Published by Global Village of Beijing

We choose a frog as the symbol of our newsletter, not only for making it lively and interesting, but to remind ourselves and other grassroots of the extension of its meaning---Never jump out of the grassland and pond - the public, in which we are established; Keep voicing our opinions since it is our function and mission; Look upon our behaviors from diversified points of views and realize self-promotion with tolerance and interdependence; and Strive to make our frog jump to keep up with the pace of international NGOs through capacity building.

One frog can only give a weak murmur, yet voices from numerous frogs can be heard throughout the world. One frog has very limited strength, while efforts made by numerous frogs can strike hearts of the public and inspire their participation in our green Earth construction.

Please share your updates, events and information on environmental issues with us. We sincerely look forward to your articles, comments and every possible support.

Sheri Liao
President, Global Village of Beijing

Introduction to Voices of Grassroots Back To Top

Voices of Grassroots is a monthly newsletter, which voices the opinions and activities of Chinese environmental NGOs. It is designed as an information platform to promote the participation of Chinese grassroots organizations in China's sustainable development.

Voices of Grassroots aims to strengthen collaboration between grassroots organizations, governments, and the business sector by updating environmental activities, policies and laws, and public ideas. Additionally, it seeks to assist NGOs in their capacity building efforts by sharing the experiences of relevant organizations and experts. Finally, it endeavors to expand the influence of NGOs nationwide through dissemination on a broad scale.

Voices of Grassroots is published by Global Village of Beijing, with current funding support from the Canadian Civil Society Programme. In each publication, an extensive amount of content comes directly from people who are either working with or are otherwise associated with Chinese environmental NGOs. With an editing panel that consists of leaders and researchers from governments, the business sector, and NGOs, Voices of Grassroots is positioned to be an effective platform through which the voices of grassroots organizations can be heard.

NGO Express (Back To Top)

26°Campaign

June 26th, a 26°Campaign Press Conference was held in the Hilton Hotel, Beijing. The campaign is co-organized by Global Village of Beijing, WWF, CANGO (China Association for NGO Cooperation), Friends of Nature, IED (Institute of Environment and Development), Green Earth Volunteers and many other NGOs (in all 34 NGOs). It will last for three months from June 26th to September 26th, and it aims at encouraging hotels, shopping malls, office buildings and other public places to rise their air condition to 26 degrees to save energy and contribute to environmental protection. At the same time, this campaign also calls on individuals to attend by saving energy in each family.
In the summer months, air conditioners in Beijing actually consume about 7 to 10% of the city’s electricity, which is 2.5 to 3.3 billion kw/h. Currently, most of the buildings set their air conditioners at 22 to 24 degrees, some buildings are even lower than 22 degrees. This is a great waste of energy and at the same time, bad for people’s health. Therefore, turning up the air conditioner to 26 to 28 degrees will bring a huge social and personal benefit. Taking Beijing as an example: if every of the 4 million families raises the air condition one degree, 1,080 million kw/h electricity will be saved, which accounts for almost 50 million RMB.
Now, in most of the “star-level” hotels, the temperature is set lower than 26 degrees, which is often done to fulfill international standard. However, there is no written rule for international standards for star hotels on indoor temperature. Also, the Association of Chinese Hotels does not have a certain standard for indoor temperature. Therefore, there should not be any mechanical trouble implementing “26 degrees”.
Hotels, companies and offices that promise and adopt 26 degrees will receive a certificate for their commitment on energy saving and environmental protection. This “26 Degree Campaign” is strongly supported by SEPA (Sino Environmental Protection Administration), and more than 30 NGOs have also joined into the campaign. These pioneers of the campaign suggested following:
1, Government departments and offices should take leadership in this campaign
2, International institutes should actively join this campaign
3, Residents and families should start themselves to save energy

CEPF Annual Project Meeting (Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund)

Conservation International held their first CEPF Annual Meeting in Chengdu, Sichuan Province on June 28th and 29th. The main purpose of the meeting was to communicate experiences and outcomes in ecosystem conservation, and to promote a network on biodiversity protection. It also aims at exploring the potential of Chinese NGOs and giving them proper assistance and training. More than 100 participants from about 50 organizations joined, including Global Village of Beijing.

