Africa's science academy produced a report on
scholarly publishing, the ministry of education funded the
organization to implement several recommendations, such as developing
an open-access website for the nation's scholarly journals.
In Nigeria, the ministry of health was so moved by a report on
maternal and infant mortality that she led the charge to make health
care free for pregnant women and children under 5.
And, reports and workshops about topics like climate change and
biotechnology in Uganda prompted the government to establish an
official climate change department, and a biotechnology center to work
on agriculture challenges.
"For quite some time in the last 10 years, our government was a little
slow on issues of biotechnology issues, because there was a lot of
misunderstanding on the potential and importance or role of
biotechnology in the evolvement of the nation," Nampala said.
After five years, the Science Academy of South Africa (ASSAf) will
begin to support its own operations in February. The organization is
now working to apply what it has learned to develop science academies
in other southern African nations.
While the academies have progressed at varying rates, they are poised
to make a difference in their respective countries, Kelley said.
Scientists are often well-connected with policymakers because they
taught most of the politicians and government officials in college.
"When I go with African academy members to visit government officials
in their offices, it's not unusual for the academy members to be
welcomed as old friends, old professors, people who the government
officials have a long-standing relationship with and trust," Kelley
said.
However, it is not easy breaking through the "crowded advisory space"
where consultants provide information to policymakers that is not
always objective, both Diab and Nampala said.
"We have to try to prove to government it's far more important they
get advice from something like an academy rather than rely heavily on
advice from consultants," Diab said.
Having a robust source of independent advice is crucial not just for
specific policies but the strengthening of democracy, which is still
relatively young in Africa.
"In democracy, people hold their government accountable," Kelley said.
"Science can help clarify what that means, can help indicate where
governments should make their investments to have maximum
effectiveness, it can help measure what effectiveness governments are
having."
Click here (pdf) to read the report "Turning science on: Improving
access to energy in sub-Saharan Africa."
Copyright 2010 E&E Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
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Egypt's Solar and Wind Power
Egypt: World Bank funds Egypt's Kom Ombo solar power plant
Construction Review Online
http://main.constructionreviewonline.com/news2nov10
Construction Review Online
http://main.constructionreviewonline.com/news2nov10
The 100 MW plant, with concentrating solar power technology, will be
built near Assuan. The World Bank has allocated US$270 million and
further funding is expected to be granted by other international agencies.
After having launched the new renewable development policy, with the
construction of the Zafarana and Hurghada wind energy projects (545 MW
when completed), Egypt's government is now also intensely focusing on
solar energy technologies.
The aim is to generate 20% of the electricity output from renewables by
2020, also considering the electricity deficit scenario, which has led
the government in Cairo to plan investments for 100 to 120 billion
dollars in order to triple the capacity currently installed in this
country (25,000 MW) by 2027.
A first 20 MW solar thermal project is almost completed in Koraymat,
south of Cairo. This is a concentrating solar power plant that is
integrated into the 120 MW gas combined cycle facility, so that the
plant's total capacity amounts to 140 MW.
The next plant that will be built is the 100 MW Kom Ombo facility (in a
southern region near the Assuan dam). This project, which also employs
concentrating solar power technology, has now been granted a loan by the
World Bank amounting to US$70 million dollars.
Of this loan, 170 million are directly provided by the World Bank, while
the remaining 100 million will be issued by the Clean Technology Fund,
its affiliate. Further funds are expected to be granted by other
international agencies, one of which is the African Development Fund.
Construction is scheduled to start in 2012.
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Thursday, November 11, 2010
Yellow River Decade (5) Examining silt at the Sanmenxia Hydropower Station
Yellow River Decade (5) Examining silt at the Sanmenxia Hydropower Station
(For pictures, please see: http://eng.greensos.cn/ShowArticle.aspx?articleId=579)
November 12, 2010
Reported by: Lina Wang and Yongchen Wang
We had never expected that on our first visit to the Sanmenxia Hydropower Station, the silt in the Yellow River would put on such a wonderful "show".
It was 7am on August 15, 2010. As our bus had been having some problems, all 37 passengers disembarked and decided that the focus of today would be to go and check out the Sanmenxia Hydropower Station. From the outset, we had given up on Sanmenxia as we felt that the jury had already delivered its verdict on the project: a fairly unanimous vote of no confidence. In particular, our colleague Qi Pu, senior engineer from the Yellow River Water Resources Council, held firm views on the taming of the Yellow River, insisting that the idea to construct Sanmenxia was fundamentally flawed.
