Thesis:
Despite being designed to reduce China’s output of pollution and reduce the geographical threats within the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, the environmental consequences of the Three Gorges Dam drastically outweigh its benefits, because the Three Gorges Dam directly causing the destruction of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region.
How is the Three Gorges Dam beneficial to China's environment?
The only benefit the Three Gorges Dam has on China's environment is that it provides cleaner source of electrical energy, which is extremely beneficial to China's environment as it primarily depends on fossils fuels for energy. Due to it's dependancy on fossil fuels, China's output of pollution is severe to the point that China produces the most acid rain and greenhouse gases globally, and respiratory diseases are the greatest causes of death in China's society.
Being able to produce 18,200 megawatts of electricity, the Three Gorges Dam is meant to supply 10% of China's energy needs and reduce a third of China's annual coal consumption, from about 150 million tonnes annually to about 100 million tonnes annually. According to the Chinese Government, this reduction of coal consumption should cause China's output of air pollutants to heavily decrease, such as carbon dioxide (by 100 million tonnes), sulphur dioxide (by 1.2–2 million tons), and carbon monoxide (by 10,000 tonnes).
Therefore, while the range of environmental benefits is very limited, the Three Gorges Dam’s allows for a cleaner means of producing electrical energy, so that it aids in reducing the amount of pollution generated and environmental damage inflicted through China's energy industry.
Being able to produce 18,200 megawatts of electricity, the Three Gorges Dam is meant to supply 10% of China's energy needs and reduce a third of China's annual coal consumption, from about 150 million tonnes annually to about 100 million tonnes annually. According to the Chinese Government, this reduction of coal consumption should cause China's output of air pollutants to heavily decrease, such as carbon dioxide (by 100 million tonnes), sulphur dioxide (by 1.2–2 million tons), and carbon monoxide (by 10,000 tonnes).
Therefore, while the range of environmental benefits is very limited, the Three Gorges Dam’s allows for a cleaner means of producing electrical energy, so that it aids in reducing the amount of pollution generated and environmental damage inflicted through China's energy industry.
What consequences does the Three Gorges Dam Impose on China's environment?
The negative environmental consequences created by the Three Gorges Dam are much more vast in comparison to it's benefits, as the Three Gorges Dam's is directly altering the geography and biodiversity of the Yangtze River and the Three Gorges Reservoir Region.
With the weight of the reservoir water, the Three Gorges Dam is increasing seismic activity in the already semantically active Three Gorges Reservoir Region, where earthquakes ranking from one to two on the Richter Scale were frequent prior to its construction. As a result, earthquakes occur more frequently with higher seismicities, which has also caused landslides to occur more frequently as well. These landslides have led to great amounts of damage to reservoir land and blocked the flow of water in rivers, causing them to overflow. With this, the Three Gorges Dam’s presence is essentially damaging the geography of the Three gorges Reservoir Region.
With the weight of the reservoir water, the Three Gorges Dam is increasing seismic activity in the already semantically active Three Gorges Reservoir Region, where earthquakes ranking from one to two on the Richter Scale were frequent prior to its construction. As a result, earthquakes occur more frequently with higher seismicities, which has also caused landslides to occur more frequently as well. These landslides have led to great amounts of damage to reservoir land and blocked the flow of water in rivers, causing them to overflow. With this, the Three Gorges Dam’s presence is essentially damaging the geography of the Three gorges Reservoir Region.
The Three Gorges Dam is also heavily affecting the geography and ecology of the Yangtze River. As sediments flowing through the river are necessary to support the ecological processes of the delta of the Yangtze River and fish life, the Three Gorges Dam prevents these sediments from flowing throughout the river, resulting in the water levels throughout the Yangtze River increasing or decreasing. This is due to the trapped sediments in the upper reaches of the river eroding the riverbed away (and reducing water levels), while the water levels of the lower reaches of the river increase as the sediments needed to erode and regulate the water levels are not reaching those parts of the river. One such affected area of the river, is the mouth of the Yangtze River, which is decreasing by 31% per year due to erosion.
With the increasing water levels in some parts of the river, inhabitable land for terrestrial life is decreasing. As a result, the decreased amount of land and resources makes the Yangtze River unable to support the terrestrial life that lives along it, and has driven 47 species to face the threat of extinction, which include the Chinese Tiger, Siberian Crane, and the Giant Panda. Along with preventing sediments from traveling through the river, the dam is also preventing migratory fish within the Yangtze River (most of which live in the upper reaches) from following their migratory routes, and drastically reducing their success of breeding as they try to do so close to the Three Gorges Dam. Moreover, the change in water levels is altering the river environment for the fish so that their living conditions are no longer suitable for them, which has caused the fish population of the Yangtze River to drastically decline and threaten multiple species of fish with extinction. As a result, biodiversity has been reduced within the Three Gorges Reservoir Region.
Therefore, taking into account these various effects caused by the presence of the Three Gorges Dam, it is altering the geography of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region and the Yangtze River in a way that is rendering it unable to support the ecosystems based within it. This has led to the reduction of biodiversity, all each of these effects will eventually lead to the environmental destruction of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region. The impacts of the Three Gorges Dam are not only limited to the Tree Gorges Reservoir Region, as signs of further effects are currently developing that cannot be fully assessed in the present, such as climate change within the Three Gorges Reservoir Region that may spread out to all of China. With this, The Three Gorges Dam is not only negatively affecting the region it is locating it, but potentially all of China as well.
How can these environmental consequences cause the benefits of the Three Gorges Dam to backfire?
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Three Gorges Dam is more environmentally consequential than beneficial. This is because the only environmental benefit it provides is the reduction of China’s pollution output through replacing a third of China’s coal consumption, which is heavily outweighed by the multiple environmental consequences produced by the dam’s presence. These consequences will ultimately result in destroying the environment of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region and the Yangtze River, and they could potentially develop to the point that they negate the social and economic benefits of the Three Gorges Dam. This will lead to further damage that would not only affect the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, but even all of China itself.
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