A damming assessment of Mekong development / Nature

http://www.nature.com/news/a-damming-assessment-of-mekong-development-1.10166

Nature | News

A damming assessment of Mekong development
Dams on tributaries worse for fish than those on the main river.

� Jane Qiu

05 March 2012
Dams on the tributaries of the Mekong River could have a greater
negative effect on fish biodiversity and food security than those on
the main river, researchers say.

Hydropower developments on Mekong tributaries are not subject to the
same level of scrutiny as their counterparts on the main river. �Most
of the attention has been on proposed dams on the Mekong mainstream,
such as the highly controversial Xayaburi dam in Laos,� says lead
author Guy Ziv, an environmental scientist now at Stanford University
in California. �The impact of tributary dams is little studied.�

The findings, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences1, �point to a desperate need to reconsider hydropower
development in the entire Mekong River basin�, says Ame Trandem, the
Southeast Asia programme director for the environmental group
International Rivers in Bangkok.

With a watershed of 800,000 square kilometres, the Mekong River basin
supports the world�s largest inland fishery and is home to 65 million
people in six countries: China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and
Cambodia. �Most of the people are poor and get 81% of their protein
from subsistence fisheries,� says Ziv.

The steep topography of the region makes the Mekong an attractive
place for hydropower development. Driven by increasing demand for
electricity and a desire for economic development, 11 dams are being
planned on the main river, with 41 on the tributaries expected to be
completed within the next 4 years. Another 10�37 tributary dams are
likely to be built between 2015 and 2030.

Using a fish migration model, Ziv and his colleagues found that if all
of the proposed dams were constructed, they would reduce fish
productivity by 51% and endanger 100 migratory fish species.

Related stories
� Dam controversy: Remaking the Mekong
� China admits problems with Three Gorges Dam
� Conservationists protest Mekong dam
More related stories

They then focused on the 27 tributary dams whose fate is yet to be
determined, and were surprised to find, says Ziv, that the losses in
fish biodiversity and production would be greater than for the
proposed dams on the upper reach of the lower Mekong River.

�Individual dams may not make a big difference,� says Ziv. �But if you
add all 27 dams together, you may get a catastrophic impact.� This is
not only because of the total area that will be blocked for fish
migration, but also because some regions are more important fish
passages than others, he says.

One area of particular importance, the study shows, is the 3S river
system in northeastern Cambodia, southern Laos and central Vietnam
that is dominated by three major Mekong tributaries � the Se San, Se
Kong and Sre Pok Rivers. Dams in this region would hit fish migration
the hardest. The planned Lower Se San 2 Dam in Cambodia, for instance,
would cause a 9.3% drop in fish biomass basin-wide. �The impact would
be catastrophic,� says Ziv.

�Dams at different locations have different trade-offs between power
generation and the loss in fish biodiversity and productivity,� says
Ziv. �The Lower Se San 2 Dam will have the highest environmental cost
per unit of energy produced.�

The team has created a simple matrix for deciding which dams to build
throughout the basin. The tool estimates the loss of fish productivity
at different levels of total electricity generation and ranks each dam
in terms of its trade-offs. �Dams with better trade-offs can be built
first when the energy demand is relatively low,� says Ziv. �And you
really should avoid building those with the worst trade-offs, such as
the Lower Se San 2 Dam.�

Ziv stresses that the study is just a �starting point� and that other
aspects of potential impact, such as effects on sediment, agriculture
and the displacement of people and communities, must be incorporated
into the scheme for comprehensive trade-off analyses.

According to the 1995 agreement of the Mekong River Commission (MRC),
an international body responsible for the sustainable development of
the river, each member country is required to consult other nations
for any major development projects on the Mekong itself. But there is
no such requirement for projects on the tributaries.

To many, the latest findings call for a change in that policy. �It�s
really time for the MRC to take a basin-wide approach to assessing the
consequences of dams in the region,� says Trandrem.

