(November 13, 2007) Six proposed dams on the Mekong River could displace up to 75,000 villagers and harm hundreds of species like the endangered giant catfish and Irrawaddy dolphin, conservationists warned Tuesday.
Civic groups call Mekong Commission a failure
(November 13, 2007) The Mekong River Commission (MRC) has not stopped six dam projects from moving ahead on the river despite unanswered questions about the environmental and social impact of the schemes, say environmental and civil society groups.
SPECIAL REPORT: Dam building in the upper Yangtze basin
(November 12, 2007) Professor Chen, a senior researcher at the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, describes resettlement and environmental dangers associated with dam building in the ecologically fragile and ethnically diverse upper Yangtze region of southwestern China. He further warns that dam builders and local governments will experience greater difficulty forcing people off their land as people become more aware of their rights and of resettlement failures elsewhere.
Massive resettlement planned for Three Gorges region…again
(November 12, 2007) Three Gorges Probe decodes China’s latest urban and rural development plans for the Three Gorges reservoir region.
Corruption is why we are so poor
(November 12, 2007) Of the billions of dollars Western countries send to Bangladesh for the purpose of economic development, an estimated 75 percent is "one way or another misappropriated by the privileged," writes physician and health economics specialist, Zulfiquer Ahmed Amin.
NGOs against Mekong dams
(November 12, 2007) More than 200 civil and environmental groups from 30 countries, including Probe International, call on the Mekong River Commission to live up to its mandate to protect the Mekong River or risk losing its donor funding.
Yangtze pollution is getting worse, water quality expert tells CCTV
(November 9, 2007) Earlier this year, Central China Television (CCTV) interviewed Weng Lida, Director of the Yangtze Water Resources Protection Bureau, about water pollution in the Yangtze and his department’s newly-published report, Yangtze Protection and Development 2007.
Chongqing mayor denies Three Gorges project has destroyed the environment
(November 9, 2007) Chongqing mayor Wang Hongju told press in Bejing on October 15th that the Three Gorges Project has "not destroyed the local environment."
China refuses to pay more for death tied to dam project
(November 9, 2007) Fam Zhongcheng and his parents were ordered to abandon their hometown of Tonglin Village last year as part of the government relocation of 1.4 million people to make way for the 400-mile-long reservoir created by the dam. While demolishing their own home, Mr. Fan’s elderly parents were crushed when a wall collapsed on them.
Water safety problems afflict 300 million Chinese people
(November 9, 2007) Chinese top environmental official says “half of the cities in China have severely polluted groundwater; 300 million people in that rural areas are drinking water with safety problems”. China’s NPC passes “The Law to Prevent and Treat Pollution (modified draft) of the People’s Republic of China” on September 5, 2007.
Three Gorges botanical garden owner sues Chongqing forestry bureau
(November 8, 2007) A Chinese businessman is suing the government over the deaths of thousands of rare plants he had saved from being submerged by the Three Gorges dam, China Daily reported.
Odious debts or odious regimes?
(November 7, 2007) Current odious debt doctrine Рusing the term “doctrine” loosely, since it has never formally been adopted by a court or international decision maker – dates back to a 1927 treatise by a wandering Russian academic named Alexander Sack.
Damming Yangtze tributary begins for China’s 2nd largest hydropower project
(November 7, 2007) China’s Three Gorges Project Corporation began damming the Jinsha River 770 kilometres upstream from the Three Gorges dam on November 7 to build the Xiluodu hydropower plant, the second largest of its type next to the massive Three Gorges Project.
Why Chinese dam is forcing yet another mass exodus
(November 6, 2007) The relocation of a further four million people could cause untold human suffering and is only the latest controversy in a long list of environmental and social problems plaguing the Three Gorges Dam. "They had so many problems with moving one million people. How are they going to move four times that many?" asks Wu Dengming, head of the Green Volunteer League of Chongqing, a local environmental group.
Residents fear China’s Three Gorges Dam
(November 6, 2007) Several times this year, Tan Mingzhu had the terrible feeling her home in central China was about to collapse in on her family.
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