Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
When a new hydropower dam is installed on the main stem of a major river, it fragments
theriparianecosystem,changingafree-flowingriversegmentintoanexpanseofstillwater.
In the process, it disrupts fish passage; alters the water's temperature, chemistry, and sed-
iment load; and changes the geomorphology of the river itself, often in ways that are dif-
ficult to predict. There is mounting evidence that the enormous weight of large reservoirs
may even disrupt tectonic plates, a phenomenon called “reservoir-induced seismicity”;
some experts speculate that Sichuan's catastrophic 8.0-magnitude Wenchuan earthquake,
which killed an estimated 80,000 people in 2008, was caused by pressure on the earth's
crust from the recently completed Zipingpu Dam, located within a kilometer of the quake's
epicenter (Klose 2012). Moreover, critics of the dam industry point out that the heavy sed-
iment load of southwest China's rivers, trapped in the still water of a reservoir, will build
up so rapidly that the viable lifespan of any dam is not likely to exceed fifty years.
As an anthropologist, I have focused over the past few years mainly on understanding
the human consequences of hydropower development, which are equally dire. When dams
are built and reservoirs fill behind them, they displace the human beings who live there,
flooding farmland, inundating homes, and changing lives forever. The effects can last for
generations as people cope with the consequences for their family's income, their way of
represents one of the key arenas in which the competing rationalities of economic devel-
opment, energy production, biological conservation, and social welfare collide. Dai Qing,
the well-known journalist and environmental activist, made a pertinent comment about the
mammoth Three Gorges Project that aptly describes environmentalists' views of hydro-
power more generally: “The government built a dam but destroyed a river” (quoted in
Watts 2011).
My goal in this topic is to use water-resource management and the current drive for hy-
dropower development as points of entry into an examination of the difficult choices faced
by Chinese leaders about how to meet the nation's escalating energy demands without ex-
acerbating the country's social and environmental problems. The massive dam projects un-
der way in Yunnan, along with scores of others on most of China's major river systems,
highlight the fact that water is simultaneously a resource that is central to people's liveli-
hoods, a kinetic force capable of producing renewable energy to sustain national develop-
ment, and a medium through which social and political relations are negotiated.
This path of inquiry opens up many questions that have thus far gone unexamined. What
are the values and goals of key constituent groups in water-resource management in Ch-
ina, including government agencies, hydropower corporations, conservation organizations,
and local communities? What strategies do these groups use to participate in the decision-
making process and steer it toward the outcomes they deem desirable? How do communit-
ies uprooted by dam construction and resettlement cope with the dramatic social, cultur-
al, and economic changes they face? How do those in positions of official power balance