Mr. Qi Pu had also gone to great lengths to contact a guide from the Sanmenxia area with a direct connection to the project to explain it to us in depth.
The tour guide told us that Sanmenxia Dam was China's first large-scale water management project constructed on the Yellow River and was now honoured as "The Great Yellow River Dam." The dam is located in the northeast of the Sanmenxia district in Henan province, neighboured to the north by Shanxi Province and to the west by Shaanxi Province, in an area known as "The Golden Triangle." The first ground was broken in April 1957 and in only about four years the bulk of the dam's construction was virtually complete.
Our guide proudly explained that Sanmenxia was constructed entirely using manual labour, whereas dam construction these days, including the Three Gorges Dam, is all done my machines. She drew our attention to a poem by He Jingzhi called "The Sanmenxia Dressing Table", but explained that she would only recite a couple of lines since it was rather long. One of the lines she chose was written before the construction of the dam while the other was written afterwards. The first was: "The waters of the Yellow River flow from heaven" and the other one was: "The waters of the Yellow River flow from the hands of men".
In the guide's view, the construction of the Sanmenxia Dam was simply a testament to the ability of human beings to manipulate the Yellow River.
These two photos of what was called the Sanmenxia "dressing table" or "dresser "are extremely rare, as they show the which now rests at the bottom of the reservoir. They are also the sole remaining record of what the area looked like before the dam's construction. Photos are the only reference we have of the "Goddess River Gorge", whose sheer cliff faces were also inundated after the dam's construction.
In this highly biased exhibition centre, surprisingly we did obtain some new information: From the two photographs we learned that the Yellow River floods four times a year, with the silt content rising sharply during flooding months.
The four flood periods of the Yellow River are named Spring flood, Summer flood, Autumn flood and Winter Flood. The names of the floods are pretty self-explanatory; however, what wasn't obvious from the exhibition was whether the construction of Sanmenxia Dam had affected the annual flood cycle.
Examining the row of twelve test tubes in this display case, I had an inspiration. Originally, we chose to come on this trip to take a number of water samples and examine the differences in water quality between them. However, several experts we spoke to felt that in reality, this method of fieldwork would not offer any significant insights. This is because there was nothing profound about the sites or periods where we were taking samples. However, if we were to use the samples collected on this trip to monitor sediment instead of water quality, perhaps we would be able to determine variances in the sediment levels along the entire Yellow River. The realization of new possibilities for our water samples would end up being the most productive result of the day.
The exhibition centre contained so much material that would be considered controversial by today's standards. Touting only the project's triumphs while failing to mention a single word from alternative points of view, the exhibition actually provoked a sense of pity towards it.
Of course, the times are always changing. Thinking back to the past, Tsinghua University water management expert Professor Huang Wanli, and Wen Shanzhang, an intern from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) put forward a challenging view of the Sanmenxia Dam project. They argued that the use of high dams and large reservoirs to store water and capture sediment was not suitable for the Yellow River with its high silt content, and would lead to numerous problems upstream. However, during that period when the dominant ideology of the times was to build a new China that was bigger, better and bolder, any opposition to the dam's construction was considered almost counter-revolutionary.
As expected, the advice of Huang Wanli and Wen Shanzhang, and barely a year into the engineering project, 1.5 billion tonnes of silt had already been deposited into the reservoir. Once the project began generating power, it not only failed to contain the silt, but also created problems on the upper reaches of the Wei River. At this location a dam had been built that steadily raised the height of the riverbed, leading to increased flooding and the salinization of more than 50 million mu (8.3 million acres) of farmland on the Guanzhong Plain.
In 2006, I went to investigate Hua County in Shaanxi Province. Locals showed me one result of the continuously rising Wei River riverbed: a bridge over the river had been buried so deeply by silt that they were forced to build a new bridge where the original bridge had once stood. It had then reached the stage where a bridge on a bridge soon became a bridge on a bridge on a bridge.
When I visited the Wei River the previous year in 2005, the Autumn floods led to the Wei River disaster. By Chinese New Year of the following year, the water had still not receded and victims were still living in emergency shelters.
According to senior engineer Qi Pu , although this project was considered one of the biggest engineering failures since the founding of the Republic, it is undeniable that the lessons it provided were incorporated into the construction of the later projects such as Xiaolangdi Reservoir and the Three Gorges Dam.
