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The Three Gorges Dam Project: Report from SCB's Delegation to China

Jiquan Chen

From 23 September--7 October 2000, a 12-member delegation organized by the People-to-People Ambassador Program and SCB visited the Three Gorges Dam Project (TGDP). Members came from Zimbabwe, Canada, Greece, Germany, China, and the U.S and represented the professions of plant ecology, wildlife and aquatic biology, forest ecology, and political science. We traveled three days by ship from Wuhan upriver through the TGDP to Chongqing, observing the river and its surrounding terrain and human influences. We met with engineers, urban planners, professors, ecologists and other professionals in Hubei, Chongqing, and Beijing to better understand the social, economic, and environmental complexities and challenges. Topics addressed in our meetings with these experts included engineering design and construction; social, economic and ecological concerns; and scientific research associated with the TGDP.

Delegates were particularly concerned about ecosystem resilience. Many organisms, some of which possess slow response times (e.g., the Yangtze River Sturgeon), potentially will be affected by the TGDP. While baseline data have been collected for some organisms and physical and chemical parameters, there is a great deal of uncertainty about long-term effects of the dam on ecosystem elements with slow response times. The most urgent needs in conservation of this large watershed are to develop both a comprehensive ecological database and a long-term monitoring program. These are crucial because the TGDP is the largest engineering project in human history and humanity deserves the opportunity to learn from this engineering exercise. Such lessons definitely could be applied to additional hydroelectric development projects that are projected for the Yangtze River upstream of Chongqing.

Long-term effects of the TGDP on human health and on the biotic integrity of the Yangtze River and its stream banks due to changes in water quality or altered sediment transport and flow regimes are to some degree speculative or unknown. This uncertainty derives primarily from the absence of baseline data against which to measure and evaluate long-term change. Less than one year remains to collect the lacking baseline data from the area to be inundated. Such data could be used to monitor and learn from long-term changes to the health of the greater Yangtze River ecosystem. When the first hydroelectric turbine of the TGDP begins operating in 2003, the chance to collect essential baseline data will be lost, along with opportunities to monitor and detect significant subsequent ecological changes.

Communication and information sharing among ecologists, engineers, economists, social scientists, and managers appears to be limited for a variety of reasons. Increased information-sharing and interaction among the disciplines and between scientists and managers would lead to better planning, design, and operation of future development projects. Creating institutional mechanisms that incorporate environmental concerns more effectively into developmental planning and operations may ensure better long-term outcomes for the people of China. The delegates offer five suggestions to the international development and scientific community:

1. Provide financial assistance to China for implementation of annual national interdisciplinary information-sharing workshops, sponsored by an independent organization such as China's Association of Science and Technology.
2. Make funding and technical research assistance available to collect baseline data, especially on aquatic macroinvertebrates, phytoplankton, and zooplankton, throughout the >600 km of the canyon to be inundated by the TGDP starting in 2003.
3. Assist urban planners in Chongqing with design and monitoring of nature reserves and integration of ecological principles into development of urban riverside parks.
4. Help China create a central storage facility for collection and dissemination of ecological baseline and monitoring data. GIS hardware/software and data custodians would be needed to support the facility and to provide interdisciplinary access.
5. Encourage China to use Internet technology to improve interdisciplinary communications across the country. Websites could provide access to a database supporting interdisciplinary research and communications.

It is clear that the TGDP will be continued; there will be no turning back on the decision to construct the dam. It is also evident to us that many in China's academic, professional, and governmental sectors are willing to undertake serious efforts to understand the effects of the dam, both positive and negative, once the dam begins operating. Targeted help from the international community will be a vital component in ensuring that these efforts by the Chinese to understand the consequences of TGDP ultimately will succeed. Such efforts offer an unique opportunity for China and the world community together to learn lessons which may improve the quality of life for people of all nations. For more information, contact Jiquan Chen (jiq@mtu.edu) or visit http://forestry.mtu.edu/lees/China.

Some statistics about the Yangtze River and the TGDP

• Purposes of TGDP: Flood control, navigation, hydroelectric power
• Duration of TGDP: 1992 - 2009
• Height: 185 m
• Width: 1983 m
• Land to be flooded: 28,000 km2
• Effects of TGDP: 13 cities, 140 towns, 1300 villages, 46,500 ha of arable land
• Resettlement: 1.1-1.4 million (official), 2 million (unofficial)
• Sedimentation: 530 million tons per year
• Length of reservoir: >600 km
• Length of Yangtze: 6300 km
• River drainage: 1,808,500 km2
• 1931 flooding: 145,000 killed
• 1954 flooding: 30,000 killed
• 1998 flooding: 1562 killed
• Endemic plants: 37 listed as endangered
• Key aquatic species: Chinese sturgeon, river dolphin
• TGDP basin & plants: 53,200 km2 - 0.55% of China, >10% of total plants

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