--Conservation International

2004 Energy Saving Week Special

June 6th to 11th, the China National Development and Reform Commission, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Technology, the Environmental Protection Administration, the Sate Administration of Radio Film and Television, the China National Labor Commission and the China Youth League jointly organized the 2004 Energy Saving Week Campaign (ESWC). This year, ESWC was brought forward from November to June, so that it could take place before the high time of summer electricity consumption and hence call on people’s attention on energy saving. More over, the content of ESWC this year focused especially on “electricity savings”, hoping to help cities deal with electricity shortage.
June 6th, kids from the “Green Angels Performance Team” (organized by Global Village of Beijing) gave several performances on energy saving and environmental protection for the opening of the ESWC. They also distributed their “Energy Saving Proposal” to tell people about the importance of energy saving. In the proposal they published the message: let’s start from ourselves; if each of us saves one kw/h electricity, the whole city of Beijing will save 120 million KW/H electricity, 4,800 tons of coal and 4,800 tons of water! How to save energy ourselves:
1, Never keep lights on all the time, choose “green light bulbs” which save up to 60% of energy.
2, Use air conditioners reasonably, turn the temperature up one or two degrees.
3, Never keep electrical appliances at “waiting mode”.
4, Convince your parents to buy environmentally friendly electric appliances.

International Conference for Renewable Energies—Bonn, Germany

June 1st to June 4th, representing Chinese NGOs, Mr. Gan Lin and Ms. Sheri Liao from WWF China and Global Village of Beijing attended the 2004 renewables conference in Germany. The German Environment and Development Network specially invited NGOs from more than 50 countries to join this international conference and arranged NGO-led activities and seminars. Renewable energy related enterprises also showed their new products at the conference. “Voices of Grassroots” will keep on reporting on this event and renewable energy related news.

Sustainable Energy Journalist Award

Along with the fast development of China, energy supply has become a crucial part of economic development and environmental protection. The decision China makes on dealing with energy shortage and environmental protection will greatly affect the future development of the country, as well as international energy and environment security.
The whole society, no doubt, needs to have a clearer view of the problem and the media is always effective on raising awareness and influencing policy making. Hence, Global Village of Beijing, with support of the Energy Foundation, formed the “Sustainable Energy Journalist Forum” and has organized a series of energy related activities. More than 200 reports about these activities greatly influenced public awareness and the government’s policy making.
In order to give encouragement to the contribution to sustainable energy Chinese journalists have made, Global Village of Beijing held the first “Sustainable Journalist Award Ceremony” on June 12th in Beijing Swiss Hotel, under sponsorship from Energy Foundation, WWF and On Semiconductor.
The “Green Angels Performance Team” again gave wonderful shows and plays on energy saving and environmental protection, as well as their respect and thanks to the journalists.
Sheri Liao, the president of Global Village of Beijing, met and interviewed the vice secretary of the United Nation—Klaus Toepfer. Toepfer was very happy hearing about the journalist award and gave his good wishes to the ceremony:
It is without doubt that the world needs more energy to overcome poverty. And I know that China is very active in economic development and there will also be a very intensive demand for the development of its energy supply and also its energy efficiency. And to do this we need all the people working in this direction and therefore it is very helpful to have journalists active and media active to realize those targets of higher energy efficiency and also bring renewables and other energies on the market. That is clear. We want to have sustainable development, so we need also sustainable energy and we need dedicated journalists and a very devoted media to make that clear to all our people around the world.

--Global Village of Beijing, Energy Foundation, WWF

June 2004 Journalist Salon

Right after the closing of Beijing International Automobile Exhibition, Green Island of China Youth Daily and Green Earth Volunteers organized a research seminar on automobile energy use in Citroen Beijing office. In the first seminar which was hosted by the director of technology of …, they discussed the future of China’s energy, global warming issues, traffic problems in cities, new technologies and so forth. In the second seminar, underground heat development issue was addressed and some advanced examples on utilizing underground heat was given.

