Opinion: Mega dams and Indigenous communities

Local people should not fall victim to competitive building of mega dams which ultimately benefits big businesses

By Geetartha Pathak

Media reports on China’s bid to build a big dam over the Chinese part of Brahmaputra, and India’s exploration of the development of a large hydropower dam and reservoir on Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh “to mitigate the adverse impact of the Chinese dam projects” have raised much concern among environmentalists.

---

The news of China building new dams in Tibet on the Yarlung Zangbo River and on a tributary of the Ganga, close to the tri-junction of its borders with India and Nepal, that could be used to control the flow of water downstream has been published in news outlets since the last few years. Finally, on 25 December 2024, putting all doubts to rest, the Chinese government approved the construction of a hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra, raising concerns about the displacement of communities in Tibet and environmental impacts downstream in India and Bangladesh.

Competitive Showdown

India has expressed concerns that the dam could give China control over the river’s flow and allow it to release large amounts of water in times of conflict, potentially flooding border areas due to the scale of the project. China defended its decision. The $137-billion project, touted as the world’s largest, is being constructed in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region along a tectonic plate boundary. Although the Chinese authorities have stressed that the Yarlung Zangbo project would not have a major environmental impact, they have not indicated how many people it would displace. The Three Gorges Dam required the resettlement of 1.4 million people.

It is learnt that China has built several dams in Tibetan areas — a contentious subject in a region tightly controlled by Beijing ever since it was annexed in the 1950s. Tibetan activists have termed these dam as the latest example of Beijing’s exploitation of Tibetans and their land. Chinese researchers have also flagged concerns that such extensive excavation and construction in the steep and narrow gorge in the eco-sensitive Tibet region would increase the frequency of landslides.

Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum has alleged that India’s proposed hydropower dam on Siang River will render over 1,00,000 members of the Adi tribe landless

Despite the competitive showdown of building mega dams on the river that flows from Mount Kailash through Tibet to India and Bangladesh, changing its names, both India and China established the Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) in 2006 to discuss issues related to trans-border rivers under which China provides India with hydrological information on the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers during the flood seasons. Data sharing of trans-border rivers figured in the talks between India and China Special Representatives (SRs) on December 18.

Hydroproject on Siang

India is all set to build an 11,000 Mw hydropower project on the Siang River in Arunachal’s Upper Siang district. According to strategic analysts, India’s move comes in response to China’s plan to build the world’s largest hydropower project.

China has a history of using its dams to carry out transnational aggression. It is to be noted that in 2021, China cut the water flow of the Mekong River by 50% for three weeks without any warning. The flow was cut ostensibly for power-line maintenance but this affected millions of people living along the waterways in the Southeast Asian countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The hydropower project India is building on Siang includes a “buffer storage” of over 9 billion cubic metres of water during peak monsoons. This would act as a reserve when water flow is reduced. It will also act as a buffer for downstream areas of Arunachal and Assam if China releases sudden water. However, the proposed Siang mega dam in Arunachal Pradesh, a bordering State to China, has been a subject of organised protest and resistance from the indigenous communities residing in the region like the Tibetans in China.

The Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum has alleged that the project would render over 1,00,000 members of the Adi tribe landless, threatening their survival and forcing them into poverty. These local communities view the dam as a potential disruption to their traditional governance systems and community-based ways of life. Local community leaders argue that the Siang River holds immense ecological significance, and its alteration could jeopardize the fragile balance of the region’s biodiversity.

The Brahmaputra basin has an area of 5,80,000 sqkm, which covers China (50.5%), India (33.6%), Bangladesh (8.1%) and Bhutan (7.8%). The length in India is 916 km. The Brahmaputra basin spans the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Nagaland and the whole of Sikkim in India. This means that China does not contribute more than 50 per cent to the Brahmaputra flow. If is it so, the Chinese intervention in the water flow of Brahmaputra may affect only half. The fear of Bangladesh, the lowermost riparian country for the part of Brahmaputra, being affected by at least two mega dams — one at Tibet in China and the other one at Arunachal Pradesh of India — should also be considered while we study Brahmaputra.

Climate Factor

Climatic change plays a crucial role in affecting the basin hydrology. Throughout the year, there is a significant rise in hydrograph, with a broad peak between July and September. The river flow is strongly influenced by snow and melting of the glaciers, which are located mainly in the eastern Himalayas regions in the upstream parts of the basin. The contribution of the snow and glacier melt to the total annual runoff is about 27%, while the annual rainfall contributes to the remaining amount. All these factors must be considered before hurriedly jumping to a conclusion.

For both India and China, the focus should be on the benefits of mega dams vis a vis environmental challenges and their effect on the local communities, their livelihood tradition and culture. The local Indigenous communities should not fall victim to the competitive building of mega dams on rivers across the LAC which ultimately benefits big power companies and big businesses.

The dispute between countries over the sharing of river water is nothing new. These should be resolved through dialogue, sharing of river data and involving the local communities of the regions with a practical scientific perspective. Political play infused with ultra-nationalism and big business interests should not intervene in the conflict-resolving mechanism.

 

(The author is a senior journalist from Assam)