*Dechen Palmo
China’s control over
“blue gold” wealth on Tibetan plateau has armed China with tremendous leverage
and made them a potential water power in a way Saudi Arabia is an oil power.[1]
Moreover, the country
which has the largest number of dams in the world with two -third of it located
on Tibetan plateau, is still in the process of developing more dams to satiate
its industrial sector’s growing power demand. As of now, China has more than
87,000 dams and in the last decade the country has installed more hydropower
capacity than the rest of the world combined.[2] This means that China
continues to play a leading role in global hydropower development.
Furthermore, Chinese
companies and Chinese banks now fund largest dam projects in the world. By
August 2012, Chinese companies and banks were involved in almost 308 dam
projects in 70 different countries.[3] As of now, Chinese state-owned Sinohydro
Corporation is the largest hydropower company in the world and the China Export-Import
Bank (China Exim Bank) has emerged as the biggest funder of large dams.
China is developing at
what cost?
On the ongoing debate
over the ecological impact of large dams, Mark Tercek, CEO of Nature
Conservancy said: “Environmentalists generally hate dams, even though they’re
clean energy.”[4]
Unfortunately, the dams
are not “Clean Energy” as Tercek has described. In fact, dams are one of the
major factors causing Climate change.
According to Ivan Lima
and other experts from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE),
world’s large dams emit 104 million metric tonnes of methane annually, which
implies that methane emission from dams are responsible for at least 4% of
total global warming caused by human activities.[5]
Taking into
consideration the case of Mekong river, Chinese officials claim that the dam
which were built on the upper reaches of Mekong river would have a positive
environmental impact. They assert that during the wet season, the dam will help
control flood and river bank soil erosion and above all provide clean energy.
Conversely, releasing water during summer will help ease water shortage during
the dry season.[6]
A river can be dammed
in environmentally considerate manner. But what China is doing is over-damming of
rivers. However, they fail to acknowledge that hydropower development alters
the hydrology of the river by forcing variation in water flow such as reducing
and delaying wet season flow and increasing dry season flow. This affects the
ecosystem and livelihood of people who are dependent on the natural flow of
rivers. Also these water fluctuations are made considering the rise and fall in
electricity demand.
Moreover, controlling
the flow of flood water has another adverse effect. The seasonal flooding is
key to productive farms and health of fisheries as the floodwater inundates
land with valuable nutrients and sediments. These nutrients stimulate the food
web and enrich the soil and thereby promoting farming and fisheries. However
with the damming on the Mekong river, it has created a huge net loss to the
people dependent on the river for livelihood.
Furthermore, the dams
built on the upper reaches of the Mekong river are located on highly seismic
area. Although, Chinese regulations stipulate that dams are designed to
withstand seismic activity. In case, big dams built on the upper reaches of the
Mekong River fail due to natural catastrophe, it will create a “domino effect”,
triggering a cascading sequel collapse of dams further downstream.
A 2012 Probe International
report noted that “98.6% of all of these dams, and 99.7% of western China’s
electricity generating capacity will be located in zones with a moderate to
very high level of seismic hazard”.[7]
Adrian Moon, a
geologist who has been monitoring earthquake activity on the Tibetan plateau,
southeast Tibet and west of Sichuan since 2009 contends that “In an area like
South-Eastern Tibet, with such complex geology and fault lines, just because
nothing’s happened in the past doesn’t mean nothing will happen in the
future,”[8]
China has turned a
blind eye to the warnings and continues its frenetic dam building on the
plateau including six large hydropower dams on the Lancang(Mekong) river and
The Rumei (or Rongmei in Tibetan) hydropower project, which once completed will
be the second highest in the world at
315 meters.
More dams in Tibetan
plateau and other part of the world.
In March this year,
China set out its development plan for the next five years. According to its
13th Five Year Plan, China has successfully taken over European Union in clean
energy investment in last five years and they further intend to dominate clean
technology market both at home and abroad for the next five years.[9]
So, the question
arises, will hydropower be considered as clean energy as described in the 13th
Five Year Plan?
If so, then there will
be further escalation in dam building on the Tibetan plateau and other parts of
the world.
The impacts of China’s
dams on the Lower Riparian Countries
China’s control over
Tibet brings a special privilege of being the upper riparian country of most of
Asia’s major rivers, Beijing is using this vantage point in the game of water
diplomacy.
Since late 2015,
countries along the Lancang-Mekong river have suffered from severe drought and
Chinese government blame it on El Nino phenomenon as they always turn their
blame away from its dams.