Naturedoi:10.1038/nature.2012.10166
References
�
Ziv, G., Baran, E., Nam, S., Rodriguez-Iturbe, I. & Levin, S. A. Proc.
Natl Acad. Sci. USA. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.
1201423109 (2012).
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Grand Inga article in new World Rivers Review

In November, the South African and DR Congo governments signed an
agreement to develop the Grand Inga Dam on the Congo River. But the
project's outsized price tag (estimated at $80bn) presents a huge
roadblock. In February, the $5.2 bn Inga III Dam, also proposed for
the Congo, lost its main sponsor in part over project costs; it is now
in limbo. The March 2012 issue of World Rivers Review excerpts a
chapter by Kate Showers, from the book Engineering Earth, which raises
concerns about Grand Inga�s environmental impacts, and the potential
consequences of its grand scale.

Read the full article here:

http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/7216

Also in this issue:
-An industry effort to greenwash dams is flowing at the World Water
Forum.
-Profile of a group that brings clean energy and water to remote parts
of Ethiopia
- The Year in Review: A look back at the high- and low-lights for
rivers in 2011.

And more!!
Download the entire issue can be downloaded here: http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/7209)
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Share your Day of Action for Rivers events!

Dear Friends,

It's little more than a week away until the 15th International Day of
Action for Rivers. Thank you to all who have let me know about your
planned actions.

I want to remind all those planning and participating in events that we
would love to see photos afterwards.

Here are additional photo-taking opportunities:

- This year's Day of Action for River theme is, "Keep Our Rivers Free!"
This means keep our rivers free-flowing, pollution-free, free from
corporate control, and free for people to use! You can take a photo next
to your river with a sign reading, "Keep Free!"

- On March 14th, at the Alternative World Water Forum in Marseille,
France, there will be an anti-greenwashing action. Be part of this
messaging by taking a photo next to your river, or next to a dam in your
area, with signs that read, "Dams Aren't Clean Energy!" or "No
Greenwashing Dams!"

You can send photos directly to dayofaction@internationalrivers.org.

Also, if you have planned an action, you can make a Facebook event for
it, and link to www.facebook.com/DayofActionforRivers.

Check out the many planned actions!
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/7094

I look forward to talking to many of you in the next weeks!

For free rivers,

Katherine

--
***********************************
Take Action for Rivers on March 14!

Katherine Brousseau
International Rivers
2150 Allston Way, Suite 300
Berkeley, CA 94704-1378 USA
Phone: +1.510.848.1155 Ext. 332
Fax: +1.510.848.1008
E-mail: dayofaction@internationalrivers.org
Web: www.internationalrivers.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DayofActionforRivers
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Central Asia’s dam debacle

http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4790-Central-Asia-s-dam-debacle?utm_source=Chinadialogue+Update&utm_campaign=7a6bae8b85-newsletter+05+Mar+2012&utm_medium=email

Central Asia�s dam debacle

by Eelke Kraak
March 01, 2012
Grand engineering schemes have failed to address the political
problems of water management. As climate change dries up the rivers,
regional tensions will escalate, warns Eelke Kraak.

�Taming the rivers and controlling nature caused one of the worst man-
made environmental disasters in history.�

The Toktogul Dam in Kyrgyzstan is an imposing structure. The dam
guards the largest and only multi-annual water reservoir in central
Asia. The cascade of five hydroelectric stations downstream produces
90% of Kyrgyzstan�s power. Cotton fields thousands of kilometres away
in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan depend on the release of water from this
dam.
The Toktogul is literally and figuratively the �valve�of the Syr Darya
River. But by relying on large-scale engineering projects to control
the river, these countries have ignored the fundamentally political
nature of water management.

The significance of the Toktogul dam goes beyond its economic
benefits. It was the centre piece of the Soviet Union�s efforts to
conquer nature in its drive to modernise central Asia. When it became
fully operational in the late 1980s, the project to control the
region�s rivers seemed complete.

