| China Cancels Dam Project Following NGO Resistance |
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Yun Feng – December 7, 2006 – 10:00am The government of Ganzi Prefecture in China’s Sichuan Province recently announced the cancellation of a local hydroelectric project, signaling the first success by Chinese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in jointly resisting a state-sponsored dam. The dam was planned for Mugecuo Lake, a pristine plateau lake area inhabited mainly by Tibetan communities. Sichuan Daily, an official local newspaper, reported on November 8 that the prefecture government decided to abandon the project for environmental reasons. “Although hydropower is clean energy, we should firmly prevent the local environment from impacts of the development,” a local official was quoted as saying. The report did not mention the significant role played by residents, NGOs, and scientists in helping to halt the project. The Ganzi government and the electricity company China Huaneng developed the plans for the hydroelectric station on Mugecuo several years ago. Local Tibetan communities, who for generations have revered the lake as a powerful spiritual entity, strongly opposed the project. To them, the government’s approval of the dam signaled disrespect for their local culture. In May 2003, residents wrote a letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao requesting that the central government cancel the project. At the same time, NGOs based in Beijing collaborated with scientists to study Mugecuo’s local biodiversity and cultural variety, determining that the dam construction would destroy the plateau’s local ecosystem including wetlands, native forests, and grasses. The researchers also concluded that the project violated existing law and that the decision-making process and environmental impact assessment lacked transparency, showing little consideration for the well-being of local residents. The scientists and NGOs addressed a second letter to the Premier asking him to halt the project. The anti-dam activity marked the first time Chinese NGOs successfully joined hands to pressure the government on environmental grounds. This same strategy was later applied in other environmental protection activities, such as those surrounding the Nu River Dam Project, the Tiger Leaping Gorge Dam Project, and the Yuanmingyuan Lake Bed Project, forcing the government to reexamine these projects. In August 2003, for example, Chinese NGOs and media conducted strong public campaigns in protest of the Nu River Dam Project in southwest China, leading Premier Wen to suspend the project indefinitely in early 2004. The government of Yunnan Province and electricity companies have since launched a counterattack, raising their voices to revive construction. While China has not completely abandoned the 13-stage project, in October, minister of water resources Wang Shucheng openly criticized the dam as “an exploited path of development,” indicating a change in the government’s perspective. Wang’s comment also represented a small victory for NGOs, journalists, and a few liberal government officials. Previously, it would have been hard to imagine that Chinese citizens could stop a government project. But the stories of Mugecuo Lake and Nu River suggest that as NGOs continue to sprout in China and as public awareness of civil rights grows, citizens are gaining in strength and their ability to change engrained patterns of benefit-sharing in China. It also shows that the country’s new leadership is paying greater attention than ever to environmental protectionhttp://www.worldwatch.org/node/4766
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