So, in order to show
their leverage over riparian countries, China announced the release of
emergency water supply from Jinghong Hydropower Station from May 15 till April
10, 2016 to help overcome drought in Mekong Delta. From this we can observe
that Beijing had already highlighted its dominance over the Mekong river and the
downstream countries are dependent on China’s good will and charity of this
life sustaining resources.[10]
Likewise, Geostrategist
Brahma Chellaney had also describes how China could use its leverage to deter
downstream countries from challenging its broader regional interests, citing
that “smaller downstream countries in Southeast and Central Asia now use only
coded language to express their concerns over Chinese dam building. For
example, calling for transparency has become a way of referring obliquely to
China, which smaller states are wary of mentioning by name.”[11]
One of the most recent
example of arm twisting by China using its vantage point as an upper riparian
country is the stalled multi-billion dollar Myitsone dam project on the
Irrawaddy River backed by China. Once completed, China will import 90% of the
electricity generated leaving hardly any profit to the people of Myanmar
despite the fact that Myanmar suffer daily power shortages.
With the new government
in power, the decision of resuming project rests with the senior leadership,
particularly Aung San Suu Kyi. If she decides to resume the project, it would
seriously tarnish her claim of moral and political leadership and may even
prompt protests in the country.
China continues to put
pressure on Myanmar giving them three options regarding the future of the dam.
According to China,
Myanmar can cancel the dam project and be liable to pay $800 million in
compensation or resume work on the project and earn $500 million a year in
revenue when it is completed, or do nothing and pay $50 million in interest for
as long as it remains suspended.[12]
Moreover, most of
Myanmar’s rivers have its source on the Tibetan plateau and China may use this
as a tool to pressurize the new government. Beijing, with its diplomatic and
economic clout, has put National League for Democracy (NLD) government in deep
dilemma. On one hand, they have their own people who protest against the dam
project and on the other, they have the Chinese government pressurizing them to
resume the dam project.
In addition,
neighboring countries like India and Nepal are concerned over increased natural disaster in Tibet such as
glacial avalanche, mud flood, landslide, dammed river bursting and earthquake.
When asked about the
flooding from Tibet, officials from Central Water Commission of India says that
they have concerns about flooding from Tibet too but they’re focused on dams
building on Tibetan rivers “If waters from them are released in a larger quantity,
they may become floods and if we have no storage in the Indian portion, that
may create havoc,” the commission’s chairman Ghanashyam Jha told the BBC.[13]
Considering the impact
of China’s dam building spree on the Tibetan plateau and in the neighboring
countries, this article is an attempt to highlight the importance of the need
for South Asian countries to come together to seek sustainable ecological and
cost effective solutions instead of continuing dam building through
collaborative efforts.
There is no right
without responsibility, so China to represent as a responsible Asian power and
upstream state on international river, has a duty to allow independent,
comprehensive and expert assessment of
risks involved in the extension of dam project in and around Tibet.
Findings of the experts should be made available to the affected people and the
countries downstream must be given due consideration and acted upon by the
Chinese government.
-------------------------
[1] Brahma Chellaney,
“Water: Asia’s new battleground”, HarperCollins publisher,2011:p99
[2]
https://www.internationalrivers.org/programs/China
[3]H.Jeremy
&Mongabay,10 Dec.2012,China funding construction of 308 dams in 70
countries,
http://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/ecocide/habitat-loss/China-funding-construction-of-308-dams-in-70-countries/
[4]Mark Tercek who is
CEO of The Nature Conservancy, May 12 New Yorker
http://www.ecowatch.com/dams-cause-climate-change-they-are-not-clean-energy-1881943019.html
[5] Ivan B.T. Lima et
al. (2007) “Methane Emissions from Large Dams as Renewable Energy Resources: A
Developing Nation Perspective,” Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global
Change, published on-line March 2007. http://tinyurl.com/2bzawj
[6] Jory Hecht and
Guillaume Lacombe “the effects of hydropower dams on the hydrology of the
Mekong basin” April 2014.state of knowledge journal.
[7]J. John, April 2012.
earthquake hazard and large dams in western China, a probe international study
,
http://probeinternational.org/library/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/JohnJacksonreport-July24.pdf
[8] Yunnan Chen,
February 28, 2014, Dam building in Tibet increasing earthquake risks,
https://www.thethirdpole.net/2014/02/28/earthquakes-risks-rise-in-tibet/
[9] M.g.Shinwei ng & G.Jonathan, briefing
paper, march 2016, pulling ahead on clean technology: China’s 13th five year
plan challenges Europe’s low carbon competitiveness.
https://www.e3g.org/library/China-accelerates-while-europe-deliberates-on-the-clean-energy-transition
[10] China releasing
water to draught stricken Mekong river countries , Xinhua,15th March 2016,
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-03/15/c_135190767.htm
[11] Brahma Chellaney:
China’s dam boom stokes concerns in Asia, Nikke Asia Review, 16 March, 2016.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Viewpoints/Viewpoints/Brahma-Chellaney-China-s-dam-boom-stokes-concerns-in-Asia
[12] M.A Sithu,
Frontier.26th June 2016.The Myitsone dam: China’s three option.
2016.http://frontiermyanmar.net/en/the-myitsone-dam-Chinas-three-options
[13] K.S.Navin, 8th
Sept.2016, BBC world service. India and Nepal concern over Tibet flood advice
gap,. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37249193
---------
*Dechen Palmo is a
research fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute. Views expressed here do not
necessarily reflect those of the Tibet Policy Institute.
