China’s Ambitious Dam Network
In the rugged terrain of Southwest China, a monumental transformation is underway—on the Jinsha River, the upper stretch of the Yangtze—the Chinese government is constructing a series of dams as a vital part of its sweeping hydropower project. This scheme is designed to significantly boost energy production and help the nation achieve net-zero emissions, but it is fraught with serious and largely unacknowledged risks to local people and ecosystems. It raises fundamental questions about the advisability of proceeding with a megaproject that juxtaposes China’s current commitment to economic growth against the realities of geological instability and the need for energy projects to avoid displacing huge numbers of people and uprooting local cultures.
This article contends that although China’s push to control hydropower through dam building on the Jinsha River is crucial to its energy future, the dangers tied to such a massive engineering enterprise—geological instability, possible ecological calamity, and the resettlement of Tibetan people—call for close and immediate attention. Moreover, what China does on the Jinsha affects far more than just the energy lives of the people along the river. It implicates profound matters of cultural and historical heritage along the river, whose recorded history goes back thousands of years; it raises serious human rights issues in connection with the Tibetans to be resettled; and, given the possible scale of ecological damage, it brings up sustainability questions that affect the whole planet.
Logistical Challenges in Remote Regions
This subject requiring our attention cannot be understated. China possesses tremendous hydropower potential. The upper Jialing River alone can produce a capacity of 112 gigawatts—over 25% of China’s current hydro capacity. That said, the building of dams in such a seismically active area poses huge risks. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake, which took over 87,000 lives, shows that hydropower is not an unproblematic solution to the world’s energy demands; rather, it is a risky endeavor that could cause enormous loss of life and property in the event of a megaquake. Experts are nearly universal in warning against the dam-building approach to hydropower.
Building these dams demands a staggering amount of coordination and human effort, not to mention high-level engineering. Take the Batan Dam, for instance. Its construction called for over 10,000 workers and more than 8 million cubic meters of concrete. That was just the effort to build a single dam, albeit an immense one. The total amount required by all the dams in the plan, when combined, would be difficult to fathom. The total number of workers would probably have to be pushed into six digits.
Environmental and Cultural Impact
The dams pose a real danger to the delicate ecosystem of Tibet and its cut-off fault lines, imperiling the inhabitants of the area. You don’t have to look far for the evidence. The Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan was once a thriving center of Buddhism, with flourishing monasteries. Those places have been mostly destroyed; the valley is now filled with increasing numbers of IDPs (internally displaced persons), fleeing the climate chaos unleashed by the formation of the dams and the militarized response to opposition to them.
One of the most important pressing concerns for the Tibetan communities is their displacement. Over a dozen major infrastructure projects have been undertaken in the Tibetan Plateau. The Chinese government claims that these projects will bring much-needed development and prosperity to the Tibetan communities. However, these “development” projects have effectively displaced a number of Tibetan communities. A case in point is the Gangar Dam, which alone is expected to displace about 4,000 people and to submerge a number of significant cultural heritage sites.
Large-scale dam construction poses a direct threat to human life and culture, but it also has immediate environmental effects that are severe and complicated. Dams are disastrous for “localized” ecosystems, profoundly affecting fish populations and water quality. Their construction floods vast areas, threatening localized ecosystems and the biodiversity they nurture. The long-term effect of the biodiversity loss is hard to calculate, but it is certainly not a plus for “sustainable” environmental conditions.
Risks of Earthquakes and Dam Failures
Building dams along the Jinsha River presents geologic challenges that are nothing less than dangerous. They arise from the tectonic forces that constantly threaten the region and from the earthquakes that frequently mar the area’s history. The structural feats that must be performed to construct these dams are impressive and worth remembering because they contribute substantially to an ever-growing network of hydropower. What is also impressive, but in a fearful way, is the possibility that a large earthquake could reduce those dams to rubble, with the kinds of effects that a bad dam could have downstream.
Supporters of hydropower believe it is a vital force in propelling the United States toward energy independence and the reduction of carbon emissions. They argue that the benefits far outweigh the risks. What is more, they portray the construction of dams as not just a necessary evil but as a vehicle for delivering social and economic benefits to the places where these world-altering projects are undertaken.
Environmentalists contest the idea that the projects will significantly further China’s net-zero goals. They point to the common practices in large dam projects that are unsustainable, like destroying forests and running roughshod over communities. Climate scientist Dr. Mei Chen puts it this way: “True sustainability cannot be achieved at the expense of communities and ecosystems.”
To sum up, China’s drive to modernize its energy infrastructure calls for a serious consideration of the country’s often-overlooked historical and cultural geography. This young German project made an attempt to illuminate these dark corners of China’s energy transformation. Human rights must be taken seriously and the ecology along the Jinsha and its tributaries—so rich in biodiversity—must be conserved for the sake of local and global communities.
As we prepare to enter a new age of energy, it is vital to defend a fossil fuel-free future that emphasizes sustainable, clean, and efficient alternatives to traditional energy sources. Above all, this new energy era must incorporate the real, historical, and ancestral voices of the people it’s affecting—especially since many impoverished communities around the world are the ones most directly harmed by fossil fuel extraction. The shift to clean energy shouldn’t rely on “aha” moments that repeat the mistakes of the past.