--Green Island of Beijing Youth Daily, Green Earth Volunteer

“ June 5 th World Environment Day Special—Wanted! Seas and Oceans, Dead or Alive?

Save Our Climate—Clean Electricity Action 

On June 5 th , the World Environment Day, WWF held a play at Tsinghua University named “Save Our Climate—Clean Electricity Action”, in order to raise public awareness on climate change.

Even though climate change is not as visible as environmental pollution and its influence on our everyday life is not so obvious either, it is likely to bring serious consequences in future. Therefore, we need to take action NOW. We have many alternatives that we have never had before, such as renewable energies and new technologies.

-- WWF, Green Angels Performance Team of Global Village of Beijing

Father's Grassland, Mother's River—Art and Grassland Forum

One week before the environment day, Beijing Brooks Education Center organized a “Grassland Documentary Week” and showed 8 documentaries including “Grassland Essays” and “ Golden Holly Mountain ”. In the afternoon of the environment day, they held a forum called “Father's Grassland, Mother's River” to share grassland culture and art with students, ordinary Beijing people and NGO friends. The director of the documentaries—Mr. Erdeny and a famous Mongolian singer Alatan Qiqige were also invited. Guests shared their love for the grassland and its nomadic culture with participants and told stories about how their life was influenced by the beautiful endlessness of the areas. People showed their concerns towards grassland degradation and loss of nomadic culture.

-- Beijing Brooks Education Center

Environmental Picture Exhibit

Huai River Guards always holds picture exhibit on the environment day to show how seriously the Huai River is polluted. This year, while showing pictures of pollution situation of Huai River , they also gave lectures to people on how the pollution of Huai River also affects the ocean. They made people understand: saving the Huai River is saving themselves, saving the Huai River is saving the ocean!

-- Huai River Guards

Protect the Ocean, Start from Ourselves:

On environment day, a campaign among young students on protecting the oceans was started in Guozhen Village of Yueyang City. There were four activities in this campaign: first, 200,000 text books on ocean protection were distributed to students; second, teach students to check their families' monthly water usage and calculate the amount of sewage disposed every year; third, every student was required to come out with a research report to give ideas on achieving the harmony between human and water; fourth, students are expected to become water saving practionists in everyday life.

--The Association of Yueyang Environmental Protection Volunteers

WSSD Followup (Back To Top)

2004 International Conference for Renewable Energies, Bonn

June 1 st to 4 th , the International Conference for Renewable Energies was held in Bonn , Germany . This conference is an important step toward sustainable development since the World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002 in Johannesburg .

More than 3,600 participants joined this conference. This does not only include related governmental departments and delegates from the United Nations, but also includes NGOs from more than 50 countries, including Global Village of Beijing and WWF China.

The conference organizer particularly arranged various NGO-led activities and seminars, at the same time energy companies displayed their new products such as solar stove, solar car and wind power plant. In the morning of the last day of the conference, a solar power car was driven from Athens to Bonn by a group of university students under support from the government, specialists and related enterprises. They stopped in Bonn for one day and then kept on heading to Portuguese. WWF and Green Peace prepared unique display outside the conference hall. A staff of Green Peace dunked himself in water to express concerns towards global climate change and the rising sea level. WWF showed some solar energy driven electric appliances to call people on a new solar energy based life style.

Regarding the controversial problem with hydro plants, participants expressed different opinions. On one hand, some developing countries insisted that hydro plants are renewable energy, on the other hand, having learnt from their former experiences and lessons, developed countries held a rather conservative attitude for hydro development and put more emphasis on wind and solar power development. Eventually people have agreed on producing a standard for building dams, however, due to verified situations and conditions in different countries, the standards can hardly be the same. Generally speaking, NGOs apposed dam building, because it has implications in environmental protection and justice issues brought by displaced people. International River Network shouted out their slogan “Renewables Yes, Big Hydro No!” They have also illustrated 12 reasons why big hydro plants do not belong to renewable energy (please see NGO Corner for more details).

On the conference, the Renewable Energy Plan made by Chinese government was given a lot of attention by other countries. But we are facing great difficulty on how to build up a mechanism to assist implement the plan. Faced by enormous energy shortage, we still have a long way to go.