But the costs have been high. The Aral Sea, the terminal lake of the
main sources of water in central Asia, the Syr Darya and Amu Darya
rivers, has shrunk to almost nothing. Many areas surrounding what is
left of the lake are heavily polluted. Moreover, the now independent
Syr Darya riparian countries � Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and
Kazakhstan � disagree on how the Toktogul should be operated.

In the summers of 2008 and 2009, mismanagement of the Toktogul Dam led
to water shortages in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, as well as lengthy
power cuts in Kyrgyzstan. Subsequent unrest in Kyrgyzstan triggered
the ousting of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April 2010, illustrating
the highly political nature of water and energy management.

Climate change will exacerbate the problems: it is predicted that
rapid melting of glaciers that feed central Asian rivers will shrink
water flow over time. The confluence of physical and political changes
suggests that water challenges in central Asia could soon become a
major flashpoint.

Today�s crisis has its roots in earlier disastrous policies. It was
water that first brought the Russians to central Asia in the
nineteenth century. Irrigated agriculture had been present for more
than 8,000 years, but the Tsarist colonisers realised that
agricultural production, notably cotton, could be expanded easily and
rapidly. Despite, their optimism, managing the waters of the Syr Darya
and Amu Darya Rivers proved a huge challenge for the hydrologists,
engineers and bureaucrats involved.

Scarcity of water was never the problem. On average, the region has
enough water to grow sufficient crops to feed its own population and
earn foreign currency through exports. The problem, rather, is a huge
geographic, seasonal and inter-annual variability in water availability.

In response, between 1950 and 1990, the Soviet Union built hundreds of
dams, canals and artificial lakes. Uzbekistan�s Hunger Steppe was
transformed from an uninhabited desert into a cotton factory of
300,000 hectares. The Kara Kum Canal, when completed in 1988,
transferred 12.9 cubic kilometres of water � almost 15% of the Amu
Darya River � to irrigate parts of the Kara Kum Desert. The Toktogul
Dam, the largest of the lot, was finished in 1973 and served to
control the inter-annual variability of water resources and to ensure
that there would always be sufficient water for irrigation.

For Soviet planners, dams were symbols of development and
modernisation. The Soviet Union�s hydraulic mission was to conquer
nature by transforming free flowing rivers into an economic resource.
In absence of democracy, dams were also an important source of
legitimacy for the Soviet Union.

But this hydraulic mission caused the decline of the Aral Sea. Once
the world�s fourth largest saltwater lake, damming and diverting the
Syr Darya and Amu Darya Rivers radically decreased inflow into the
Aral Sea; today only 10% of its 1960 volume remains.

The consequences have been dire: salinisation, polluted dust storms
and a grim economic outlook for those living around the lake. Life
expectancy for people in this region has dropped to 50 years and
Karakalpakstan, an area south of the lake, now has one of the highest
incidences of tuberculosis in the world.

The ecosystem of the lake and surrounding areas has been devastated.
By taming the rivers and controlling nature, the ruling elites caused
one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in history.

When the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, there was hope that the newly
independent states � Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan
and Kazakhstan � would work together to address the environmental
problems. Initially, a number of institutions to manage the region�s
water were founded, including the International Fund for Saving the
Aral Sea and the Interstate Committee for Water Coordination. But,
despite leaders� passionate pleas, little has been done to alleviate
the water problems of central Asia over the last 20 years. As some
observers acknowledge, it is all paperwork and no action.

In fact, the challenges for water management have only grown since the
Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers became cross-border resources. Tensions
have escalated, notably between downstream Uzbekistan and upstream
Kyrgyzstan. The operation of the mighty Toktogul has been central to
this.

The Toktogul dam has multiple functions: it is both the main supplier
of water for downstream irrigation, and the main source of electricity
for Kyrgyzstan. The trouble is that Kyrgyzstan wants to discharge
water from the reservoir in winter to generate electricity, while
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan prefer to discharge water in summer, when
they need it for irrigation.