Regardless of peoples' attitude towards the Sanmenxia Dam Hydropower Station before our visit, all of us could not help but be struck by the sight of the battle occurring before our eyes once we saw the site up close: The Yellow River had morphed into an entirely different form; an awesome sight that was worthy of a painting. In one sense, you could say that the river had been 'sculpted' by manual labour into a form that laid bare the inherent beauty of its raw power.
Yesterday we witnessed the thundering waves of water and sediment being released from the Xiaolangdi Reservoir. And today again the Sanmenxia Dam shook heaven and earth as the reservoir was emptied of silt. Standing above this world of silt, it looked like as if the silt was dancing; just looking at photographs of it causes the mind to wander off into far-away places. I think I speak for most people when I say that the fantastic world of silt had captured my interest far more than the intricate details of hydroelectric generation.
Qi Pu tells us that the process of flushing the accumulated silt out of the reservoir involves draining its contents and then using upstream floodwaters to wash away any remaining sediment. This not only sends the existing build-up of silt further downstream but also brings new deposits of silt from upstream. As a result, the silt discharged from the dam is dense, comprised of both accumulated silt and newer silt from upstream.
Qi Pu has devoted his whole life to understanding the Yellow River, and considers himself a scholar on the topic. In recent years, wherever he goes, he articulates his position on the river's management to our national leaders, to his colleagues and to people in different industries. Even those who don't agree with him entirely have to admire him for his persistence in making his case.
Back on the bus, Qi Pu tells us that the sediment contained within the Yellow River is deposited naturally during the flood season and that these floodwaters ultimately disperse the sediment into the sea, which has far-reaching significance for downstream river management. The large number of reservoirs on Yellow River, the construction of reservoirs on the Yellow River basin in groups, the application of soil and water conservation practices, and the development of irrigation have caused big changes to the underlying riverbed. These changes to the riverbed have dramatically decreased the frequency of floods and reduced the range of the river's peak flow rate. In order to maintain the natural process whereby floodwaters shape the riverbed and transport sediment to the sea, Qi Pu explained that we should cease broadening the river and abstain from trying to limit its peak flow. In recent years, we have adopted a new view of the Yellow River's natural narrow, deep channel and the cyclical floodwaters that transport silt downstream. We are beginning to understand that the downstream waters of the Yellow River have a strong capacity to transport sediment and discharge floodwater, and that silt build-ups are not necessarily related to the river channel's degradation. This sort of thinking is pointing the way for how the lower reaches of the Yellow River can be administered going forward. Until now, it had been thought necessary to construct artificial levees along the river. In the future, however, allowing silt to build up could lead to the formation of natural levees.
According to Qi Pu, after the reconstruction of Sanmenxia reservoir, the principle of storing clear water and discharging muddy water has greatly reduced the silt content of the water. As a result, the upper channels of the River, above the town of Huayuankou are almost clear. Permanent settlements have developed on the Wen and Meng riverbanks around the Xiaolangdi Reservoir. Since the Xiaolangdi Reservoir has gone into operation, most of the banks along the lower river have suffered erosion. There are sections of the river above Gao Village where the river's average flow-rate has increased to more than 5000m3/s. However, in places where the river becomes wide and shallow, the most advanced practices available are urgently needed to restabilize the riverbanks and restore deep and narrow channels. After many years of adjusting the sediment levels of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, we should be able to restore the natural cycle of silt build-up and discharge that occurs during flood periods, and prevent the main riverbed from rising too high. If the main channel's current can be increased, the flood plain will decrease and the debate over constructing new levees will no longer be necessary. This would be the rational solution to all these problems encountered along the riverbanks. It should be noted that the approach to river management we are currently advocating, in which silt is allowed to accumulate according to natural patterns, applies to wide sections of the river up to the Xiaolangdi Reservoir. It does not account for the unique circumstances of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, downstream of Xiaolangdi Reservoir. As it does not reflect the unique conditions along the entire Yellow River, it should not be taken as such.
Wang Jian, another expert who was traveling with us, explained how from an ecological perspective the production of hydropower can disrupt the delicate balance of nature. Meanwhile, Luo Kanglong asked why we hadn't seen a single wetland at any of the places we had visited on our fieldtrip. Was it because wetlands had never existed at all, or was it because the 'taming' of the Yellow River had caused the natural surroundings to lose their natural free and wild appearance?
