Assessing the influence of environmental impact assessments on science and policy: An analysis of the Three Gorges Project

Tullos, Desirèe

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.07.031

Cited by 125 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…As a relatively clean form of energy, hydropower represents an important alternative to coal for electricity production since China is rich in water resources and already has advanced technical expertise in building large hydropower stations (Brown, Magee, and Xu 2008). The 13-dam cascade comprising the Nu River Project is one of biggest hydropower development projects yet conceived in China, and once completed, will have a larger generating capacity than the Three Gorges Dam (Tullos 2009). As such, the Project has attracted substantial investment in the form of energy infrastructure and heavy industry to the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, 1 and will likely be a large stimulus to local economic development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower Development and Resettlement Policy on China's Nu River

Brown¹,

Xu²

2010

Journal of Contemporary China

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Hydropower represents an important alternative form of energy in China, a country that currently uses coal to supply 78% of its electricity. However, evidence from large hydropower projects in China show that the socio-economic and environmental costs of hydropower development are substantial. Construction on the first of the 13 planned dams on the Nu River began in the summer of 2008, and villages are already beginning to be displaced. Based on fieldwork in the area, we find that the local resettlement policies infringe upon the national regulations governing resettlement caused by major infrastructure development. This infringement includes high prices for resettlement homes, forcing villagers to leave agricultural production, a lack of programs for long-term economic development, and a lack of transparency in decision-making processes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower Development and Resettlement Policy on China's Nu River

Brown¹,

Xu²

2010

Journal of Contemporary China

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“…The legal enforcement and effectiveness of the field of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to encourage a detailed consideration of the impact of all manner of human activity on both natural and human environments, is increasing throughout the world (Tullos 2009). Originally developed in the United States in response to the National Environmental Policy Act 1969, there are now over 100 different legally-supported applications of EIA in operation globally (Wood 2003: 1).…”

Section: Animal As Receptors In Environmental Impact Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, the act of developing an EIA is never politically neutral, and can yield actions which fully acknowledge negative environmental effects of infrastructure development. Recent examples of this range from the high-profile third-order effects of the Three Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze River, China to the rare Yangtze River dolphin (Tullos, 2009), to the more prosaic anthropogenic effects of reservoir building on parasite fauna (Morley, 2007). What unites these cases is that the broader societal and environmental benefits of these developments were deemed to outweigh concerns for the wildlife which inhabit them; Nature appears passive to and separate from Society (Latour, 1993;2004a).…”

Section: Animal As Receptors In Environmental Impact Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buildingwithwildlife: project geographies and cosmopolitics in infrastructure construction

Sage¹,

Dainty

Tryggestad

et al. 2014

Construction Management and Economics

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Across many construction projects, and especially infrastructure projects, efforts to mitigate potential loss of biodiversity and habitat are significant concerns, and at times politically controversial. And yet, thus far, very little research has addressed the interplay of humans and animals within construction projects. Instead those interested in the politics and ethics of human-animal relations, or Animal Studies, have arguably focussed far more on more stable and contained sites, whether organisations like zoos, farms or laboratories, or other places like homes and parks. These largely ethnographic studies inevitably perhaps downplay the unplanned, unexpected and highly politically and ethically charged, collision of hitherto rather separate human and animal geographies. Yet, as we argue here, it is often within such colliding spaces, where animal geographies are unexpectedly found at the heart of human projects, that we formulate our respect and response to both animals, and indeed other humans. Here we examine such encounters conceptually, with reference to ActorNetwork Theory, and empirically, through case study analysis of two infrastructure projects. In doing so, we highlight the relevance of our analysis to both construction project management and other animal studies.

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“…As one of the world's biggest dam reservoirs, the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) has attracted worldwide academic debate regarding its positive and negative effects since the start of Three Gorges project in the 1990s (Shen and Xie 2004;Stone 2011;Zhang and Lou 2011;Morgan et al 2012;Peng et al 2014). In the hierarchy of TGR impacts, water quality has been promoted as the primary concern that is directly associated with the physical, chemical and biological consequences of dams and reservoir operation (Tullos 2009;Bergmann et al 2012). Many studies have been performed to assess the impact of the TGR in changing the water environment especially in upstream areas (Holbach et al 2013;Wang et al 2014a;Zhao et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regional land use change under the influence of a large dam reservoir construction is of particular interest especially in the TGR area, as shown by an increasing trend of published literature from 2001 to 2013 (Jiang et al 2016). Tremendous modifications to land use can result from reservoir construction projects due to reservoir impoundment, population migration and resettlement, and the reconstruction of counties and towns (Jackson and Sleigh 2000;Li et al 2001;Tullos 2009;Seeber et al 2010;Zhao et al 2013). Previous studies have provided evidence of the change in land use in the TGR area since the 1970s (He et al 2003;Sun et al 2003;Huang et al 2006;Xu et al 2007;Zhang et al 2007;Shao et al 2008;Li et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of reservoir construction in regional land use change in Pengxi River basin upstream of the Three Gorges Reservoir in China

Wang

Hou

et al. 2016

Environ Earth Sci

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The impact of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) construction on land use change has attracted worldwide concern. However, quantitative evidence is lacking for the drivers of land use change resulting from the TGR during and after construction. We used the Pengxi River basin, located upstream of the Three Gorges dam, to evaluate the effects of large-scale hydrological engineering on land use. Landsat remote sensing images from 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010 covering the main construction period of the TGR were obtained. The largest changes were the conversion of land to water bodies and built-up areas, corresponding to reservoir impoundment and population resettlement during TGR construction. These changes were more intensive downstream of the TGR and closer to the river. Compared with 2000-2005, the expansion in water bodies during 2005-2010 moved from lower to higher elevations. The distribution of built-up land during the two periods was similar, mainly because the planned resettlement zones were fixed and spatially concentrated. Geographical and environmental factors, such as elevation, slope, location, soil type and precipitation, still controlled land use patterns. Land use pattern in 2020 under two scenarios was simulated using a multi-criteria evaluation cellular automata-Markov model. Scenario 2 was more realistic and helpful for management decisions. The scenarios highlighted the indirect influences of TGR construction on land use change after 2010. Indirect driving forces were mainly reflected through related policies or plans, especially from the perspective of water conservation in the newly built reservoir.

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Assessing the influence of environmental impact assessments on science and policy: An analysis of the Three Gorges Project

Cited by 125 publications

References 78 publications

Hydropower Development and Resettlement Policy on China's Nu River

Hydropower Development and Resettlement Policy on China's Nu River

Buildingwithwildlife: project geographies and cosmopolitics in infrastructure construction

Role of reservoir construction in regional land use change in Pengxi River basin upstream of the Three Gorges Reservoir in China

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