This time, we have chosen a short part from the final outcomes of the conference—Policy Recommendations, which introduces the role of civil society in promoting renewable energy. We are hoping that this will be more or less helpful to Chinese people and Chinese NGOs on pushing implementation of renewable energies!

Civil Society

Use the power of consumers to develop and expand markets:

Private consumers have great power in the marketplace, and could be encouraged to send signals in terms of preferences for energy from renewables. In order to encourage consumers to demand renewable instead of conventional energy, it is necessary to provide them with relevant information that is neutral and, where possible, free of commercial interests—for example, via labels and advice about best-practice examples for renewable energy technologies. This requires creating institutional structures for consumer information and advice.

Strengthen civil society's role in decision making on sustainable energy solutions:

The transition to renewables also requires greater involvement of general civil society in decision-making regarding future energy systems. Civil society group—from professional groups to unions and scientific organizations—have a wide variety of roles to play and skills to offer in the areas of policy formulation and project development and ownership.

Make use of the potential of non-governmental organi z ations (NGO):

NGOs can fulfill the key function of providing information to particular stakeholder groups, can raise awareness and stimulate public debate, and can act as political pressure groups. Especially in developing countries, NGOs are often key to implementing renewable energy systems; because they have such a strong presence on the ground, the role of NGOs in disseminating, installing and maintaining decentralized renewable energies should be strengthened. In addition, experience in other sectors shows that NGOs can be important intermediaries in the establishment of micro-credit schemes for rural consumers in developing countries. Their potential in this regard should also be harnessed to find financial solutions that can satisfy the energy needs of rural energy consumers.

Increase awareness through the mass media:

The mass media can be important players in communicating the benefits of renewables to the public and, thereby, raising general awareness and acceptance. Some examples of popular but educative TV and radio programs about sustainable energy issues already exist, in both developing and industrialized countries. These efforts should be increased and expanded into more markets and across more geographic areas, and using more communications channels. Media channels can be powerful and effective vehicles for increasing awareness of renewables, provided

that the technologies they promote are consistent with women's practical (household), productive (income-generation), and strategic (social empowerment) needs.

NGO Corner (Back To Top)

Renewables YES, Big Hydro NO!

This summary has been endorsed by 247 groups and networks in 61 countries. Funds to reduce the climatic and other environmental impacts of energy production and consumption, to advance sustainable development, and to increase energy security should be used for the promotion of “new renewables”. The most important “new renewables” are modern biomass, geothermal, wind, solar, marine energy and small hydro (<10 MW) compliant with the recommendation of the World Commission on Dams.

Below are 12 key reasons why large hydropower projects should be excluded from global efforts to promote renewable energy:

1, Large hydro does not have the poverty reduction benefits of decentralized renewables

Large hydro is capital-intensive and dependent on large centers of demand and long transmission lines. In contrast, “new renewables” can be built in small, geographically dispersed units of capacity, minimizing transmission costs and power losses, and spreading out economic development benefits. Delivering modern energy services to the quarter of the world's population currently without access to them requires a massive effort to expand decentralized renewables. Promoting large hydro will only distract funding and attention from this effort.

2, Including large hydro in renewables initiatives would crowd out funds for new renewables

Large hydro plants are among the most expensive infrastructure projects on the planet. Including subsidies for them in renewables schemes could consume the bulk of special funds, leaving little left to promote “new renewables”.

3, Promoters of large hydro regularly underestimate costs and exaggerate benefits

Dam promoters have regularly underestimated the economic costs of large hydropower projects as well as the numbers of people requiring resettlement or compensation for lost lands, homes and sources of livelihood. While costs are on average far higher than predicted, large hydropower dams often generate less power than promised.

4, Large hydro will increase vulnerability to climate change

Large hydro developers do not currently take into account the hydrological impacts of climate change. This means that dams are being built with designs that do not allow for the new extremes of drought or floods that global warming is predicted to cause. This has serious implications for dam performance—particularly that droughts will sharply reduce hydropower generation—and safety.