From an academic perspective, it is hard for those of us with a strong concern for the environment and the health of our rivers to speak with Qi Pu and not feel a strong sense of dismay. However, in recent years, as increased attention has been paid to river management and as our understanding of hydropower has also grown, the question is not whether or not we should build hydropower stations, but where and how to build them in order to avoid future disasters.
Often technical problems are easy to solve. What is difficult is juggling the interests of the upper, middle and lower reaches of the river. While we can use a variety of methods to "tame" the Yellow River, it is pointless to try to change its natural state. In some places the silt will build up, while in others it won't. If we draw too much water here, there will be too little water left there. When we are confronted with problems, perhaps we should take a moment to consider whether it is the river that requires modification or human behavior that requires modification. Perhaps it is possible to reduce our own self-interest and have more consideration for those people who live along the entire Yellow River basin. Maybe when we dream of the huge economic returns that engineering projects and power generation bring, we should also think of the ecological and social consequences of our endeavors.
According to legend, when the Great King Yu (the third of the legendary emperors who created the Chinese state) was managing the country's waterways, he once came to this site and found a huge stone blocking the river. With two swipes of his sword, he sliced the stone into three pieces: Renmen (Peoples') Stone, Shenmen (Spirits') Stone and Guimen (Devils') Stone. In doing so he created three channels, or gateways for the river to flow through and it is from this myth that the name "Sanmenxia" (Gorge of the Three Gateways) is derived. Nowadays, these three rocks are inundated by water and have become foundation stones.
Anthropologist Luo Kanglong tells us that from the source of the Yellow River to the point at which it reaches the sea, there is evidence of Qi Lu Culture, Zhong Yuan Culture, Jin Shang Culture, Mongolian Culture, and Tibetan Culture following each other in succession. However, with the construction of over 3000 reservoirs of varying size along the Yellow River, we may never know how many other cultures once thrived along the river as we have not had enough time to study and record them.
Nowadays, there still exists a large stone in the water in front of Sanmenxia Dam. Remarkably, though the river has been rising and falling over thousands of years before the dam's construction, this stone has never been inundated by water. For this reason, it is called the Mainstay Stone and has often been taken as a symbol. When the dam was built, some people suggested blowing up the stone, fearing that it would block the current and affect the generation of electricity. However, then Premier Zhou Enlai issued a decree stating that the stone should be protected and the stone proved to have no effect on electricity generation.
From the drainage outlet spews a torrent of mud that looks a yellow dragon struggling to wriggle itself free. The poet Li Bai once wrote of the river: "See how the Yellow River's waters move out of heaven, entering the ocean, never to return." It is rare that one would come across such a poetic line these days and generally we can only imagine such a scene.
So it comes as a surprise when, while waiting for the bus to be repaired one afternoon, we visited Shaanxi National Park in Sanmenxia city and were able to witness a section of Yellow River in all its natural glory. Perhaps it is because we had spent the last two days examining the tremendous energy of the artificially-constructed Xiaolangdi Reservoir and Sanmenxia Dam that we felt how natural and untouched the Yellow River appeared here. Moreover, it is rare to see rivers in their natural state these days; such a precious experience that revives the hope of maintaining a harmonious relationship between people and rivers should be treasured.
The following day we would go to Tongguan, at the mouth of the Wei River. The ancient County of Tongguan, which had been located in the reservoir area, was entirely relocated after the construction of Sanmenxia Dam. We were going to meet the people that live there now and see how their lives were progressing. There, we would seek out families whose lives on the Yellow River we had been tracking over the past ten years and will continue to track for the next ten.
Translator: Ding Xiaoxin; Li Xiaoxia
Proofreader: Jeremy Sung; Ken
--
Katy Yan
International Rivers
Office: 510.848.1155 x317
Mobile: 650.283.5758
www.internationalrivers.org
Follow us on Twitter! www.twitter.com/IntlRivers
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(For pictures, please see: http://eng.greensos.cn/ShowArticle.aspx?articleId=579)
November 12, 2010
Reported by: Lina Wang and Yongchen Wang
We had never expected that on our first visit to the Sanmenxia Hydropower Station, the silt in the Yellow River would put on such a wonderful "show".
