China's Yunnan defends dam building as activists head to court

[misskit]

BEIJING, March 12 (Reuters) - Officials from southwest China’s Yunnan province have defended a plan to build a dam in the region as “fully legally compliant”, after an environment group took developers of the project to court last month for violating laws.


The Beijing-based Friends of Nature had filed a suit against the 113-megawatt Huilong Mountain hydropower plant on the Mekong river in rural Xishuangbanna, near the Myanmar border, saying it would destroy rain forest and encroach upon nature reserves.




“In the project we discovered several serious problems,” said Zhang Boju, the group’s executive director. “Looking at them from current legislation, we saw they could be considered in breach of the law.”


But Xishuangbanna Governor Luo Hongjiang said, in a statement sent to Reuters during the latest session of China’s parliament, that construction was “fully legally compliant” since approval was granted in 2015.


“Various laws related to the development and utilisation of hydropower, environmental protection, fish habitats in the Lancang (Mekong) river basin, management of nature reserves and so on have been strictly implemented,” he added.


China Resources Power, the developer leading the project, did not respond to questions about the project.


Hydropower has been at the heart of China’s efforts to cut its dependence on coal, and it promised in guidelines published last week that it would speed up dam-building in the southwest this year and add another 6 gigawatts of capacity.


But projects in the region, including the world’s biggest at the Three Gorges, have been responsible for flooding fragile ecosystems, displacing millions and worsening earthquake risks.


The Mekong and the Salween rivers also flow into Myanmar and Thailand, raising concerns about downstream water disruptions.


Grid deficiencies and weak local demand have also meant that Yunnan’s existing plants run at less than optimal levels.


Yunnan’s governor Ruan Chengfa said last week the province was “in pain” because of weak grid coverage. “We are not using green energy to the full, and we are suffering about 30 billion kilowatt-hours of wasted hydro every year.”



Several projects, including a series of dams on the Salween, have been shelved because of grid deficiencies.


Resolving grid issues will take time, said Stephanie Jensen-Cormier, NGO International Rivers’ China program director. “It would be foolish for the local government to continue to build dams before having fully addressed these issues.”


Friends of Nature’s Zhang said local authorities were underestimating the costs of hydro and exaggerating benefits.


“We think if Yunnan continues plans to develop as a green power and energy base with hydropower at its core, it will probably be in violation of the central government’s policies and curbs,” he added.


https://www.reuters.com/article/chin...-idUSL4N1QP3U1

[OhOh]

Good to see the locals taking an interest in their environment, since 1994.

Stephanie Jensen-Cormier, NGO International Rivers’ China program director. “It would be foolish for the local government to continue to build dams before having fully addressed these issues.”

Allegedly the "issues" were addresed in 2015. Have the rules been changed from then?

“In the project we discovered several serious problems,” said Zhang Boju, the group’s executive director. “Looking at them from current legislation, we saw they could be considered in breach of the law.”


But Xishuangbanna Governor Luo Hongjiang said, in a statement sent to Reuters during the latest session of China’s parliament, that construction was “fully legally compliant” since approval was granted in 2015.


“Various laws related to the development and utilisation of hydropower, environmental protection, fish habitats in the Lancang (Mekong) river basin, management of nature reserves and so on have been strictly implemented,” he added.

[HuangLao]

Good luck with this attempted activity.
Decent intentions of this sort usually go sour.

Profit and control supersede everything.

[OhOh]

Nothing new here the Israelis have been waging water wars with the Palestinians for decades.

Extracting much more from aquifers than agreed to. Turning off water supplies due to "techincal difficulties" ........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_the_Palestinian_ter ritories

Palestinian villages 'get two hours of water a week'

"Ramallah, occupied West Bank - Enas Taha, a resident of the Palestinian village of Kafr al-Deek in the occupied West Bank, has become desperate. "Since the [water] crisis started in June, the municipality has been able to supply water for only one hour twice a week," Taha told Al Jazeera. "I am checking the weather forecast every day; they announced rain three weeks ago, but it has not come yet. The only thing I can do is to pray to God."

Many West Bank communities are facing similar problems, amid an acute water shortage that has lasted for months. In the Salfit, Jenin and Hebron governorates, some villages have gone as long as 40 days in a row without running water."



https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/10/palestinian-villages-hours-water-week-161023105150024.html


Lancang-Mekong Cooperation entering new growth phase: Chinese envoy

Source:Xinhua Published: 2018/3/24 700

Chinese Ambassador to Laos Wang Wentian on Friday said the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) has entered the phase of further growth from the phase of nurturing.

Wang made the remarks when addressing the LMC Week held in the Lao capital of Vientiane.

Under the framework of the cooperation mechanism, China has set up 10-billion-yuan (1.58 billion US dollars) concessional loans, a 5-billion-US-dollar special loan on production capacity cooperation and a 5-billion-US-dollar preferential export buyers' credits to support infrastructure and production capacity cooperation in the sub-region, said Wang.

China has also set up a special purpose fund of 300 million US dollars for five years to support the small and medium cooperation projects proposed by the six countries, he added.

"LMC has achieved better-than-expected results, and is entering a phase of further growth from the phase of nurturing," he said.

Institutional platform building has made steady progress, with a four-tiered meeting mechanism in place consisting of meeting among leaders, foreign ministers, senior officials and working groups, he said."

China is working with it's Asian partners.

Lancang-Mekong Cooperation entering new growth phase: Chinese envoy - Global Times

Maybe the better way is China to bomb a few neighbouring countries, leave the unexploded bombs behind for the kids to play with, keep the countryside scenic for foreign tourists to enjoy and demand very cheap rates for accommodation, ethnic food and "tour guides".

Isn't that what some have/continue to promote, worldwide, for decades?

[HuangLao]

^

Cheeky...

Perhaps some might benefit by comprehending the mused contradictory and double standard of story/punditry above - doubt it though, as clearly most have have been blind-sided conditioned to the conclusive dumbing down stage.

[Klondyke]

Palestinian villages 'get two hours of water a week'
"Ramallah, occupied West Bank - Enas Taha, a resident of the Palestinian village of Kafr al-Deek in the occupied West Bank, has become desperate.

But no concern of the "international community" re the occupation like the "criminal annexation" of Crimea?

[OhOh]

Oh they are very, very concerned, they just have more important items on their agenda, which absorb every minute, of every day.