5, There is no technology transfer benefit from large hydro

Global renewable funds and carbon trading mechanisms are supposed to facilitate the transfer of new technologies from Northern to Southern countries and to provide the support needed to increase production and bring down unit costs of these technologies. These arguments do not apply to large hydro, which is already a mature technology and well established in Southern countries.

6, Large hydro projects have major social and ecological impacts

According to the World Commission on Dams, large dams are responsible for the evictions of 40—80 million people, with many of the displaced receiving no or inadequate compensation. Millions of people have also lost their land and livelihoods, and have suffered because of downstream and other indirect impacts of large dams. Large dams are a major factor in the rapid decline of riverine biodiversity worldwide.

7, Efforts to mitigate the impacts of large hydro typically fail

Many impacts of large hydro go unacknowledged or underestimated, and measures to prevent or reduce their impacts frequently fail. Even when people are recognized as eligible for resettlement they rarely have their livelihoods restored. There is a similar abysmal record of failed efforts to mitigate the environmental impacts of large dams.

8, Large hydro promoters oppose measures to prevent the construction of destructive projects

The WCD has developed criteria for water and energy planning which could prevent destructive dams from being built, encourage better alternatives and reduce the impacts of existing projects. But since following these criteria would mean building fewer dams, hydro proponents such as the World Bank and International Hydropower Association have attacked the credibility of the WCD and lobbied to prevent the application of its recommendations.

9, Large reservoirs can emit significant amount of greenhouse gases

Rotting organic matter in hydropower reservoirs causes emissions of methane and carbon dioxide. While there is still much scientific controversy over how to measure hydropower emissions and compare them with emissions from fossil fuel plants, it appears that hydro projects with large reservoirs in the tropics can have a greater climatic impact per unit of power generated than fossil fuel generation.

10, Large hydro is slow, lumpy, inflexible and getting more expensive

Because of their huge size and site-specific requirements, large hydro projects take longer to build and are more expensive than other types of power plants. While large hydro plants take on average around six years to build, wind turbines and solar panels can start delivering benefits and repaying loans within months of entering construction. The World Bank has found that the costs of hydropower capacity are steadily increasing because the best sites for hydro have already been exploited.

Large hydro plants by definition add capacity to power grids in large lumps while power demand usually grows gradually. “Lumpy” capacity additions can mean power shortages before the new capacity comes on-line, then costly over-capacity once the new plant is available.

11, Many countries are already over-dependent on hydropower

Large hydro contributes more than half of the total electricity supply in 63 countries, almost all in the global South and ex-Soviet Union . Many of these hydro-dependent countries experience drought induced blackouts and energy rationing, a problem that is expected to be exacerbated by climate change. Yet it is in these countries where the bulk of new large hydro capacity is planned.

12, Large hydro reservoirs are often rendered non-renewable by sedimentation

Dam reservoirs are depleted over time by sedimentation, a problem that eventually seriously impedes or ends the ability of hydro plant to produce electricity. The great majority of annual sediment loads are carried during flood periods. The higher intensity and frequency of floods due to global warming are therefore likely to increase sedimentation rates and thus further shorten the useful lives of reservoirs.

“Twelve Reasons to Exclude Large Hydro from Renewables Initiatives” was co-published by International Rivers Network (IRN) and the following organizations: Campaign to Reform the World Bank (Italy), CDM Watch, CEE Bankwatch Network, Energy Working Group of the Brazilians Forum of NGOs and Social Movements for the Environment and Development, European Rivers Network, Friends of the Earth International, Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), Network for Advocacy on Water Issues in Southern Africa (NAWISA), Oxfam America, Rios Vivos Coalition, River Watch East and Southeast Asia (RWESA), and the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP). For more information, please log on: http://www.irn.org/

Back to the original: Alternative Tourist Experiences

How can tourism be harmonized with the environment? How can tourists experience local customs? How can revenue from tourism improve the standard of living of local residents? Is sustainable tourism practicable? Other than conventional sightseeing, photo taking, shopping, rushing from place to place, getting thr ough immigration control, lining up, buying entrance tickets, feasting, karaoke, squeezing into the coach , garbage, pollution… do we have other options? At the end of last year and early this year, I had the opportunity to join two trips abroad, which gave me a lot of inspiration. What was most unforgettable was the view of nature when we traveled on a ferry in Myanmar , and the experience of Cambodian history and culture on a donkey -drawn cart .