It was 7am on August 15, 2010. As our bus had been having some problems, all 37 passengers disembarked and decided that the focus of today would be to go and check out the Sanmenxia Hydropower Station. From the outset, we had given up on Sanmenxia as we felt that the jury had already delivered its verdict on the project: a fairly unanimous vote of no confidence. In particular, our colleague Qi Pu, senior engineer from the Yellow River Water Resources Council, held firm views on the taming of the Yellow River, insisting that the idea to construct Sanmenxia was fundamentally flawed.
Mr. Qi Pu had also gone to great lengths to contact a guide from the Sanmenxia area with a direct connection to the project to explain it to us in depth.
The tour guide told us that Sanmenxia Dam was China's first large-scale water management project constructed on the Yellow River and was now honoured as "The Great Yellow River Dam." The dam is located in the northeast of the Sanmenxia district in Henan province, neighboured to the north by Shanxi Province and to the west by Shaanxi Province, in an area known as "The Golden Triangle." The first ground was broken in April 1957 and in only about four years the bulk of the dam's construction was virtually complete.
Our guide proudly explained that Sanmenxia was constructed entirely using manual labour, whereas dam construction these days, including the Three Gorges Dam, is all done my machines. She drew our attention to a poem by He Jingzhi called "The Sanmenxia Dressing Table", but explained that she would only recite a couple of lines since it was rather long. One of the lines she chose was written before the construction of the dam while the other was written afterwards. The first was: "The waters of the Yellow River flow from heaven" and the other one was: "The waters of the Yellow River flow from the hands of men".
In the guide's view, the construction of the Sanmenxia Dam was simply a testament to the ability of human beings to manipulate the Yellow River.
These two photos of what was called the Sanmenxia "dressing table" or "dresser "are extremely rare, as they show the which now rests at the bottom of the reservoir. They are also the sole remaining record of what the area looked like before the dam's construction. Photos are the only reference we have of the "Goddess River Gorge", whose sheer cliff faces were also inundated after the dam's construction.
In this highly biased exhibition centre, surprisingly we did obtain some new information: From the two photographs we learned that the Yellow River floods four times a year, with the silt content rising sharply during flooding months.
The four flood periods of the Yellow River are named Spring flood, Summer flood, Autumn flood and Winter Flood. The names of the floods are pretty self-explanatory; however, what wasn't obvious from the exhibition was whether the construction of Sanmenxia Dam had affected the annual flood cycle.
Examining the row of twelve test tubes in this display case, I had an inspiration. Originally, we chose to come on this trip to take a number of water samples and examine the differences in water quality between them. However, several experts we spoke to felt that in reality, this method of fieldwork would not offer any significant insights. This is because there was nothing profound about the sites or periods where we were taking samples. However, if we were to use the samples collected on this trip to monitor sediment instead of water quality, perhaps we would be able to determine variances in the sediment levels along the entire Yellow River. The realization of new possibilities for our water samples would end up being the most productive result of the day.
The exhibition centre contained so much material that would be considered controversial by today's standards. Touting only the project's triumphs while failing to mention a single word from alternative points of view, the exhibition actually provoked a sense of pity towards it.
Of course, the times are always changing. Thinking back to the past, Tsinghua University water management expert Professor Huang Wanli, and Wen Shanzhang, an intern from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) put forward a challenging view of the Sanmenxia Dam project. They argued that the use of high dams and large reservoirs to store water and capture sediment was not suitable for the Yellow River with its high silt content, and would lead to numerous problems upstream. However, during that period when the dominant ideology of the times was to build a new China that was bigger, better and bolder, any opposition to the dam's construction was considered almost counter-revolutionary.
As expected, the advice of Huang Wanli and Wen Shanzhang, and barely a year into the engineering project, 1.5 billion tonnes of silt had already been deposited into the reservoir. Once the project began generating power, it not only failed to contain the silt, but also created problems on the upper reaches of the Wei River. At this location a dam had been built that steadily raised the height of the riverbed, leading to increased flooding and the salinization of more than 50 million mu (8.3 million acres) of farmland on the Guanzhong Plain.
In 2006, I went to investigate Hua County in Shaanxi Province. Locals showed me one result of the continuously rising Wei River riverbed: a bridge over the river had been buried so deeply by silt that they were forced to build a new bridge where the original bridge had once stood. It had then reached the stage where a bridge on a bridge soon became a bridge on a bridge on a bridge.
When I visited the Wei River the previous year in 2005, the Autumn floods led to the Wei River disaster. By Chinese New Year of the following year, the water had still not receded and victims were still living in emergency shelters.
