February 2004. Some 20 journalists, environmental activists, and scientists
visited the dam construction site, met with local officials, and listened as
village residents expressed their trepidation about the project because they
feared they would be relocated. Group members took thousands of
photographs of the region, preparing to sponsor a major educational exhibition
on 14 March, the International Day of Action Against Dams. However,
government pressure led them to cancel the exhibition, and instead they
established a website (http://www.nujiang.ngo.cn/).
Action by the state pre-empted further publicity work, when, on 1 April,
Premier Wen Jiabao temporarily suspended construction plans for the first
dam on the Nujiang. Ta Kung Paoreported that the Premier remarked that
such a controversial large hydropower plan should be ‘seriously reviewed and
decided scientifically’.^53 He acknowledged opposition by stating:
‘We should carefully consider and make a scientific decision about major
hydroelectric projects like this that have aroused a high level of concern in society,
and with which the environmental protection side disagrees.’^54It seems likely that several factors influenced Wen’s decision: division in the
elite over the merits of dam construction on the Nu River and perceived
adverse effects on biological and cultural resources; division between the
central and provincial government (which appeared to be pursuing large
projects without central government approval); and adverse reactions of
China’s Southeast Asian neighbors. Cost-benefit factors do not appear to have
been an influential consideration.^55
Premier Wen acknowledged environmental opposition when he ordered
construction to be stopped in 2004, and on a later occasion he did chastise
the Yunnan provincial administration for lack of environmental sensitivity.^56
However, it remains unclear the extent to which environmental protests
figured in his decision. Nevertheless, this was the first time that any major
project in China has been stalled, even if construction ultimately proceeds,
because of grassroots pressures. The premier called for a complete review of
project design, which engaged China’s new Environmental Impact (EIA)
Assessment Law, which became effective in September 2003.
The review was not conducted with full transparency and did not involve
extensive consultations with affected groups, as environmentalists had hoped.
(The law requires comprehensive reviews at the planning stages of major
projects, and calls for public involvement including hearings, but does not
specify concrete steps or time lines.) These hopes were perhaps unrealistic, for
as Tang et al. comment: ‘Environmental management structure reflects the
distribution of power in a political system’.^57 Nevertheless, it did address
several important environmental issues, finding that the region was less
pristine than had been presented by advocates and that damage to fish and
Politics and biodiversity conservation 213