(March 31, 2009) In the frenzy to resuscitate the failing global economy, the World Bank and IMF are planning to rescue the Third World’s poor, whom they describe as the innocent bystanders to a problem that originated in the rich north.
Chinese scientist forewarned of deadly Sichuan quake
(March 30, 2009) The popular online media community AlterNet has unearthed another expert to join the scientific battle of opinion over what exactly caused the M7.9 earthquake that killed 80,000 people in China’s Sichuan province last May.
Beijing’s water supplier faces serious water shortage
(March 21, 2009) North China’s Hebei Province, the major water supplier to Beijing, has overexploited its groundwater which caused subsidence and formed "20 hopper areas" of more than 40,000 square km, said a local water conservancy official on Saturday.
In the Name of Progress: The Underside of Foreign Aid
In clear, uncompromising language the book explains where progress went wrong and the remedies needed to prevent foreign aid from doing more of the same in the future.
Endnotes
Introduction
1. “Yao Yilin Says That for the Time Being China Will Not Consider Starting the Three Gorges Project Immediately,” Zhongguo Tongxun She, 23 January 1989.
2. Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard, The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams, (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1984), p. xi.
3. CIPM Yangtze Joint Venture (CYJV), Three Gorges Project Water Control Project Feasibility Study, Vol. 1, p. 16-12.
Appendix B
On September 17, 1990, Probe International filed complaints against British Columbia Hydro International, Hydro-Québec International, SNC, Lavalin International, and Acres International for their work on the Three Gorges Water Control Project Feasibility Study. The complaints were filed with the regulatory bodies that are legally responsible for regulating the profession of engineering in the provinces of British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario.
Appendix A
1. The population subject to resettlement should, at a minimum, maintain its current standard of living and should have the opportunity to achieve a higher standard of living after resettlement has taken place.
2. The resettlement transition period should be minimized and adequate support of both a social and economic nature should be provided during the transition period.
Chapter 12 – Economic and Financial Aspects
by Vijay Paranjpye, Ph.D.
The feasibility study of the Three Gorges Project was conducted by the CIPM Yangtze Joint Venture (CYJV) with the principal objective of providing impartial technical input to the Government of China in its decision-making process, and to provide the basis for securing funding from international financing institutions. In the study summary, CYJV states its objective as:
Chapter 11 – Sedimentation Analysis
The Yangtze is not only a river of water, it is also a river of sediment. The flow of the Yangtze carries with it the fifth-largest sediment discharge of any river in the world, equivalent to about 4 percent of all river-borne sediment discharged to all the oceans of the world.
Chapter 10 – Dam Safety Analysis
The consequence of failure at the Three Gorges Dam would rank as history’s worst man-made disaster. More than 75 million people live downstream on an intensively cultivated floodplain that provides much of China’s food.
Chapter 9 – Missing Energy Perspectives
by Vaclav Smil, Ph.D.
Chapter 8 – Flood Control Analysis
by Philip B. Williams, Ph.D., P.E.
Background
Chapter 7 – Unresolved Issues: Perspectives from China
by Shiu-hung Luk, Ph.D., and Joseph Whitney, Ph.D.
The Chinese feasibility study for the Three Gorges Project, which was conducted under the aegis of the State Planning Commission,* remains a secret government document. From 1987 to 1989, while official studies were under way, numerous research papers1 on the feasibility of the Three Gorges Project were circulated and published in Chinese journals.
Chapter 6 – Downstream Environmental Impacts
by Joseph S. Larson, Ph.D.
The impacts which may occur downstream do not affect the overall environmental feasibility and may indeed enhance the environment.1
Chapter 5 – Potential Methyl Mercury Contamination in the Three Gorges Reservoir
by Alan Penn, M.Sc.
Background on Methyl Mercury Contamination
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
Other News Sources
Probe International 