In the dining hall on the ferry, candles were lit and the doors were opened, inviting the guests to come in to sit after enjoying the sunset on the deck. It was Christmas Eve, the ambience solemn. Soon after the guests were seated, the lights were dimmed. Only a few candles remained lit. Suddenly, the sound of kids singing came from outside the dining hall. The kids were from the local orphanage, and they were invited to sing Christmas carols. With imperfect pronunciation, ordinary voices, and most simple dress, the kids presented several “localized” Christmas carols and folk songs. After their performance, they were invited to have Christmas dinner with us. No loud karaoke music, no extravagant Christmas Eve decorations, no fancy new games, this is the arrangement of a 6-star tour by international standards. After dinner, the ferry's reception manager sent the orphans back. Then he told the guests that the company donated regularly to the local orphanage from their revenue, and won the recognition of the guests.

We woke up at 5.30 AM the next day. Instead of rushing to the tourist sites, it was arranged for us to take a walk in the villages nearby, to greet the local residents and to understand their living conditions. We also visited a primary school in the village, and learned that the primary school also received sponsorship from the travel agency. Simple bamboo houses provided the children's classrooms. In order to give the tourists opportunities to experience the local customs, each group was led to the temple to attend the morning alms-begging when they first arrived. Hundreds of monks formed a line with their alms-bowls in hand, chanting and praying while they slowly walked out of the temple into the village. The waiters on the ferry respectfully gave out hot boiled rice, vegetables and local pot-dishes. They also asked us to help distribute the food to the monks who walked pass them. More importantly than just doing what the locals do, this activity reminded the tourists to pay back to the local community and needy groups. Activities such as sponsoring orphans, sponsoring education, and alms-giving, have all become ways to communicate and interact with the locals.

Instead of saloon cars or coaches with air-conditioning, a row of bicycles and donkey-drawn carts were at the port waiting for the tourists to set off for their sightseeing. The cart drivers are from the nearby villages, and only know simple English sentences. Tourists who are young or fit could choose to tour on bicycle. This pollution-free and jam-free arrangement caters for the tourists who are concerned about the environment.

Besides viewing the endangered species and places of interest, we were arranged to visit artificial afforestation sites, and to talk to the local residents who are engaged in forest protection and afforestation work. This allows the tourists to realize the challenges and difficulties of such work, and to emphasize the value and importance of the natural scenery. We learned how to get resin from the rubber plants, and to brew wine with the serum of palm trees. We also learned to make honey, ground maze with a mill, make pottery with clay, weave on the loom, and other work. There were some language barriers, but it was still interesting and fun.

An equally unforgettable New Year's Eve was spent on the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar . It was the farmers' bedtime, and the coast was pitch-dark. The engine of the ferry was switched off, and the ferry was quietly drifting with the flow of the river. River breeze caressed the hair of the passengers on the deck with each of them in silent reflection during the last ten minutes of 2003. Suddenly, far at the upper stream, thousands of glittering spots were lit up. They drifted with the flow towards the ferry, surrounding it like a sea of stars. When they came close, we realized they were floating lanterns made of banana leaves. The tour company hired the local farmers to make these lanterns, so as to showcase the local craftwork and express to the visitors a warm welcome. There was no New Year Eve count-down, no balloons, no masquerade, no toasting, no firecrackers, and no glaring laser show. There were only the silent waves and the silent candles. There we welcomed the New Year, paying respect to the local customs and nature.

Folk dance class, paper-cutting class and lectures on nature appreciation and historical events filled our days. We had time to learn from our tutors about local history, culture, customs and ecological and social development. On one of the nights, a blind local singer was invited to sing us folk songs. She was in a simple linen outfit, sitting on a straw mat on the floor with a bamboo stick as her tapping cane. The blind musician sang without accompaniment. There were no dainty musical instruments or audio device. There were only tourists quietly listening to her beautiful, pure voice.

