China Daily
May 20, 2006

Officials confirmed that there will be an exodus of some 125,000 locals from the future reservoir area of the mammoth Three Gorges Project, which will be the world’s largest hydropower dam and is currently under construction across the Yangtze R

The long distance migration of farmers from the Three Gorges dam area aims to protect the environment, experts said during a seminar. Officials confirmed that there will be an exodus of some 125,000 locals from the future reservoir area of the mammoth Three Gorges Project, which will be the world’s largest hydropower dam and is currently under construction across the Yangtze River, the world’s third longest river after the Nile and the Amazon. The people who are to be resettled will total 1.1 million by 2009, when the project is due to be completed. They will all have to say farewell to their ancestral homes and seek their fortunes elsewhere to make way for the huge reservoir. Most of the more than 1 million to be relocated will simply move further up the mountain sides as the water rises. A total of 125,000, however, will be selected to completely leave the reservoir area to go and make their living in economically developed provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River or in China’s prosperous coastal areas, said Guo Shuyan, deputy director of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee under the State Council, which is the project’s decision-making organ. Guo confirmed the exodus on Saturday at a workshop on the project attended by hundreds of experts from all over the world, who are gathering in Beijing to discuss some key issues relating to large dams. Guo made it clear that the exodus "is to prevent the environment around the reservoir from deteriorating. Many experts have said that the area would not be able to support too many people." Experts have warned that if the infertile slopes above the Yangtze are over-logged and over-farmed the area’s fragile environment will suffer. Soil erosion and water rzr345unoff will intensify, which will increase the sediments deposited in the reservoir and shorten its expected operating life. The dam project is designed to control flooding on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, generate electricity for East China and improve the navigation of the river. "So far, over 40,000 of the 125,000 have already been moved from the reservoir area and resettled in better areas, including places near Shanghai, China’s largest commercial city," said sources with Guo’s committee.