Dam activists win first round

Dam activists win first round

Environment

Apparently in response to the anti-dam activists' efforts that had drawn so much media attention in China, Premier Wen Jia-bao has issued on order scrapping the controversial dam project on the Nujiang, known in Thailand and Burma as Salween, reported Hong Kong-based papers, Ta Kung Pao (1 April) and Ming Pao (2 April). 

He was quoted as saying that such a large dam project should be "seriously reviewed and decided scientifically," given the enormous contradictions between proponents and opponents in terms of environmental protection. 

Both the Yunnan province government and He Daming, a professor from Yunnan University's Asia International Rivers Center and a leading opponent of the dam project, confirmed that the plan had been suspended. "We oppose dam projects on the Nujiang, not because we oppose development, but because we need a sustainable, people-centered development," he said. "We should avoid the old wrong way of development." 

However, Kevin Li, a dam opponent who translated and summarized the newspaper reports, cautioned against undue optimism. "(The) Huadian Company (that had previously won the right to develop the Nu) is discussing the matter, probably with the Yunnan government," he said. "(Also there is the) lesson from the past: despite the huge opposition against the Three Gorges dam, the project still went ahead." 

The plan could be "revised or simply repackaged", he warned. 

In October, 62 campaigners in China began petitioning against the project. 

On 16 December, 83 groups in Thailand and Burma made a call on Beijing to consult downstream countries before going ahead with the plan. 

On 4 March, International Rivers Network, with endorsement by organizations from 33 countries, wrote to President Hu Jintao to suspend the project. 

Nine of the proposed 13 dams on the Nu-Salween are in Yunnan's Three Parallel Rivers area, recognized by the UNESCO last year as World Heritage Site. 

Related reports

• UNESCO say's China's Salween part of World Heritage Site (29 February 2004)

• Dam on China's Salween goes for it (11 March 2004)

• President Hu asked to stop the Salween dams (13 March 2004)

• Let the Salween flow (22 March 2004)