According to senior engineer Qi Pu , although this project was considered one of the biggest engineering failures since the founding of the Republic, it is undeniable that the lessons it provided were incorporated into the construction of the later projects such as Xiaolangdi Reservoir and the Three Gorges Dam.
Regardless of peoples' attitude towards the Sanmenxia Dam Hydropower Station before our visit, all of us could not help but be struck by the sight of the battle occurring before our eyes once we saw the site up close: The Yellow River had morphed into an entirely different form; an awesome sight that was worthy of a painting. In one sense, you could say that the river had been 'sculpted' by manual labour into a form that laid bare the inherent beauty of its raw power.
Yesterday we witnessed the thundering waves of water and sediment being released from the Xiaolangdi Reservoir. And today again the Sanmenxia Dam shook heaven and earth as the reservoir was emptied of silt. Standing above this world of silt, it looked like as if the silt was dancing; just looking at photographs of it causes the mind to wander off into far-away places. I think I speak for most people when I say that the fantastic world of silt had captured my interest far more than the intricate details of hydroelectric generation.
Qi Pu tells us that the process of flushing the accumulated silt out of the reservoir involves draining its contents and then using upstream floodwaters to wash away any remaining sediment. This not only sends the existing build-up of silt further downstream but also brings new deposits of silt from upstream. As a result, the silt discharged from the dam is dense, comprised of both accumulated silt and newer silt from upstream.
Qi Pu has devoted his whole life to understanding the Yellow River, and considers himself a scholar on the topic. In recent years, wherever he goes, he articulates his position on the river's management to our national leaders, to his colleagues and to people in different industries. Even those who don't agree with him entirely have to admire him for his persistence in making his case.
Back on the bus, Qi Pu tells us that the sediment contained within the Yellow River is deposited naturally during the flood season and that these floodwaters ultimately disperse the sediment into the sea, which has far-reaching significance for downstream river management. The large number of reservoirs on Yellow River, the construction of reservoirs on the Yellow River basin in groups, the application of soil and water conservation practices, and the development of irrigation have caused big changes to the underlying riverbed. These changes to the riverbed have dramatically decreased the frequency of floods and reduced the range of the river's peak flow rate. In order to maintain the natural process whereby floodwaters shape the riverbed and transport sediment to the sea, Qi Pu explained that we should cease broadening the river and abstain from trying to limit its peak flow. In recent years, we have adopted a new view of the Yellow River's natural narrow, deep channel and the cyclical floodwaters that transport silt downstream. We are beginning to understand that the downstream waters of the Yellow River have a strong capacity to transport sediment and discharge floodwater, and that silt build-ups are not necessarily related to the river channel's degradation. This sort of thinking is pointing the way for how the lower reaches of the Yellow River can be administered going forward. Until now, it had been thought necessary to construct artificial levees along the river. In the future, however, allowing silt to build up could lead to the formation of natural levees.
According to Qi Pu, after the reconstruction of Sanmenxia reservoir, the principle of storing clear water and discharging muddy water has greatly reduced the silt content of the water. As a result, the upper channels of the River, above the town of Huayuankou are almost clear. Permanent settlements have developed on the Wen and Meng riverbanks around the Xiaolangdi Reservoir. Since the Xiaolangdi Reservoir has gone into operation, most of the banks along the lower river have suffered erosion. There are sections of the river above Gao Village where the river's average flow-rate has increased to more than 5000m3/s. However, in places where the river becomes wide and shallow, the most advanced practices available are urgently needed to restabilize the riverbanks and restore deep and narrow channels. After many years of adjusting the sediment levels of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, we should be able to restore the natural cycle of silt build-up and discharge that occurs during flood periods, and prevent the main riverbed from rising too high. If the main channel's current can be increased, the flood plain will decrease and the debate over constructing new levees will no longer be necessary. This would be the rational solution to all these problems encountered along the riverbanks. It should be noted that the approach to river management we are currently advocating, in which silt is allowed to accumulate according to natural patterns, applies to wide sections of the river up to the Xiaolangdi Reservoir. It does not account for the unique circumstances of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, downstream of Xiaolangdi Reservoir. As it does not reflect the unique conditions along the entire Yellow River, it should not be taken as such.
