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World Water Day 2007 Home Water Scarcity A Honduras Dam One Size Doesn't Fit Saving the Yangtze IHA Software A New Era |
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As 2006 came to a close, conservationists around the globe mourned the loss of an amazing creature — the baiji dolphin.
For millions of years, this freshwater mammal roamed the waters of China’s Yangtze River, the world’s busiest inland shipping corridor and the nation’s longest river.
According to legend, the baiji was the reincarnation of a drowned princess. But in reality, this graceful gray dolphin suffered the consequences of overfishing, pollution, altered water flows and habitat destruction.
Managing the Yangtze for Everyone
The achievement of ecological sustainability on the Yangtze is an overwhelming challenge — but one that the Conservancy is meeting head-on. While many factors threaten to degrade the diversity of the Yangtze, scientists have determined the greatest threat to be the construction and management of hydropower dams.
“The loss of an ancient species such as the baiji, once revered as a goddess by the Chinese, is a hard lesson," says Qiaoyu Guo, manager of The Nature Conservancy’s Yangtze River project. "It tells us that we must manage the Yangtze River in an ecologically sustainable manner to benefit both people and the river or we may lose even more species.”
Working Toward Ecologically Sustainable Dams
Many analysts value hydropower as a “green” source of energy. But scientists caution that this method of power generation can disrupt the natural balance of freshwater habitats by altering:
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Water flows,
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Sediment transport, and
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Water quality.
And those alterations impact both the human and natural communities that depend on river systems.
During the past year, Guo has led the Conservancy’s efforts to influence the Chinese government’s plans to build 12 new large dams on the Yangtze River — which will join the nearly completed Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower facility.
This effort has included gathering scientists to determine the water flows that will need to be maintained to support the river’s biological wealth.
Working Toward Something "Big and Meaningful"
In November, Guo also brought together more than 110 hydropower engineers to begin a dialogue about ecologically sustainable dam management.
“This unlikely group of partners is working together to do something big and meaningful," says Brian Richter, head of the Conservancy's Sustainable Waters Program.
"We intend to significantly alter the fate of this river system by applying sound science so that the Yangtze and all the people, animals and natural communities that rely on it can thrive for generations,” he adds.
Building the Great Rivers Partnership
The Conservancy will continue to work with the Chinese government, the Three Gorges Company and other international partners to promote sustainable water management on the Yangtze River. The lessons learned from this project will be shared throughout the Conservancy’s programs and will ultimately serve as a model to influence sustainable management of rivers throughout the world.
The Yangtze River, the Mississippi River, the Zambezi River, and the Paraguay-Paraná river system form the core of the Conservancy’s Great Rivers Partnership, an effort to guide protection of the world's large river systems.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Gil Azouri (Yangtze River); Gil Azouri (Resident of Yangtze River)