The local craftwork was neither deliberately promoted, nor with eye-catching packaging or cheap prices. The first thing we noticed was that there were no plastic items or toiletry kits in hotel rooms. The garbage bins were hand woven bamboo baskets made by the locals. The slippers were woven with straw. Soaps were local fragrances and resin rubbed together. Body shampoo is fragranced with locally refined fragrances. Napkins, bed sheets and pillow covers were made with all local textiles. Each day, two or three local pastries were delivered to our rooms, wrapped with banana leaves and bamboo leaves, to showcase local delicacies. The farewell souvenirs were also hand-picked: fragrant sachets, bamboo baskets, bamboo leaf fans, paper-cutting and other local specialty handcraft works.

Tourism is not only about making monetary profits or simply about sightseeing, but also about experiencing local culture, as well as promoting interactions between urban and rural, local and non-local, domestic and foreign. The question here is the form in which we exchange and interact. Artificial and commercialized tours filled with forgery, or exploitative eating and drinking, sightseeing and purchasing, is unlikely to be sustained. Developing tourist spots quickly and cheaply will only promote noise, chaos and pollution in return. The harm is to the local environment, ecosystem, culture and people. One of the disheartening examples is the recent construction work at the tomb of Yellow Emperor in Shanxi Province , where a tour coach parking lot, square, temple, incense burner, arch and other things are being built rather tastelessly.

Rather than such artificiality, foreign tourists would go for a ‘back to original' experience. There are even some western tourists who are willing to pay one thousand US dollars a night to stay in a straw shed, sleep on a wooden bed, sit on bamboo chairs, use bamboo umbrellas, have a simple diet, walk on the ridge of rice fields, and hear roosters crowing in the morning and frogs croaking at night. They would like to ride on a donkey-drawn cart to enter the history and culture of a place, to be close to nature, and pursue Truth, Goodness and Beauty of that place. What they bring home with them is rich, humane dignity, ecological dignity, cultural diversity and diversified impressions. They bring with them not only the photos and the memories of the scenery, but also memories of the bird's singing, the friendship and warmth, and the laughter and singing of the children and local residents. It is these memories that will truly move the tourists and urge them to come back again.

A brand of sustainable tourism can not be created by packaging. It has to be based on the cultural dignity, ecological dignity, and historical dignity.

Mrs. Mei Ng is the Director of Friends of the Earth Hong Kong (FOE HK), a registered charity and green group. On World Environment Day, 2000, she was elected to the United Nations Global 500 Roll of Honor. In the same year, Mrs. Ng was appointed by the State Environmental Protection Agency as "Special Environment Envoy". Mrs. Mei Ng was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star Award by the HKSAR Government in 2003. Mrs. Mei Ng has always been proactively promoting environmental policies in Hong Kong . From 1993 to 2001, she was a member of the Country and Marine Parks Council. In 2001, she was assigned as a member of the Advisory Council on the Environment. Mrs. Mei Ng believes that the involvement of the civil society is very important. Therefore she is dedicated to promoting sustainable development, renewable energies, waste recycling, environmental education, impact evaluation, environmental governance and green consumption. She organizes regular environmental education and training programmes. These programmes are specifically provided to teachers, students and women in regions in China where resources are scarce and pollution severe. Mrs. Mei Ng's millennium goal is to promote “the environmental protection spirit of self-help and self-empowerment”. She calls for the pursuit of truth, sharing of resources and responsibilities, and joint efforts to achieve a sustainable future.
www.foe.org.hk
foehk@foe.org.hk

NGO Capacity Building (Back To Top)

It is not too Late for Chinese NGOs Can Play an Important Role in Agricultural Environmental Protection

In the fifth issue of Voices of Grassroots, there were some articles about farmers and agriculture, including the “Green model families activity” held by Shanxi Mother's Environmental Volunteers Association, the “Protect farmers' drinking water” project by Yueyang Environmental Protection Volunteers Association and the article in the section ‘WSSD Follow-up' about the role of the government and other main groups in water, sanitation and peoples' settlement. I was very much encouraged after reading those. It is not a coincidence that NGOs suddenly started to focus on farmers and rural environment. It is a portent that in such a big agricultural country, agricultural environmental protection is finally drawing peoples' attention. Moreover, the attention given to agricultural pollution and environmental protection will not be simply understood as a battle between the government and those fake fertilizer producers, or mercy from the government to the farmers. Instead, this will be considered an issue that concerns every one of us in our everyday life! Therefore, I would like to talk a little about my experience on agricultural pollution, water protection and organic food I have had in implementing “Eastern China Intensive Agricultural Environmental Strategy”, hoping to encourage more people to take action in agricultural environmental protection.

