{"id":35268,"date":"2025-01-11T19:01:29","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T13:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=35268"},"modified":"2025-07-23T11:28:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T05:58:46","slug":"china-mega-dam-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/11-01-2025\/china-mega-dam-project","title":{"rendered":"Implications of China\u2019s Mega-Dam Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ International Relations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>China has approved the construction of the world\u2019s <strong>largest hydropower project<\/strong> on the<strong> Yarlung Tsangpo (or Zangbo) river<\/strong> in Tibet.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>60 GW capacity <\/strong>project was included in <strong>China\u2019s 14th Five-Year Plan (2020)<\/strong> and <strong>approved in 2024. <\/strong>The dam will be built at the<strong> Great Bend<\/strong>, where the river takes a <strong>U-turn<\/strong>, in the Medog county of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The $137-billion hydropower project is expected to <strong>generate around 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually<\/strong> \u2014 potentially three times more energy than the Three Gorges Dam.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>China has previously constructed significant dams like the <strong>Three Gorges Dam (Yangtze)<\/strong> and<strong> Zangmu Dam (Yarlung Zangbo).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the project, <strong>India and Bhutan<\/strong> are middle riparian countries, while <strong>Bangladesh<\/strong> is the lowermost riparian nation.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The main river does not flow through Bhutan, but <strong>96%<\/strong> of the country&#8217;s area is within the basin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"cbd2c9\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"759\" height=\"401\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/01\/China-Mega-Dam-Project.webp\" alt=\"China-Mega-Dam-Project\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-35269\" style=\"--dominant-color: #cbd2c9; width:507px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/01\/China-Mega-Dam-Project.webp 759w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/01\/China-Mega-Dam-Project-300x158.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 759px) 100vw, 759px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Yarlung Tsangpo ( Zangbo) river<\/strong><br>&#8211; It <strong>originates<\/strong> in <strong>Tibet,<\/strong> and enters <strong>Arunachal Pradesh,<\/strong> where it is known as the <strong>Siang.&nbsp;<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>In Assam,<\/strong> it is joined by tributaries such as <strong>Dibang and Lohit,<\/strong> and is called the <strong>Brahmaputra<\/strong>.&nbsp;<br>&#8211; The river then enters<strong> Bangladesh<\/strong>, and makes its way to the Bay of Bengal.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impact of the Project<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Hydrological Impact:<\/strong> Altered water flow patterns have probability to increase <strong>flooding during monsoons<\/strong> and water <strong>scarcity in dry seasons<\/strong>, affecting downstream nations like India and Bangladesh.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ecological Risks:<\/strong> Threat to biodiversity and river ecosystems, including aquatic species and wetlands.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Seismic and Structural Risks:<\/strong> The Brahmaputra basin is seismically active, as evidenced by the <strong>1950 Assam-Tibet earthquake.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A mega-dam in this zone could trigger disasters like dam collapse and floods due to structural failure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Geopolitical Tensions:<\/strong> Control over water resources may heighten tensions between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/21-07-2025\/chinas-mega-dam-on-the-brahmaputra-river\"><strong>China <\/strong><\/a>and lower riparian countries (India, Bhutan, Bangladesh).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Disaster Vulnerability:<\/strong> Increased risk of <strong>Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs)<\/strong>, as seen in the<strong> 2023 Sikkim floods.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Coordination Mechanism for Cooperation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There is an <strong>umbrella Memorandum of Understanding<\/strong> on cooperation on transboundary rivers, and two separate MoUs on the <strong>Brahmaputra and Sutlej.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Brahmaputra MoU, renewable every five years, lapsed in <strong>2023.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The umbrella MoU was signed in <strong>2013<\/strong>, and has no expiry date.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>China and India<\/strong> have the <strong>Expert Level Mechanism (ELM)<\/strong> since <strong>2006<\/strong> for hydrological data sharing, but lack a comprehensive treaty.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>None of the riparian nations (China, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh) are signatories to the <strong>UN Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses (1997).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Strengthen diplomatic dialogue: <\/strong>Between China, India, Bhutan, and Bangladesh for transparent water-sharing agreements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Institutional Mechanism: <\/strong>Establish a permanent transboundary river management authority for data-sharing on water flow, dam operations, and disaster forecasting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Disaster Preparedness: <\/strong>Enhance regional cooperation for disaster management, including shared resources for relief efforts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/international\/the-implications-of-chinas-mega-dam-project-explained\/article69064553.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>China has approved the construction of the world\u2019s largest hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo (or Zangbo) river in Tibet.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35268"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48930,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35268\/revisions\/48930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}