In the past, Kyrgyzstan released water from the reservoir in the
summer, in return for gas and oil from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. But
this exchange of resources collapsed when the Soviet Union broke down
in 1991. Disputes over the timing of water discharge have brought the
two countries to the brink of conflict. Regional institutions have set
rules concerning who can use how much water, but no agreement has
dealt with the question of when they should receive it.

World Bank analysis indicates all states would profit from sustainable
and cooperative water management. But disagreements over the
management of Toktogul and other water problems remain unresolved.
There are two key reasons for this.

First, control over water resources is still tightly linked to the
legitimacy of the political elites. Timothy Mitchell, an American
political scientist, proposed in his book Rule of Experts that �large
dams [offer] a way to build not just irrigation and power systems, but
nation-states themselves.�

Indeed, the dams and water management systems of central Asia became
key to the nation-building task its countries faced after 1991. The
massive irrigation network in the desert areas of Uzbekistan is a
source of pride for the country. The fact that the Toktogul provides
90% of the Kyrgyzstan�s electricity production is too. Unfortunately,
these goals of water management contradict each other.

Second, the two countries disagree about what water is. Kyrgyzstan
adopted a set of laws in 2001, classifying water as a commodity like
oil and gas. This could potentially mean that downstream Uzbekistan
and Kazakhstan would have to pay for the storage costs and maintenance
of reservoirs, if not for the water itself.

Uzbekistan, on the other hand, officially considers water a free,
public good, a view proposed by Marxist-Leninist ideology. It also
argues that water comes from God, and can therefore not be traded. In
reality, Uzbekistan objects to those laws because it does not want to
pay Kyrgyzstan for water.

Fundamental disagreements over whether water is a tradable commodity,
and the fact that regional hydro-politics is linked with domestic
power struggles, have prevented sustainable cooperation. Violent
conflict has only been prevented by ad hoc solutions proposed by
national leaders and a relative abundance of water. Given the rapid
melting of glaciers that feed central Asian rivers, however, leaders
cannot count on this level of water supply indefinitely. More water is
predicted to flow into the basin over the next 20 years, but to
decline rapidly and unprecedentedly after that. An agreement is
urgently needed.

In 2009, the presidents of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan proposed the
resurrection of an old Soviet solution to central Asia�s water issues:
to divert water from the Siberian Yenisei and Ob rivers to the Aral
Sea and the wider region. The plan is financially unviable, and
unlikely to be carried out. But if it was, it would unlikely address
the real problems. Grand engineering schemes may provide legitimacy to
unpopular regimes, but they fail to account for the fundamental
political nature of water. Water management requires a political, not
a technical solution.

Eelke Kraak is a DPhil candidate at Oxford University's School of
Geography and the Environment.

Homepage image by Firespeaker shows the Toktogul Dam.
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China to impose "strictest control" over water resources: report

China to impose "strictest control" over water resources: report
March 5, 2012
Xinhua News

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-03/05/c_131446092.htm

BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- China will impose the strictest control
over water resources, according to a government work report released to
the media ahead of the parliament's annual session.

The government will rationally set and adjust water resource fees in
different localities, and carry out integrated price reform of water
used for agricultural purposes, says the report to be delivered by
Premier Wen Jiabao at the opening meeting of the Fifth Session of the
National People's Congress (NPC).

The report came after the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) said earlier
last month it would invest more than 140 billion yuan (22.2 billion U.S.
dollars) in water conservation projects this year, higher than 114.1
billion yuan last year.

The report also vows to improve pricing mechanisms for nuclear power,
hydropower, and power generated from other renewable energy sources.

A draft plan for water conservation covering 2011-2015 targets involves
a total investment of 1.8 trillion yuan (285.7 billion U.S. dollars),
according to the MWR.

The country will start trials of trading carbon emissions and the
cap-and-trade scheme for pollution rights, and move faster to establish
a compensation mechanism for ecological damage, according to the report.

