{"id":2136,"date":"2016-11-01T13:47:59","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T06:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/?p=2136"},"modified":"2016-11-02T05:23:10","modified_gmt":"2016-11-01T22:23:10","slug":"a-waterfight-like-no-other-may-be-brewing-over-asias-rivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/a-waterfight-like-no-other-may-be-brewing-over-asias-rivers\/","title":{"rendered":"A Waterfight Like No Other May Be Brewing Over Asia\u2019s Rivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Climate change is expected to increase global competition for water<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under President Xi Jinping, China has been aggressively asserting claims to most of the South China Sea, angering neighbors by turning specks of rock into artificial islands. Another water fight could be just as explosive: this one involving fresh water.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 1, China said a hydropower project in Tibet was diverting water from a tributary of the Brahmaputra River, which flows into India and Bangladesh, reigniting concern over China\u2019s control of some of the region’s biggest waterways that have provided irrigation, transport and life for millennia to much of South and Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

India, which fought a war with China in 1962 over a disputed border, is concerned that Beijing could use water as a strategic weapon. Six of Asia\u2019s 10 biggest rivers originate in China, including the Brahmaputra.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndia sees red in China\u2019s dam building overdrive,\u201d wrote Rajaram Panda, visiting professor at Japan\u2019s Reitaku University, in a commentary this month in the Eurasia Review. \u201cIf China diverts the river, it could have devastating consequences for India\u2019s northeastern plains and also for Bangladesh, either with floods or reduced water flow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indian concerns about China turning off of the tap are nothing more than an \u201cimaginary \u2018water war,\u2019\u201d according to the Global Times, a newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party\u2019s People\u2019s Daily.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But as climate change leads to more extreme weather conditions, demand for fresh water is going to stoke more tensions, said William Laurance, director of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWater issues are about as big as they get,\u201d he said. \u201cChina rarely does things halfway\u2014and if they have large-scale agricultural development and giant investments, they\u2019re not going to sacrifice their needs for another nation downstream.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Thai
Thai activists and villagers who are affected by the controversial Xayaburi dam protest with banners on the Mekong river in Nong Khai province, Thailand, in November 2012.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Southeast Asia, the problem will probably get worse on the Mekong River, which originates in the Tibetan plateau\u00a0and flows from China to Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.<\/p>\n

China has at least six big hydropower dams on the river and plans to build more. In March, it agreed to release water from its Jinghong Hydropower Station on the Mekong to help drought-stricken countries downriver.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now Laos is moving ahead with two big projects despite concern from neighboring countries, which could lead to a \u201cdomino effect\u201d of other nations building their own projects, said Trinh Le Nguyen, executive director of Vietnamese not-for-profit organization PanNature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the past, countries could turn to the Mekong River Commission, a multinational group formed by Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in 1995 to provide a platform for water diplomacy. However, the MRC doesn’t have the power to regulate use of the river, and China isn’t a member.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have many expectations for the MRC,\u201d said Satomi Higashi, Laos program director for Mekong Watch Japan, a Tokyo-based NGO. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have an ability to manage the power balance of the member countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

An alternative could be the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation group, a Chinese-backed forum that includes the four downstream Mekong countries as well as China and Myanmar. (Lancang is the name of the Mekong in China.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

In March, China hosted an LMC meeting with the theme \u201cShared River, Shared Future,\u201d and proposed $1.5 billion of loans and up to $10 billion in credit lines for infrastructure and other projects. \u201cChina\u2019s neighborhood diplomacy,\u201d the official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary published on Oct. 23, will \u201ccontribute to peace and prosperity of the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some aren\u2019t convinced about the benefits to China\u2019s neighbors in terms of the water supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina has largely failed to acknowledge the impacts of its projects on countries downstream,\u201d Maureen Harris, Southeast Asia Program Director for Berkeley, Calif.-based nonprofit organization International Rivers, said in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

China\u2019s hydropower projects on the upper reaches of the river tilt the balance of power in its favor, said Nguyen Thi Hong Van, National Coordinator for the Vietnam Rivers Network at the Center for Water Resource Conservation and Development in Hanoi. \u201cWe were surprised they didn\u2019t try to cooperate with lower Mekong countries before,” she said. \u201cNow it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

The LMC \u201cis about China’s economic influence in the region, rather than an effort to share and manage the water from the Mekong,\u201d said PanNature\u2019s Trinh. China, he added, is trying to boost its clout through the new, Chinese-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and President Xi Jinping\u2019s calls to revive the old Silk Road trading routes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey hold the upstream water and they have a lot of money,\u201d Trinh said. \u201cThe future looks very dark to us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"011116_waterfight1\"1.\u00a0\u00a0Yarlung Zangbo project<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Oct. 1 China said it\u2019s blocking a tributary of the Brahmaputra (known in China as the Yarlung Zangbo) for a $740 million project to be completed in 2019. The Chinese media dismissed foreign concerns about \u201can imaginary water war.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photographer:
Photographer: Imaginechina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. \u00a0Zangmu hydropower station<\/strong><\/p>\n

China this year finished the $1.5 billion Zangmu hydropower project.<\/p>\n

\"
Photographer: STR\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3. \u00a0Miaowei dam<\/strong><\/p>\n

China has six large Mekong dams, including the Xiaowan and the Jinghong (see below), and is working on several more, including the Miaowei.<\/p>\n

\"
Photographer: Franck Vogel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. \u00a0Xiaowan hydropower station<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0At a height of 292 meters, the Xiaowan hydropower station\u00a0(completed in 2010) in southwest China’s Yunnan Province is one of the tallest dams in the world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Photographer:
Photographer: Franck Vogel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

5. \u00a0Jinghong hydropower station<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jinghong hydropower station on the Chinese part of the Mekong River. In March China agreed to release water to help drought-stricken countries downriver.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Photographer:
Photographer: yangzheng\/Yang zheng – Imaginechina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

6. \u00a0Xayaburi dam<\/strong><\/p>\n

Laos has approved the Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams on the Mekong. But Vietnam has objected, saying they will disrupt fisheries and river flow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Photographer:
Photographer: The Network of Thai People Handout via EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

7. \u00a0Don Sahong dam<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mekong River flows through southern China, along the Laotian border with Myanmar and Thailand, through sections of Laos, then through Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

\"Photographer:<\/p>\n

Source: Bloomberg<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under President Xi Jinping, China has been aggressively asserting claims to most of the South China Sea, angering neighbors by turning specks of rock into artificial islands. Another water fight could be just as explosive: this one involving fresh water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[51,59,65,58],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-2136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-media","tag-mekong","tag-river-basin","tag-sustainable-development","tag-water","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2136"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2147,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136\/revisions\/2147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2136"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_series?post=2136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}