Article excerpt: “As we plan to triple our hydropower capacity from 2004 to 2020, it is crucial to decide future dams through a more open and participatory process so as to bring competing interests into consideration,” says Ma Jun, an independent environmental consultant and author of the tome, China’s Water Crisis. … “The environmental and social impact of the Three Gorges Dam is publicly acknowledged and much of it has to be yet properly mitigated,” says Ma Jun. “But we would rather focus our efforts on fighting follow-up projects such as the dams on the Jinsha River”. … “The Three Gorges Dam represents the completion of a long-term political dream for Chinese leadership,” says Yu Xiaogang, the founder and director of the Green Watersheds in Yunnan province. “But man conquering the nature is no longer the call of the day. On the contrary, the new thinking about sustainable development is about how to preserve nature.” … The 11th five-year plan (2006-2010), approved by the National People’s Congress in March, calls for an improved use of energy and natural resources. Energy per unit of GDP must be reduced by 20 percent from 2005, the plan said. “If we can achieve this national goal for efficiency, imagine how many Three Gorges dams can be spared,” says Yu Xiaogang. “Millions of money and the livelihoods of millions of displaced people could be saved if we learn how to use power more efficiently.”

Antoaneta Bezlova, Inter Press Service, January 26, 2000

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