Special Report: NPC, CPPCC Annual Sessions 2012

Editor: An
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Dam proposal opens the floodgates of debate

Dam proposal opens the floodgates of debate
February 28, 2012
China Daily
By Li Jing

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-02/28/content_14707317.htm

Project to block China's largest freshwater lake sparks widespread
controversy, Li Jing reports from Beijing.

In areas where rain is scarce it is common to see people storing water
to get them through dry seasons.

Using the same principle, officials want to dam a major lake in Jiangxi
province that has shrunk noticeably but their plan has run into opposition.

Dam proposal opens the floodgates of debate

Their proposal to dam Poyang Lake took a major step forward this month
when it won the backing of the Hydroelectricity Planning Institute.

Since 2008, the eastern Chinese province has strongly lobbied leaders in
Beijing, lauding the project as a way to tackle drought as well as
adjustments to the water flow caused by the massive Three Gorges Dam
upstream.

But critics of the 10 billion yuan ($1.58 billion) plan say authorities
have played down the potentially disastrous ecological impact that a dam
might bring to China's largest freshwater lake. It is also a crucial
winter habitat for endangered migrating birds protected under
international conventions.

Environmentalists have also cast doubt on the independence of crucial
ecological assessments.

The province's proposal, which features a 3-kilometer-wide dam with
sluice gates across the narrowest part of a channel linking Poyang Lake
and the Yangtze River, was put to the Hydroelectricity Planning
Institute on Feb 12.

After two days of discussions, the institute, which is affiliated to the
Ministry of Water Resources, offered its support, China News Service
reported.

The verdict takes the project into the final stages of the
decision-making process, the report said, yet to get full
central-government approval it still needs to clear the State Council
and the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's
economic planner.

Important habitat

Poyang Lake is fed by five rivers and is connected to the lower reaches
of the Yangtze. Its water flows into the Yangtze during dry seasons
(September to March) and is replenished by flooding during rainy seasons
(May and June).

The annual change in the lake's water level has helped maintain one of
the most important wetlands in the world, home to more than 120 species
of fish and 300 varieties of bird.

Yet, the water has been continuously low over the past year. A prolonged
drought the worst in 60 years saw the lake dwindle to less than 200
square kilometers in January, down from a peak of 4,900 sq km.

The drinking water supplies of people living nearby and their livestock
have been threatened, while fishing resources are dwindling, making life
difficult for both fishermen and water birds.

Figures from Jiangxi's hydrological bureau show Poyang Lake received 30
percent less rain than usual last year. Yet, experts say the lack of
precipitation is not the only reason for the frequently low levels.

In addition to changing climate patterns on middle and lower reaches of
the Yangtze, water storage at Three Gorges Dam and increased water
consumption by surrounding communities are also contributing factors,
said Wang Shengrui at the China Research Academy of Environmental Sciences.

Citing official statistics covering 1952 to 2010, he said extremely low
water levels (shallower than 8 meters) were reported seven times six
times after 2003, when Three Gorges Dam began to store water for
electricity generation.

"The seasonal decline of the water level each winter also starts earlier
and lasts longer," said Wang, who previously worked on a water pollution
study for Poyang Lake.

Pollution concern

Such concerns appear to give Jiangxi officials a legitimate reason to
push the dam proposal with urgency.

The website of the provincial water conservation bureau has a detailed
record of how often its staff members have traveled to Beijing to lobby
the central government. Over the last 12 months, top officials have
regularly visited the ministries of water conservation, environmental
protection and forestry, as well as the National Development and Reform
Commission and other departments, to "plead with them to speed up the
review of the Poyang project".

However, provincial authorities have mentioned little about the
irreversible environmental impact the dam could have.

Environmental expert Wang warns that the water quality in Poyang Lake's
peripheral areas is likely to deteriorate because the sluice gates will
slow down if not completely cut off the winter water flow that dilutes
and flushes out pollutants.

"A dam will definitely change the natural hydrological process," he
said, "The pollutants will be kept in the lake if the water flow is cut
off."

Poyang Lake has so far escaped major industrial pollution, due largely
to the relative slow economic development in Jiangxi. It is also one of
only two sizeable lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze
that still retain a natural connection to the huge river.