Wang Jian, another expert who was traveling with us, explained how from an ecological perspective the production of hydropower can disrupt the delicate balance of nature. Meanwhile, Luo Kanglong asked why we hadn't seen a single wetland at any of the places we had visited on our fieldtrip. Was it because wetlands had never existed at all, or was it because the 'taming' of the Yellow River had caused the natural surroundings to lose their natural free and wild appearance?
From an academic perspective, it is hard for those of us with a strong concern for the environment and the health of our rivers to speak with Qi Pu and not feel a strong sense of dismay. However, in recent years, as increased attention has been paid to river management and as our understanding of hydropower has also grown, the question is not whether or not we should build hydropower stations, but where and how to build them in order to avoid future disasters.
Often technical problems are easy to solve. What is difficult is juggling the interests of the upper, middle and lower reaches of the river. While we can use a variety of methods to "tame" the Yellow River, it is pointless to try to change its natural state. In some places the silt will build up, while in others it won't. If we draw too much water here, there will be too little water left there. When we are confronted with problems, perhaps we should take a moment to consider whether it is the river that requires modification or human behavior that requires modification. Perhaps it is possible to reduce our own self-interest and have more consideration for those people who live along the entire Yellow River basin. Maybe when we dream of the huge economic returns that engineering projects and power generation bring, we should also think of the ecological and social consequences of our endeavors.
According to legend, when the Great King Yu (the third of the legendary emperors who created the Chinese state) was managing the country's waterways, he once came to this site and found a huge stone blocking the river. With two swipes of his sword, he sliced the stone into three pieces: Renmen (Peoples') Stone, Shenmen (Spirits') Stone and Guimen (Devils') Stone. In doing so he created three channels, or gateways for the river to flow through and it is from this myth that the name "Sanmenxia" (Gorge of the Three Gateways) is derived. Nowadays, these three rocks are inundated by water and have become foundation stones.
Anthropologist Luo Kanglong tells us that from the source of the Yellow River to the point at which it reaches the sea, there is evidence of Qi Lu Culture, Zhong Yuan Culture, Jin Shang Culture, Mongolian Culture, and Tibetan Culture following each other in succession. However, with the construction of over 3000 reservoirs of varying size along the Yellow River, we may never know how many other cultures once thrived along the river as we have not had enough time to study and record them.
Nowadays, there still exists a large stone in the water in front of Sanmenxia Dam. Remarkably, though the river has been rising and falling over thousands of years before the dam's construction, this stone has never been inundated by water. For this reason, it is called the Mainstay Stone and has often been taken as a symbol. When the dam was built, some people suggested blowing up the stone, fearing that it would block the current and affect the generation of electricity. However, then Premier Zhou Enlai issued a decree stating that the stone should be protected and the stone proved to have no effect on electricity generation.
From the drainage outlet spews a torrent of mud that looks a yellow dragon struggling to wriggle itself free. The poet Li Bai once wrote of the river: "See how the Yellow River's waters move out of heaven, entering the ocean, never to return." It is rare that one would come across such a poetic line these days and generally we can only imagine such a scene.
So it comes as a surprise when, while waiting for the bus to be repaired one afternoon, we visited Shaanxi National Park in Sanmenxia city and were able to witness a section of Yellow River in all its natural glory. Perhaps it is because we had spent the last two days examining the tremendous energy of the artificially-constructed Xiaolangdi Reservoir and Sanmenxia Dam that we felt how natural and untouched the Yellow River appeared here. Moreover, it is rare to see rivers in their natural state these days; such a precious experience that revives the hope of maintaining a harmonious relationship between people and rivers should be treasured.
The following day we would go to Tongguan, at the mouth of the Wei River. The ancient County of Tongguan, which had been located in the reservoir area, was entirely relocated after the construction of Sanmenxia Dam. We were going to meet the people that live there now and see how their lives were progressing. There, we would seek out families whose lives on the Yellow River we had been tracking over the past ten years and will continue to track for the next ten.
Translator: Ding Xiaoxin; Li Xiaoxia
Proofreader: Jeremy Sung; Ken
--
Katy Yan
International Rivers
Office: 510.848.1155 x317
Mobile: 650.283.5758
www.internationalrivers.org
Follow us on Twitter! www.twitter.com/IntlRivers
**Good planets are hard to find -- please consider the environment before printing this email.**
________________________________________________ You received this message as a subscriber on the list: china@list.internationalrivers.org To be removed from the list, please visit: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
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