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Abstract: "Water
Margins: Development and Sustainability in China" Complete
Paper (pdf 261KB)
A global water crisis is widely predicted in the coming century. China
is both water-poor - in per capita terms one of the world's twelve most
deprived (and increasingly water-polluted) countries - but at the same
time also water-rich, largely because of the Himalayan catchment from
which flow many of the great rivers of Asia, including the Ganges, Brahmaputra,
Salween, Irrawaddy, Mekong and Yangzi. This 'blue gold' wealth makes China
a potential water-power of 'Saudi-Arabia' dimensions in the coming century.
While the potential remains largely undeveloped, China faces growing waterpressures:
highly uneven distribution between north and south of the country, urbanization,
population increase, degradation of the environment, and rapidly rising
demand for energy, irrigation and town water. The Three Gorges Dam project
on the mid-Yangzi River is well-known as the largest hydro development
project in the world and possibly the largest civil engineering project
in history. This paper looks at other development projects for the major
rivers of China's south and southwest including the Lancang (Mekong) and
the Upper Yangzi. It discusses the plans for a 'Cascade ' of dams on the
Lancang which will have a large, but thus far un-discussed impact on Southeast
Mekong riparian countries, plans to 'transfer' water on a huge scale from
the Yangzi to the north China plain, and the idea of a global 'super dam'
in the Tibetan Himalayas. The paper argues that the Chinese government
is following the 'modern' paradigm of water engineering at a time when
that paradigm is being criticized and set aside in the developed world
in favour of safer, more economic, and more sustainable options.
© 2005 Australian Mekong Resource Centre |