Its natural ecosystem clear but shallow water, aquatic resources and
scattered wetlands sustain a large population of water birds, with about
98 percent of the world's endangered Siberian cranes depending on its
marshes for survival each winter, according to the International Crane
Foundation.

A dam would destroy the lake's natural state, critics say, although
water authorities insisted that the province will store supplies only in
dry seasons and will ensure the water remains clear.

With more water available for agricultural and industrial use, however,
Wang predicted that more factories will likely be built, bringing new
sources of pollution, especially as Jiangxi authorities are desperate to
boost the local economy.

Meanwhile, a more direct result of the project will be the flooding of
the Siberian crane's winter habitat, said Chen Kelin, director of
Wetlands International China.

In 1992, about 5 percent of the lake's wetland was listed as being of
international importance under the Ramsar Convention, an
intergovernmental treaty on conservation and the use of wetlands.

"China actually has an international obligation to protect the status of
Poyang Lake, which Jiangxi officials seldom mention in their pursuit of
the project," Chen said.

Assess the impact

Wang and Chen are not the only ones worried about the dam's negative
environmental impact.

In September 2009, 15 top academicians signed a joint letter to Premier
Wen Jiabao expressing their concerns about the plan, which was included
in a blueprint for the Poyang Eco-economic Development Zone.

The central government approved the blueprint three months later, but
the dam was ruled out. Instead, the province was asked to prepare
scientific assessments on the potential impact.

Jiangxi invited a collection of academics, including some of those who
opposed the plan, to look into key aspects, such as how the dam would
affect the water quality, wetlands and migrating birds. The studies
funded entirely by the provincial government to the tune of 10 million
yuan were intended to provide scientific recommendations on whether the
dam project should go ahead.

Several people who reviewed the studies told China Daily on condition of
anonymity that they had concerns about the independence and transparency
of the reports. One researcher even said he had been pressured by
Jiangxi officials to highlight the benefits of the dam and to draw the
conclusion that the project will "do more good than harm".

All six studies were completed in 2010, but the Jiangxi government did
not make the complete reports public. Requests by several conservation
groups to see the studies were turned down.

The province also organized another environmental assessment for the
Poyang Lake Development Plan, of which the dam is a major part, to be
carried out by the Yangtze Water Resources Protection Institute, which
is affiliated with Ministry of Water Resources, and the Jiangxi
Environmental Protection Institute.

The joint report concluded that the plan "will have both positive and
negative effects on the ecology and environment, but there will be more
good than harm". It said the negative impact will be on migrating birds,
aquatic animals and water quality, but added that this could be
prevented by certain measures.

Authorities solicited public opinion on the assessment between Sept 27
and Oct 7, a period that included the weeklong National Day break, and
won approval from the Ministry of Environmental Protection in January,
Jiangxi Morning Post reported.

However, Bai Chenshou, a senior official at the ministry, said a
separate environmental impact assessment for the dam itself is still
needed, and vowed that the ministry will be tough when reviewing the
project due to the international wetlands treaty.

Another ministry official, who did not want to be identified discussing
the project, told China Daily that Jiangxi is obviously pushing hard for
the dam.

"We actually don't approve environmental assessments for development
plans. Instead we give feedback," he said. "For Poyang Lake, we made it
clear that the dam will have significant negative effects, and a
separate evaluation is definitely necessary."

Even so, the future of Poyang Lake looks far from clear.

Environmentalists say the efforts of Jiangxi are just another example of
how local governments relentlessly push projects that involve damming
rivers and lakes for economic gain.

"It's still all about GDP and temporary economic growth," said a
wetlands expert for an international environmental group who did not
want to be identified. "The officials who make accomplishments (in
getting approval and building dams) will soon get promotion, before the
ecological woes start taking shape.

"With the dam, I'm really worried that Poyang will turn into another
dead lake," he said.

