Nujiang hydropower base dispute over Nujiang River

The development plan of Nujiang River has stimulated the environmental journalists who have been growing since 1990s. Some journalists are critical of hydropower development in Nujiang River. While reporting, they also don't forget their identity as "environmentalists". They try to influence the government's decision-making as media and environmental NGOs.

In September 2003, Zhao Yongxin, a reporter from People's Daily, wrote an article entitled "Preserving an Ecological River for Future Generations", which exposed the controversy surrounding the development of the Nujiang River for several years with its extraordinary influence. In the eyes of these journalists who oppose the construction of dams and the development of the Nujiang River, the uncontrolled and unplanned development of the Nujiang River will bring endless harm.

On September 3rd, 2003, experts and scholars from Yunnan University, Wang and others, protested strongly against the construction of Nujiang Dam at the "Expert Symposium on Eco-environmental Protection of Hydropower Development Activities in Nujiang River Basin" sponsored by the State Environmental Protection Administration. At the same time, Wang organized more than a dozen media reporters to spread the voice of experts against dam construction to the society through major mainstream media. This is the first time that media and non-governmental organizations have participated in a seminar on river development organized by government departments.

Then, on June 25th, 2003, at the second member congress of China Association for the Promotion of Environmental Culture, Wang used a piece of conference paper and a pencil to collect the joint signatures of 62 people from the scientific, cultural and artistic circles, the press and the non-governmental environmental protection circles who opposed the dam construction-"Please keep the last ecological river-Nujiang River". Later, this signature was widely publicized by the media and achieved widespread influence. In March of the following year, during the two sessions of the National People's Congress, representatives of environmental NGOs in China wrote proposals on "Protecting Nujiang River and Stopping Cascade Development of Hydropower Stations" and "Suggestions on River Basin Classification Planning and Coordinating Ecological Protection and Economic Development", which were submitted to CPPCC members and NPC deputies.

Environmentalists have never even been to the Nujiang River. On February 24th, 2004, Wang led 20 journalists, environmental volunteers, experts and scholars from Beijing and Yunnan for a 9-day interview at the Nujiang River and exchanged views with local residents. Then, the accompanying reporters reported a lot on the biodiversity and cultural customs on both sides of the Nujiang River.

On their way across the Nujiang River, an exciting news came. Wen Jiabao personally instructed in the Report on Hydropower Planning in the Middle and Lower Reaches of Nujiang River submitted to the State Council by the National Development and Reform Commission: "This kind of large-scale hydropower project that has aroused great concern from the society and has different opinions on environmental protection should be carefully studied and scientifically decided."

Since then, the Nujiang hydropower project that everyone is concerned about has been forced to stop. In fact, according to the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po on September 9, 2005, when Premier Wen Jiabao visited Yunnan in July that year, local officials told him that the hydropower construction in Nujiang River had been suspended for a long time, and the local authorities did not know how to advance or retreat. I hope the central authorities can make a decision as soon as possible. After Premier Wen returned to Beijing, he immediately instructed the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Environmental Protection Administration, the Ministry of Water Resources and other relevant departments to "pay close attention to argumentation and research and come up with their own opinions as soon as possible". However, at that time, the media and environmental organizations successfully influenced the government's decision again.

A reporter with an anti-dam attitude told the reporter of Science News that this view was held in the development of Nujiang River because "I think the most touching thing is the behavior of human beings trying to conquer nature between mountains, such as some hydropower projects in southwest China. However, they divided the river into static river segments in a series of earthquake fault zones. Although the engineering party may say that they have done various tests and protection, I think that for large-scale projects, more details must be made public, more public participation must be made, and more orderly river basin planning must be carried out in order to better develop rivers. Instead of the current disorderly development method. "

Another reporter involved in covering the development of Nujiang River told Science News: "I think the report should always remain neutral. Listen to the opinions of all parties as much as possible. For example, the Nujiang incident, what I have done is more about how civil organizations can successfully influence government decision-making in front of a major project, which is an inevitable part of a sound civil society. "

The dispute over the development of the Nujiang River has been going on for several years, and the society and the government are also very concerned about the Nujiang River. One of the topics on the national civil service examination paper in 2008 is "Nujiang Hydropower Station Construction Dispute". Since the Nujiang River development plan was passed in 2003, the dispute about Nujiang River development has been going on for five years. Hydropower and water conservancy experts are also silent as usual. Some people, such as Shui Bo (Zhang Boting) and others, carry out hydropower science popularization through various channels, and reporters also report from their respective points of interest. Different from before, anti-dam is the mainstream, and now it has become a hundred schools of thought contend.

Earthquake robbery

Media reports on the dam dispute have focused on the Nujiang River for many years, and an earthquake has attracted people's perspective to another point.

After the "5. 12" earthquake in 2008, people who pay attention to the dam have also turned their attention to Zipingpu Dam, which is only 17 km away from Wenchuan.

Before the earthquake, some media reported that the seismic capacity of the high dam of Zipingpu Reservoir in Minjiang River, Sichuan Province was too weak. If the Songpan earthquake occurred, the consequences would be unimaginable. When the earthquake happened, the administrative officials who rushed to Zipingpu saw the surface of the dam was in a mess and immediately reported the danger of Zipingpu dam to their superiors. The news was released immediately after being learned by the media, which also attracted the attention of anti-dam people at home and abroad. But in fact, the next day, after on-site inspection, water conservancy experts thought that the Zipingpu dam structure was safe and stable, and they immediately officially released the news of dam safety to the society.

Zipingpu dam was not damaged by the strong shaking of Wenchuan earthquake, but played an important role in earthquake relief. According to reports, on May 17, Zipingpu Power Station resumed grid-connected power generation, which provided convenient conditions for post-earthquake rescue and disaster relief; The wide water surface formed by Zipingpu Reservoir provides a reliable channel guarantee for the disaster relief caused by serious road collapse and blocked air climate after the earthquake.

For the relationship between the earthquake and the dam, some media began to show more different perspectives, not just taking environmental protection as the only perspective, but paying more attention to the opinions of experts. For example, "Is the Wenchuan earthquake related to Zipingpu Reservoir?" Professor Shao Cheng, School of Engineering, University of Montreal, Canada, published on New Threads website. This article was published by Southern Weekend.

The above-mentioned environmental reporter also said, "The media needs to inform the public which groups and environmental factors will be affected by this project. Of course, what needs to be explained in turn is the complexity of things. In other words, everything needs to be related to the local special economic and social environment, as I once quoted in my article: local people cannot be allowed to engage in environmental protection naked. " Since the government needs an ecological society, it should give these places more financial transfer payments and divide more functional areas, such as environmental protection areas, rather than more development. "

For the media's anti-dam, experts in the field of water conservancy and hydropower are also thinking about their own shortcomings. "The public's scientific cognition is insufficient, and the voice of our experts has not gone out." International commission on large dams Chairman Jia Jinsheng told Science News.

At the same time, although some experts believe that these anti-dam voices have caused the shelving of the Nujiang River and the increase of immigration conflicts, experts do not deny that it is also useful for them to constantly "find fault". Gao, former president of the China Academy of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, said, "These anti-dam voices are also helpful to our work, which allows us to consider hydropower more comprehensively."

"No organization in the world is really anti-dam, either because they want to keep the original ecology or because a certain interest they are concerned about is affected, which will lead them to show their opposition to the dam." A water conservancy and hydropower expert who studies anti-dam explained to Science News. (This article Source: Science News Author: Yan Yan)