‘Officially, China has for some time been claiming growth rates of 7 per cent or more. But information casting doubt on those figures has long been available.’
China demolishes ancient town to make way for the dam
Demolition experts have blown up the last 18 buildings in a 1,700-year-old town due to be flooded by the Three Gorges reservoir.
Why China cooks the books
Melinda Liu writes that “numbers in China are often more of a political than a scientific tool” – an observation that will resonate with anyone who has tried to nail down an accurate Three Gorges resettlement figure.
Fear of mice has Gorges heavies crying for help
Chongqing is appealing for help from specialists around the country to remove mice and rats from the Three Gorges reservoir area. ‘We will hold an open tender for the poison in the near future,’ said an official working to prevent infectious diseases.
American woman sentenced to life in China for fraud
A Chinese-American woman has been sentenced to life in prison for credit fraud of nearly 26 million dollars linked to the Three Gorges dam project, a court official said Wednesday
Don’t forget the people
(February 7, 2006) ‘Along with the Three Gorges Dam project’s financial burden comes enormous social and environmental costs.’
Damned if you do
‘It is hard to make sense of the project from a purely business perspective,’ write analysts at The Economist. ‘The project would not survive in a competitive power market.’ Probe International’s Grainne Ryder is quoted on alternatives to megadams.
Restoring China's lost lakes
Millions of people are being moved from the Yangtze floodplain as a result of the reversal of Mao’s drive to create croplands by shrinking vast wetlands, Jasper Becker writes.
Ethiopia’s food aid addiction
(February 2, 2006) Like a patient addicted to pain killers, Ethiopia seems hooked on aid.
Economic transition fails to inspire foreign confidence
(February 2, 2006) While China needs to attract outside investment, foreigners have stayed away from the market after several cases of the Chinese reneging on power puchasing deals.
Dam will raise temperatures in central China, scientist says
The Three Gorges dam will create a reservoir massive enough to raise temperatures and force crop changes in nearby areas, a government meteorologist predicts.
Why foreign aid to Haiti failed
(February 1, 2006) Although it proudly lays claim as the second oldest republic in the Hemisphere, and the only nation whose slave population defeated a colonial power to become free,Haiti is, and has been, among the worst governed and most undemocratic states. Few places in the world, and no places in the Western Hemisphere, are poorer than Haiti.This paper2 explains why, after consuming billions in foreign aid over three decades, and hundreds of millions specifically for governance and democratization programs, not to mention billions for other programs, Haiti remains politically dysfunctional and impoverished.
Experts call for better dam quality
The Three Gorges Dam must stand the test of time with aplomb for generations to come, according to China’s top advisory body seeking to improve the world’s largest hydroelectric project’s quality control.
‘Cracks’ in China’s Three Gorges dam
(January 30, 2006) A senior Chinese official says cracks have appeared in the controversial Three Gorges hydroelectric dam being built on the Yangtze river.
Blighted village raises fears about south-north water scheme
(January 29, 2006) A cancer cluster that has been linked to water pollution in a village downstream of the Danjiangkou dam in Hubei province highlights the human misery caused by China’s poisoned rivers.
Patricia Adams
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Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
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