{"id":12342,"date":"2019-05-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/nieuws\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/"},"modified":"2019-05-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T22:00:00","slug":"damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection","status":"publish","type":"nieuws","link":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"Damming Tibet\u2019s Rivers <span>New Threats to Tibetan Area under UNESCO Protection<\/span>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Report summary<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"text-box wp-block-list\"><li>The Chinese government plans to construct large hydropower stations \nin Tibetan areas, likely to have a negative impact on the environment \nand to lead to the relocation of thousands of local people. At least one\n project directly affects a UNESCO protected World Heritage site.<\/li><li>An official report from early 2019 and published by Chinese \ngovernment ministries, refers to specific hydropower dams that are \nplanned, including the Longpan 6000-megawatt dam across the Tiger \nLeaping Gorge, directly adjacent to the UNESCO protected Tibetan area \nand World Heritage site of \u201cThree Parallel Rivers\u201d in Yunnan province.<\/li><li>This dam was previously stalled following campaigns by Chinese \nenvironmentalists and warnings of potential massive landslides. Although\n the Chinese government report to UNESCO on the \u201cThree Parallel Rivers\u201d \n(November 2018) implies the construction of the Longpan dam is far from \nimminent, local sources have expressed concerns that construction of the\n Longpan dam across the Tiger Leaping Gorge will start this year. The \ndam poses an unprecedented danger to this vitally biodiverse area and \nwill most likely lead to the relocation of local people.<\/li><li>The Longpan dam is part of a cascade of eight dams along the middle \nreaches of the Drichu (Ch: Jinsha) river. It will be part of the at \nleast 27 hydropower stations planned on the river that forms the \nheadwater the Yangtze River (Ch: Changjiang). Hydropower projects in the\n upper reaches of the Drichu \u2013 government documents suggest 13 are on \nthe plan \u2013 may have already had a negative impact on the UNESCO World \nHeritage site of \u201cThree Parallel Rivers.\u201d Their impact will \nsignificantly increase as dams are gradually completed. However, being \ngeographically distant to the heritage site, they are excluded from \nUNESCO scrutiny.<\/li><li>Images of the locations on the Drichu river reveal the extent of \nroad and infrastructure construction required to transport heavy \nequipment into the sites, demonstrating that the damage done by dams is \nnot limited to the rivers, and also affects the entire landscape. Until \nnow, these areas were among the least disturbed habitats on earth.<\/li><li>The official report from 2019 also included dams across Tibet, along\n the Yarlung Tsangpo (Eng: Brahmaputra, Ch: Yalu Zangbu jiang), the \nMachu (Eng: Yellow River, Ch: Huanghe) and the Gyalmo Ngulchu (Eng: \nSalween, Ch: Nujiang) rivers. They are either under construction or in \nplanning, along with a rail and road expressway. The dams represent a \nserious threat to the Tibetan environment as the Chinese government \ncontinues to implement policies that are re-shaping its landscape, \ndisplacing Tibetans from their land and imperilling the fragile \necosystem of the world\u2019s highest and largest plateau.<\/li><li>Despite the risks posed by these dams, China may have succeeded in \npreventing potential criticism through its \u2018elite capture\u2019 of global \ninstitutions. For example, China\u2019s powerful power grid and dam industry,\n headed by senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, was a sponsor\n of the UNESCO International Water Conference in Paris on May 13-14, \n2019.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/savetibet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/damming-rivers-letter-090619.pdf\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/Damming-Tibet\u2019s-Rivers-688x890.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8216\" width=\"344\" height=\"445\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chinese government plans to construct large hydropower stations in Tibetan areas, likely to have a negative impact on the environment and to lead to the relocation of thousands of local people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12343,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categorie":[669],"news_tag":[675],"class_list":["post-12342","nieuws","type-nieuws","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categorie-ict-publicationsreports","news_tag-environment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Damming Tibet\u2019s Rivers New Threats to Tibetan Area under UNESCO Protection - Campaign for Tibet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Damming Tibet\u2019s Rivers New Threats to Tibetan Area under UNESCO Protection - Campaign for Tibet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chinese government plans to construct large hydropower stations in Tibetan areas, likely to have a negative impact on the environment and to lead to the relocation of thousands of local people.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Campaign for Tibet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/internationalcampaignfortibetnederland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Damming-Tibets-Rivers.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1275\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@savetibetorg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\\\/\",\"name\":\"Damming Tibet\u2019s Rivers New Threats to Tibetan Area under UNESCO Protection - Campaign for Tibet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Damming-Tibets-Rivers.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-29T22:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Damming-Tibets-Rivers.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Damming-Tibets-Rivers.jpg\",\"width\":1275,\"height\":1650},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Damming Tibet\u2019s Rivers New Threats to Tibetan Area under UNESCO Protection\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Campaign for Tibet\",\"description\":\"LET OP: Plaats je bestelling v\u00f3\u00f3r 16 december om zeker te zijn dat je cadeau op tijd voor Kerst aankomt.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Campaign for Tibet\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/logo-round.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/logo-round.png\",\"width\":150,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Campaign for Tibet\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/internationalcampaignfortibetnederland\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/savetibetorg\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/savetibeteurope\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ICTEurope\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Damming Tibet\u2019s Rivers New Threats to Tibetan Area under UNESCO Protection - Campaign for Tibet","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Damming Tibet\u2019s Rivers New Threats to Tibetan Area under UNESCO Protection - Campaign for Tibet","og_description":"The Chinese government plans to construct large hydropower stations in Tibetan areas, likely to have a negative impact on the environment and to lead to the relocation of thousands of local people.","og_url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/","og_site_name":"Campaign for Tibet","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/internationalcampaignfortibetnederland\/","og_image":[{"width":1275,"height":1650,"url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Damming-Tibets-Rivers.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@savetibetorg","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/","url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/","name":"Damming Tibet\u2019s Rivers New Threats to Tibetan Area under UNESCO Protection - Campaign for Tibet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Damming-Tibets-Rivers.jpg","datePublished":"2019-05-29T22:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Damming-Tibets-Rivers.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Damming-Tibets-Rivers.jpg","width":1275,"height":1650},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/damming-tibets-rivers-new-threats-to-tibetan-area-under-unesco-protection\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Damming Tibet\u2019s Rivers New Threats to Tibetan Area under UNESCO Protection"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/","name":"Campaign for Tibet","description":"LET OP: Plaats je bestelling v\u00f3\u00f3r 16 december om zeker te zijn dat je cadeau op tijd voor Kerst aankomt.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#organization","name":"Campaign for Tibet","url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/logo-round.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/logo-round.png","width":150,"height":150,"caption":"Campaign for Tibet"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/internationalcampaignfortibetnederland\/","https:\/\/x.com\/savetibetorg","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/savetibeteurope\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ICTEurope"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nieuws\/12342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nieuws"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nieuws"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categorie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categorie?post=12342"},{"taxonomy":"news_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_tag?post=12342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}