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DAM-L LS: Two articles on downstream impacts of China's dams (fwd)
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Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 19:11:09 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: LS: Two articles on downstream impacts of China's dams
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http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/05/06/stifgnfar02001.html
The Sunday Times (Britain), May 6, 2001
Chinese dams 'threaten 100m'
Michael Sheridan, Bangkok
A GIANT Chinese project to build up to nine dams on the Mekong River poses a
threat to people, wildlife and water systems across southeast Asia, according
to a draft report prepared for the Asian Development Bank.
Governments down-river in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are said to be
too fearful of China to make any public protest over the plans.
The draft report gives a warning that the Chinese dams could cause intensified
flooding, wreck fisheries, damage the environment and disrupt transport links.
The Mekong supports more than 100m people on its course from the Tibetan
plateau to the South China Sea. Floods claimed more than 500 lives last year,
a toll which experts say is certain to rise as the water flow changes.
The worst effects could come in Laos and Cambodia, two desperately poor
countries that have become dependent on Chinese investment and aid. Both
recently hosted fraternal visits from Chinese leaders.
The draft report was prepared by the Stockholm Environment Institute for the
Asian Development Bank, a financial institution with more than 45 member
nations and a mission to reduce poverty and improve the quality of life in the
region.
It singles out as the prime problem a cluster of dams along the twisting
course of the river in China's Yunnan province. Chinese planners aim to
generate huge amounts of hydroelectric power to be transmitted to booming
cities in the country's southwest region. They portray this gargantuan effort
as second only to the controversial Three Gorges project along the Yangtze
River.
The first big dam at Manwan, south of the city of Dali, was completed in 1996.
The Dachaoshan dam will be operational in 2003. Construction of the vast
Xiaowan dam is expected to begin next year. Thai and Chinese companies are
planning another big dam at Jinghong to generate electricity for sale to both
countries.
Chinese officials respond to criticism of the Three Gorges and the Mekong
projects by saying the dams will improve safety by managing the water flow in
times of flood and drought. But the report says that China should agree to a
full study of the effects of the entire project before building starts on the
Xiaowan dam. China is likely to regard such observations as interference in
its internal affairs.
Chinese influence is strongest in the impoverished and landlocked nation of
Laos. Ravaged by the wars that engulfed Indochina, this tranquil Buddhist
country of just 5.5m people is under the rule of a secretive Communist party
that is seeking any means to boost the economy and stay in power.
Grant Evans, an expert on Laotian politics at the University of Hong Kong,
said: "The big problem for Laos is that it is becoming increasingly dependent
on China for military and financial support."
In Cambodia, Hun Sen, the ruling strongman, has eagerly courted the Chinese as
he grows increasingly impatient with western aid donors and their endless
questions about human rights and environmental concerns. He is not likely to
annoy Beijing over the issue of dams.
South China Morning Post, Monday, May 7, 2001
ENVIRONMENT
Neighbours 'face harm from Chinese dam project'
WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok
A swathe of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand is threatened by up to a
dozen dams being built on the Mekong River in China's Yunnan province,
according to a report commissioned by the Asian Development Bank.
The study argues that by restraining water and river matter the scheme will
harm the Mekong's complex ecosystems, which sustain millions of people.
This is the first time that outside experts have attempted a full analysis of
the dams' impact on the lower Mekong. Even the controversial damming of the
Three Gorges on the Yangzte River did not put the environment and living
standards of people in other countries at risk.
The draft of the report compiled by the Stockholm Environment Institute
predicts that the project will produce a decline in fish stocks and increase
flooding.
An informed observer said the issue had not received international attention
because many of the affected countries were dominated by China or looked to it
for investment.
"China has an infinite capacity to ignore any criticism that it finds
inconvenient," said the observer. "This dam project was conceived before
Yunnan even opened its borders [in the mid-1980s] and no real account was
taken of the downstream implications."
There is no scheme to dam the Mekong outside of China, nor is there likely to
be. Existing projects in, for example, Laos and Thailand, have proved
controversial and even the enthusiasm of big dam backers such as the World
Bank is cooling.
Recent studies have shown that the original environmental impact assessments
for the World Bank-backed Pak Moon dam in Thailand, completed in the
mid-1990s, were wildly optimistic. The dam, on a tributary of the Mekong, has
devastated fishing, transport and irrigation in the area.
Big hydroelectric dams in Laos have also been criticised for destroying large
areas of land and hundreds of villages.
Critics of the dams complain that when their true cost is added up they often
do not make economic sense.
The Mekong is silty, which often causes dams to be shut down far short of
their projected lifespan.
The 1,500-megawatt Manwan dam near the Yunnan city of Dali started operating
in 1996. Two more are likely to begin generating power within a few years. But
it is the massive Xiaowan dam that causes most concern. As one of two
projected "mother dams" in the system, it is so big that the water trapped
behind it would reach back 169km. It is scheduled to go into operation within
a decade.
China has only recently tried to study the impact its dams are likely to have
downstream - after the first dam went into operation.
Chinese officials have claimed that the dam system will benefit everybody
because it will "even out" the seasonal water flow. Water would be freed
during the dry season and retained during floods.
Environmentalists dispute Chinese claims that only 16 per cent of the Mekong's
waters come out of Yunnan, saying that as far downstream as the Laotian
capital, Vientiane, 60 per cent of the river consists of water from China.
Officials in Laos claim dry season water levels have hit record lows and
fishermen on the river have reported lower catches. There is also scepticism
over whether China would adjust the flow for countries downstream if it faced
drought or flooding in Yunnan.
Witoon Permpongsacharoen, director of the Bangkok-based environmental lobby
group Terra, said recently: "This is the lifeblood, the life source, for
millions of people. You simply cannot afford to make any big mistakes with the
Mekong."
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