Activists with a Chongqing environmental group who undertook a 10-day trip to monitor the Three Gorges reservoir cleanup campaign were shocked at what they found, the Chongqing Daily (Chongqing Ribao) reported last week.
Candid remarks on ‘water calamities’
(February 21, 2003) Speech delivered by Pan Jiazheng, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and former vice-director of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, at the Department of Water Conservancy and Hydropower, Qinghua University, Beijing, and reprinted in Guangming Daily (Guangming Ribao) on February 21, 2003.
Ten issues for Three Gorges propaganda
(February 20, 2003) A senior spokesman for the scheme summarizes the issues that the official Chinese media should prepare themselves to ‘propagandize.’
Drought, pollution could jeopardize water-transfer scheme
(February 14, 2003) Record-low water levels in the Yangtze caused an oil tanker to run aground and disrupted shipping in large sections of the river this week. The severe drought, along with worsening pollution in a major Yangtze tributary, raise serious concerns about the scheme launched late last year to transfer water from the region to China’s parched north.
Damn the fish: Lessons from Glen Canyon
(February 7, 2003) A huge dam near the Grand Canyon in the United States, which has killed off half the native fish species that once thrived downstream, holds lessons for the Three Gorges project.
Top scientists call for Three Gorges monitoring stations
Three of China’s top water engineers have called for monitoring stations to be set up below the Three Gorges dam to study the changes in the Yangtze River that will begin occurring after the reservoir is filled in June, an official newspaper reports.
Three Gorges sedimentation concerns build up
(January 24, 2003) The builders of the Three Gorges project are showing new concern about the prospect of a dangerous buildup of silt in the massive reservoir behind the dam, and are still discussing basic aspects of the dam’s operating regime and likely impacts.
Beijing urged to get moving on water conservation
(January 17, 2003) Beijingers have been warned against regarding the south-north water-transfer scheme as an excuse to waste more water, while continuing to neglect water-saving strategies.
Leading scientists warn about impacts of Three Gorges dam
Three prominent scientists who took part in the environmental impact assessment conducted by Chinese researchers 15 years ago for the Three Gorges project still stand by the conclusion of that study, which raised serious concerns about building the dam, a Chinese publication reports.
Ecology in the Three Gorges: problems and uncertainties
(December 19, 2002) ‘Many Chinese scientists agree that building the Three Gorges dam will accelerate environmental degradation in the reservoir area and in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze,’ China’s News Weekly magazine reports.
Big landslide in new settlement of Badong
(December 18, 2002) Residents were moved out overnight from a dangerous part of the new county town of Badong in the Three Gorges area after a big landslide last week, Hubei Daily (Hubei ribao) reports. The landslide started moving quickly on Dec. 9, the newspaper said in its Dec. 14 report. The mass, about 250 metres long and 100 metres wide, contained 150,000 cubic metres of mud and rock, and moved three metres in just three hours, the newspaper said. Crops and trees were damaged, but there were no reports of injuries, it said.
Three Gorges area flooded with rat poison
A sweeping campaign to exterminate rodents in the Three Gorges area is getting under way at a time of heightened concern about the easy availability of rat poison in China, and its frequent use in murders and suicides.
Three Gorges engineer hails critics of the dam
The chief engineer of the Three Gorges Corporation has heaped praise on opponents of the world’s biggest dam, calling their "different voices and views" an invaluable contribution to the success of the project.
Powerful new corporation plans more Yangtze megadams
(December 5, 2002) China’s newest power giant, created with much fanfare in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People in September, aims to finance not only the completion of the Three Gorges project on the Yangtze River but also the construction of many more huge dams upstream, a respected Chinese publication reports.
‘World’s greatest air-conditioner’ gives rise to a lot of hot air
The extent to which the huge Three Gorges reservoir will affect the climate in the region is the hot topic at the centre of a perplexing series of contradictory statements issued recently by the corporation building the dam.
Patricia Adams
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Lawrence Solomon
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