Environmental Impact Statement for the Yangtze Three Gorges Project

by Wu Yintai (editor)

71 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[stephanie]

An in-depth review of the impacts of damming the Yangze River. The critical analysis covers 1)social impacts due to flooding of ancestral grounds, fertile farmland, and entire communities 2)social policies like China's attempt to compensate the people moved off their land and why the policy failed 3) environmental impacts such as the lack of wastewater treatment along China's rivers and how damming the river will stop the flushing role of the river and cause the pollutants/waste to pool in the Three Gorges 4) economic impacts: while the dams will improve navigation on the river, tourism activities will likely be negatively affected by the rising waters and flooding of side canyons/springs, etc.

I read this book prior to my tour of China. While cruising down the Yangtze through the Three Gorges I appreciated having read this analysis. The narratives about the project I heard while in the country were extremely optimistic, simplistic, and in some cases pure lies.