Yunnan's Environmental Crisis

In one of China’s monsoon provinces, soaked by an annual average rainfall of up to 2,300 millimetres, has spent the last four years suffering from an intense drought which has pushed its economy to breaking point. In spite of this, Yunnan Province is trying to initiate one of the most expansive hydroelectric projects in the world.

Yunnan has been planning to build a cascade of 25 dams along the Jinsha River, which could generate four times as much electricity as the entire Three Gorges Dam project.

In Yunnan, 80% of goods sold are manufactured elsewhere, resulting in a weak real economy dependent upon agriculture, raw materials and extraction. The province’s surge of hydroelectric fervour, however, damages the fragile ecosystem upon which the agricultural industry depends. Moreover, the recent droughts plaguing the region have yet further increased the pressure.

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