For the freedom of rolling rivers

For the freedom of rolling rivers
By Cao Baoyin
China.org.cn, February 3, 2011

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2011-02/03/content_21865341.htm

Who is Wang Yongchen? A reporter with China National Radio, founder of Green Earth Volunteers, a fervent protector of the environment, and an inspiring environmental writer. Yet I would tend to describe her as an "environmental poet", as she has spent a lifetime making poetry – under the sky, across the land, between the rivers – with her camera, pen and recorder.

The 19th century German philosopher Martin Heidegger once observed that man dwells poetically on this Earth. However, threatened by the menacing environmental crises of the present and trapped in the most un-poetical of concrete dwellings, many have ceased to seek out and have even lost sight of the essential nature of such a lifestyle. But Wang is one who has dared to dream. And more than that, she has inspired thousands to seek the dream together with her.

The name "Green Earth Volunteers" flashed into Wang's mind when she was riding to work one day. Its connotations could be as extensive as the Earth we live on, or as local as our own backyards. Initially Green Earth Volunteers was mainly an organizer of specific activities such as tree and grass planting and garbage collecting. It was not until 2000 that it initiated a monthly salon with environmental journalists, which introduced a new platform for the media to participate in the cause and set up a network for reporters to obtain knowledge, and exchange information and opinions as well as become involved in direct participation.

There are many lyrical tales to tell about Wang's involvement with the environment, but I'd like to share her story of the Salween River with the readers here.

In July 2003, the three parallel rivers – Jinsha, Lancang and Salween – were added to the UNESCO World Natural Heritage list. In August, the National Development and Reform Commission passed a plan to construct a cascade of thirteen hydropower stations on the middle and lower reaches of the Salween River. The decision immediately attracted the attention of Wang and her friends to this beautiful river flowing down from the Tibetan Plateau. In September 2003 Wang utilized her media contacts to mobilize reporters to take part in a discussion session held by the State Environmental Protection Administration on the eco-environmental issues of the Salween River hydropower development. At the meeting they emphasized the grave consequences of the plan and questioned its feasibility.

Shortly after the meeting, Wang collected signatures from attendees of the China Environmental Culture Promotion Association's second assembly to rally support for the protection of the Salween River. Along with other Environmental NGOs she also organized seminars and a leafleting campaign calling for an environmental evaluation of the hydropower plant in accordance with the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment.

In order to gain a better understanding of the Salween River issue, Wang set out on a nine-day expedition with volunteers and media reporters in February 2004. This first trip to the Salween River produced a large number of pictures and written and audio records. When the voyagers returned to Beijing, they financed the "Love Salween River" photography show.

"We just want to introduce the beauty of the Salween River to more people and gather more support from them," they said. "Even if the power station goes on to be built, we still need to tell the public and later generations what the river was once like."

According to Wang, there are options available in choosing potential sources of energy, but there is no way to turn the clock back once the natural eco-environment has been destroyed. "A lot of people will be displaced in order to develop hydropower in the government's poverty relief effort. But will they gain prosperity once removed from their roots? From their traditions? How many generations did it take to form their customs and culture? And it could all be destroyed in the blink of an eye."

On February 18, 2004, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao wrote in his instruction on the Salween River dam project that: "A scientific decision will be made through cautious discussion on such a large-scale hydropower project that has generated widespread public concern and provokes different opinions from environmental groups." When the instruction was issued, Wang and her friends were still wandering in the valleys of the river. When she read the news on her cell phone, she couldn't help but cry aloud.

"I was overwhelmed by a confusion of feelings… In my mind's eye all I could see was that beautiful green river from melt glaciers, kapok flowers blossoming on its banks. I guess mine were tears of joy."

The effort to save the Salween River marked a milestone in China's environmental protection history. It was the first time that the Environmental NGO voices had influenced central decision-making.

Wang has returned to the Salween River 10 times now since that first adventure in 2004. In spite of the muddy roads, she persists in her rugged journeys along the river – perhaps just to see for herself that it is still as beautiful as before?

