Dear Friends/Co-sailors,
While browsing through the net chanced upon this well
written interesting piece on the Himalayan dam disasters published in The Guardian
on 10th of this month. Thought
you would find it interesting too. So, uploading
another piece in my Today’s Pick Section.
Thanks and regards,
Ranjan
China and India 'water grab' dams put ecology of Himalayas
in danger
More than 400 hydroelectric schemes are planned in the
mountain region, which could be a disaster for the environment
The Ranganadi hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh,
India. Photograph: Alamy
The future of the world's most famous mountain range could
be endangered by a vast dam-building project, as a risky regional race for
water resources takes place in Asia.
New academic research shows that India, Nepal, Bhutan and
Pakistan are engaged in a huge "water grab" in the Himalayas, as they
seek new sources of electricity to power their economies. Taken together, the
countries have plans for more than 400 hydro dams which, if built, could
together provide more than 160,000MW of electricity – three times more than the
UK uses.
In addition, China has plans for around 100 dams to generate
a similar amount of power from major rivers rising in Tibet. A further 60 or
more dams are being planned for the Mekong river which also rises in Tibet and
flows south through south-east Asia.
Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched
by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China,
are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest
valleys. Many of the proposed dams would be among the tallest in the world,
able to generate more than 4,000MW, as much as the Hoover dam on the Colorado
river in the US.
The result, over the next 20 years, "could be that the
Himalayas become the most dammed region in the world", said Ed Grumbine,
visiting international scientist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in
Kunming. "India aims to construct 292 dams … doubling current hydropower
capacity and contributing 6% to projected national energy needs. If all dams
are constructed as proposed, in 28 of 32 major river valleys, the Indian
Himalayas would have one of the highest average dam densities in the world,
with one dam for every 32km of river channel. Every neighbour of India with
undeveloped hydropower sites is building or planning to build multiple dams,
totalling at minimum 129 projects," said Grumbine, author of a paper in
Science.
Graphic: Observer
China, which is building multiple dams on all the major
rivers running off the Tibetan plateau, is likely to emerge as the ultimate
controller of water for nearly 40% of the world's population. "The plateau
is the source of the single largest collection of international rivers in the
world, including the Mekong, the Brahmaputra, the Yangtse and the Yellow
rivers. It is the headwater of rivers on which nearly half the world depends.
The net effect of the dam building could be disastrous. We just don't know the
consequences," said Tashi Tsering, a water resource researcher at the
University of British Columbia in Canada.
"China is engaged in the greatest water grab in
history. Not only is it damming the rivers on the plateau, it is financing and
building mega-dams in Pakistan, Laos, Burma and elsewhere and making agreements
to take the power," said Indian geopolitical analyst Brahma Chellaney.
"China-India disputes have shifted from land to water. Water is the new
divide and is going centre stage in politics. Only China has the capacity to
build these mega-dams and the power to crush resistance. This is effectively
war without a shot being fired."
According to Chellaney, India is in the weakest position
because half its water comes directly from China; however, Bangladesh is
fearful of India's plans for water diversions and hydropower. Bangladeshi
government scientists say that even a 10% reduction in the water flow by India
could dry out great areas of farmland for much of the year. More than 80% of
Bangladesh's 50 million small farmers depend on water that flows through India.
Engineers and environmentalists say that little work has
been done on the human or ecological impact of the dams, which they fear could
increase floods and be vulnerable to earthquakes. "We do not have credible
environmental and social impact assessments, we have no environmental
compliance system, no cumulative impact assessment and no carrying capacity
studies. The Indian ministry of environment and forests, developers and
consultants are responsible for this mess," said Himanshu Thakkar,
co-ordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.
China and India have both displaced tens of millions of
people with giant dams such as the Narmada and Three Gorges over the last 30
years, but governments have not published estimates of how many people would
have to be relocated or how much land would be drowned by the new dams.
"This is being totally ignored. No one knows, either, about the impact of
climate change on the rivers. The dams are all being built in rivers that are
fed by glaciers and snowfields which are melting at a fast rate," said
Tsering.
Climate models suggest that major rivers running off the
Himalayas, after increasing flows as glaciers melt, could lose 10-20% of their
flow by 2050. This would not only reduce the rivers' capacity to produce
electricity, but would exacerbate regional political tensions.
The dams have already led to protest movements in
Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam and other northern states of India
and in Tibet. Protests in Uttarakhand, which was devastated by floods last month,
were led by Indian professor GD Agarwal, who was taken to hospital after a
50-day fast but who was released this week.
"There is no other way but to continue because the
state government is not keen to review the dam policy," said Mallika
Bhanot, a member of Ganga Avahan, a group opposing proposals for a series of
dams on the Ganges.
Governments have tried to calm people by saying that many of
the dams will not require large reservoirs, but will be "run of the
river" constructions which channel water through tunnels to massive
turbines. But critics say the damage done can be just as great. "[These]
will complete shift the path of the river flow," said Shripad
Dharmadhikary, a leading opponent of the Narmada dams and author of a report
into Himalayan dams. "Everyone will be affected because the rivers will
dry up between points. The whole hydrology of the rivers will be changed. It is
likely to aggravate floods.
"A dam may only need 500 people to move because of
submergence, but because the dams stop the river flow it could impact on 20,000
people. They also disrupt the groundwater flows so many people will end up with
water running dry. There will be devastation of livelihoods along all the
rivers.
- John Vidal, The Observer, Saturday 10 August
2013
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