Officials cited that dam construction had been started without appropriate environmental assessments or approval. In a surprising move, the Chinese government recently suspended construction of two dams on the Jinsha River, a tributary of the Yangtze River in Yunnan Province. Click here for the BBC article.
Global Greengrants Fund has supported several organizations campaigning to bring attention to the environmental, economic, and health impacts of the Jinsha and other dams in southwest China, including Green Watershed, Friends of Nature, Green Earth Volunteers, and China Development Brief. With grants recommended by Greengrants’ Global Advisor International Rivers, these grassroots and citizen-led organizations have been educating river-side communities and the greater public about potential dam impacts, assessing the possible social and environmental ramifications of the dams, and working with public officials to ensure that construction conforms to environmental regulations.
International Rivers reports that “Dammed, diverted and polluted, China’s rivers are reaching an ecological tipping point. Today there are more than 25,800 large dams in China, more than any other country in the world. These projects have forced more than 10 million people from their homes and land, many of whom are still suffering the impacts of displacement and dislocation. Around 30 percent of China’s rivers are severely polluted, and some rivers donít meet the sea anymore.”
For the full article by International Rivers about the state of dam construction in southwest China, click here.