During her eighth trip in 2008, Wang wrote in her diary, "Over the years many people have asked me why I did all this, and why it mattered so much to me whether there was a power plant on the river. Others said our group were mere sightseers whose own material needs were fulfilled, and who cared nothing for the livelihood of local people. In fact, my trips were closely related to a resolution I made after an interview at the Tibetan Plateau in 1993. As a journalist, I made up my mind to introduce to a wider audience through my microphone, my camera, and my reports the beauty of nature, and man's destruction of the natural habitat…"

But it turned out that the Salween River project was still to go ahead. On March 18, 2008, a report said that "a document shows that preparatory work for the Liuku power plant and over the whole Salween River region has never stopped. The Yunnan Provincial Party Committee Secretary Bai Enpei promised field trips to the media, but reporters were blocked by local government from conducting interviews."

In the Nujiang Prefecture government's October 2007 interim plan on relocating residents in the left bank of the construction site of the Liuku power plant, "government at various levels is not halting preparatory work for the Liuku power plant although the project has not been officially approved," the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

In April 2009, Premier Wen issued a second instruction on the Salween River dam project, confirming the influence of non-governmental efforts. "This issue carries important implications. A cautious decision will be made with abundant information from various sources and in-depth discussion and analysis. We already have a previous example in the Jinsha River project, which was built without approval and has left a legacy of pending problems. Attached is my instruction on the National Development and Reform Commission report on hydropower development on October 20, 2004 for reference."

Wang said, "As a matter of fact, we are not doing all this simply to obstruct a single dam project. We are calling for environmental evaluation, transparency in supervision and policy, justice in the provision of information, and public participation in construction programs. It was the collective effort of China's media and its Environmental NGOs that succeeded in suspending the project."

Wang's Salween River saga has clearly not come to an end. But she has refused to write the river's epitaph, nor that of any of the other rivers she cares for. In November 2006 Wang started a ten-year river inspection program that is aimed at recording changes in rivers and their relations with mankind.

What does the future hold for our rivers in the decade to come?

Wang presented her own answer in an essay she wrote for the 12th anniversary of Green Earth Volunteers in 2008:

China's grassroots Environmental NGOs, together with the 12-year-old Green Earth Volunteers, face a major challenge at the beginning of a new semester: what position to take in the society, what perspective to adopt, what social construction to participate in and how to do it – these are the big questions concerning the future development, prospects and direction of our organizations. We have to provide our answers to these questions.

Here is our answer sheet from 12 years of effort:

Our greatest joy: That a mountain lake – a lake sacred to local people – was preserved. That a 66-year-old man could proudly say that Lake Miga Tso still remains unchanged from the days when he was a boy.

Our biggest challenge: That after six years of continuous action over the Salween River, we are still uncertain of its future. At the end of the day, will it flow freely as it does today? Will there be the same torrents, the gatherings of bathers, and the lovers on the beach? Will our faith, our participation, and our action keep the river rolling as it does today?

Our saddest experience: When fewer people can claim that the rivers in their home towns are still the same as they once were, and when more and more people say they are different – dirty or dried up. While people living in mountains or on the banks of the rivers believe they are leading a peaceful life, others say they are backward and behind the times, and that it is stupid to live like that. What is regarded as culture and tradition is being lost. We feel their pain but cannot help.

For 12 years, countless volunteers who have worked with Green Earth Volunteers have remained anonymous to the public. What Green Earth Volunteers has achieved is measurable, but the true influence of its actions is beyond appraisal.

For most who reach the age of 12, it is a time for good dreams. For Green Earth Volunteers, there is a ripening expectation that dreams can come true. What is happiness? Bathing in a hot mountain spring with a mouthful of honey? We shall ask ourselves more often in our future dreams. But this is one of the dreams that we held when we were 12.

(This story was selected from the book Stories of China's Environmental NGOs published by Foreign Languages Press.)
________________________________________________ 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