Contact the reporter atlij@chinadaily.com.cn
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Encroaching deserts threaten life along Tibet's longest river

Encroaching deserts threaten life along Tibet's longest river
AlertNet
By Teresa Rehman
22 Feb 2012

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/encroaching-deserts-threaten-life-along-tibets-longest-river/

In this 2008 file photo, an elderly Tibetan woman walks towards the
1000-year-old Tsam Monastery near the Tibetan city of Shigatse.
REUTERS/David Gray

By Teresa Rehman

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AlertNet) � Rising temperatures, reduced rainfall and
excessive numbers of grazing animals are worsening desertification and
drying up grasslands in western Tibet, says a Chinese geologist who has
explored one of the region�s uncharted rivers.

Yang Yong said he had observed desertification in parts of the upper
reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, and believes this could be caused
by climate change as well as human activity.

The Yarlung Zangbo (also called the Yarlung Tsangpo) is Tibet�s largest
river, originating in the west of the region. Along its 2,057 km (1,286
mile) length, it passes through India, where it is known as the Dihang
and the Brahmaputra, and Bangladesh, where it is called the Jamuna.

The United Nations Environment Programme says that desertification -
land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, caused by
climatic variations and human activities - affects a quarter of the
world�s total land area and one-sixth of its population, and is a major
factor in widespread poverty.

Yang, who has explored western Tibet three times since his first visit
in 1998, has seen that firsthand in the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo.

"People move due to desertification and their traditional occupation of
herding hasn't changed," said Yang at a workshop in Kathmandu on climate
change effects in the Yarlung Zangbo/Brahmaputra Basin.

The herders that Yang spoke to linked the encroaching deserts to drought
brought on by increasing temperatures and reduced precipitation.

"This has deteriorated the quality of the grassland that they used to
herd on and increased the possibility of strong winds that turn to
sandstorms," he said.

EXPANDING DUNES

Herders who previously lived by the river have been forced by to move
several kilometres away by the growth of sand dunes. They must now graze
their herds at altitudes as high as 5,500 metres (18,000 feet), close to
the snow line.

Yang said that several villages are now surrounded by dunes up to 40
metres (130 feet) in height and 100 metres (325 feet) wide, although
Yang said he had seen some dunes twice this height and width.

Wetlands between the dunes are deteriorating rapidly, and residents are
considering relocating farther away from the river. Yang believes the
dunes will eventually become connected, causing the wetlands to disappear.

Along the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo, where the river is known
as the Maquan, the connected dunes already extend for 100 km (63 miles)
and are 10 km (6 miles) at their widest.

Yang noted that evaporation is intensifying due to global warming and
that rainfall has become less predictable. He said that the region he
visited now experiences extreme rainfall in summer, contributing a
significant portion of the annual total, and that there is now rain in
some areas that used not to receive it.

Glacial melting is also making the traditional hydro-geological pattern
fragile and less predictable, he said.

Yang pointed out that the river is an important water source for all
three countries through which it flows, but especially for Bangladesh,
where it passes through heavily populated areas. In India, the
Brahmaputra does not flow through many cities, and Yang said it was
important to maintain its relatively pristine condition there.

The science of desertification along the Yarlung Zangbo needs to be
better understood before steps can be taken to combat the process, he
said, emphasizing the importance of reducing human impacts in the region.

"Over-herding is significant and needs to draw more attention," he said,
and both commercial logging and harvesting of vegetation in the middle
and lower reaches of the river in Tibet have contributed to the
deterioration of land, Yang said.

He also recommended restrictions on industrial development and mining in
the region, and said that any hydropower development should include
detailed evaluations of environmental impacts, especially in terms of
geology and biodiversity.

What the region needs, Yang said, is an integrated river basin plan
agreed on by all countries affected by the river system � China, India
and Bangladesh. Such a plan, among other things, would need to look at
how to control hazards associated with the river, at hydropower plans,
at water flow and at demand for water in each country.

Teresa Rehman is a journalist based in Northeast India. She can be
reached at www.teresarehman.net.
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