China has agreed to build what will become the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, raising concerns about the displacement of communities in Tibet and environmental impacts downstream in India and Bangladesh.
The dam, which will be built in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, can generate three times more energy than the Three Gorges Dam, which is currently the world’s largest hydropower station.
Chinese state media described the project as a “safe project that prioritizes environmental protection,” saying it would boost local prosperity and contribute to Beijing’s climate neutrality goals.
However, human rights groups and experts have raised concerns about the implications of this development.
Among these concerns is that the construction of the dam – first announced in late 2020 – could displace local communities, as well as significantly alter the natural landscape and harm local ecosystems, which are among the richest and most diverse on the Tibetan Plateau. .
China has built several dams in areas of Tibet, a controversial topic in a region tightly controlled by Beijing since its annexation in the 1950s.
Activists previously told the BBC that the dams are the latest example of Beijing’s exploitation of Tibetans and their lands. Buddhist-majority Tibet has seen waves of crackdowns over the years, in which thousands are believed to have been killed.
Earlier this year, the Chinese government arrested hundreds of Tibetans who were protesting against another hydroelectric dam. It ended with arrests and beatings, and some people were seriously injured The BBC learned through verified sources and footage.
They were opposed to plans to build the Gangtu Dam and hydroelectric power station, which would displace several villages and flood ancient monasteries with holy relics. But Beijing said it had relocated and compensated local residents, and moved the new murals to a safe location.
In the case of the Yarlung Zangpo Dam, Chinese authorities emphasized that the project would not have a significant environmental impact – but did not specify how many people it might displace. The Three Gorges Hydropower Dam would require the resettlement of 1.4 million people.
Reports indicate that this massive project will require digging four tunnels at least 20 kilometers long through Namsha Barua Mountain, to divert the flow of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, Tibet’s longest river.
Experts and officials have also expressed concerns that the dam will enable China to control or divert the flow of the trans-border river, which flows south into the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and then into Bangladesh.
A 2020 report by the Lowy Institute, an Australia-based think tank, noted that “controlling these rivers [in the Tibetan Plateau] “Effectively gives China a stranglehold on the Indian economy.”
Shortly after China announced its plans for the Yarlung Zangpo Dam project in 2020, a senior Indian government official told Reuters that the Indian government was exploring the development of a large hydropower dam and reservoir “to mitigate the negative impact of Chinese dam projects.”
China’s Foreign Ministry had previously responded to India’s concerns about the proposed dam, saying in 2020 that China had a “legitimate right” to build a dam on the river and had studied the impacts downstream.
China has built several hydropower plants along the course of the Yarlung Zangpo River over the past decade in an attempt to harness the river’s energy as a renewable energy source. Part of the river flows through the deepest valley on Earth, reaching a height of 2,000 meters in a short distance of just 50 kilometres, providing huge potential for hydroelectric power generation.
However, the river’s dramatic topography also poses significant engineering challenges – and this latest dam is China’s largest and most ambitious to date.
The development site is located along tectonic plate boundaries that are prone to earthquakes. Chinese researchers have also previously expressed concerns that such large-scale excavation and construction in the steep and narrow strait would increase the frequency of landslides.
“Landslides caused by earthquakes, mudflows and rockfalls are often uncontrollable and will also pose a great threat to the project,” a senior engineer from the Sichuan Provincial Geological Bureau said in 2022.
The project could cost up to 1 trillion yuan ($127 billion, £109.3 billion), according to estimates by the Zhonghe Water Resources Bureau.