Some NGOs have already started to take effort to reduce pollution in rural areas, including pollution from fertilizers, chemicals, use of plastic covers and bio waste from aquatics breeding. Here I would like to first systematically introduce agricultural environmental pollution.

Agricultural environmental pollution includes:

Inappropriate use of fertilizer, where especially nonscientific use of nitrogen leads to a decrease of organic matters in the soil, destruction of soil structure and water pollution; overuse of chemicals leads to water pollution (both surface and underground) and a polluted food chain; waste from aquatics breeding is often dangerous for air, farmland, production and water.

Main reasons of agricultural environmental pollution and dangers from remnant chemicals:

Together with the growth of population, the conflict between increasing mouths to feed and little land is getting more and more obvious. In recent years, because of converting farmland to other use, also because of desertification in northern places, huge areas of farmland are lost. Northeast China is the main area to provide fruit and vegetables for the Greater Beijing-Tianjin Area and it also serves as the base of fruit and vegetables exportation. In order to ensure supply, in most places of the area, intensive plastic covered cotes are replacing traditional open production. This on the one hand solved the problem with lack of land, but on the other hand, heightened production of grain.

Intensive farming is obviously a way to adapt to the situation in China and offers a new future for China 's agricultural development. However, this sudden shift from open production to small intensive production is not only a challenge for the farmers but also for agricultural departments and the grain market. The government has to advance their own management and the farmers have to learn more about technologies and market information, as well as new means in this new production method. Reducing the use of fertilizer, chemicals and irrigation water to a minimum is the only way out for intensive agricultural development.

An article from a foreign source said that high chemical remnant on Chinese food is threatening exportation. In 2001, Chinese government did an investigation about chemical remnants on vegetables. More than 47% of the tested vegetables' chemical remnant far exceeded the standard. In depth, this article pointed out that more than 40% of pesticides on the market are fake products and it is estimated that there are between 53,000 to 123,000 people every year getting sick because of pesticides, while about 300 to 500 farmers die from inappropriate contiguity of pesticide. This situation is more severe in some areas than in others.

Since the end of the 1970s, there have been official regulations and instructions on pesticide usage, but the use of fake pesticides hasn't been abolished. The statistics from the foreign source are only a small portion of the whole. The danger and damage brought by remained pesticide to people's health is latent and gradual, also, people under this threat are not only farmers, but all the consumers in society. More over, it is often very difficult to find out the origin of the pollutants.

However, some medias are brave enough to stand up and say NO to fakers. There are not many of thise kinds of report, but they directly or indirectly reflect peoples' growing concern toward food safety. If it comes to the question how to provide consumers with clean, green food: the government has to demonstrate responsibility, the farmers have to show good will and public awareness can also help!

Water saving and water protection:

Nobody can deny the importance for farmers to have access to clean water. Farmers are the primary food and industrial material provider, but now they have become victims of a system formed by chemicals, polluted water and soil. Currently, because that intensive farming relies too much on underground water, water shortage is already becoming visible.

Irrigation water is free of charge. The price is indirectly included in the electricity used for pumping. Therefore, water is never counted as resources or costs. And because of this, a great deal of water is wasted, chemicals and fertilizers infiltrate into ground and pollute underground water.

Organic vegetables:

Organic vegetables are safe, high quality and nutritious. It includes the reducing of chemicals and fertilizer use during vegetable production and the production of higher standard vegetables.

China has a 9,000 million population of farmers and they are related to 1.3 billion peoples' everyday food. Presently, NGOs have not shown much influence on agricultural environmental protection. However, when I see that there are already some NGOs making efforts on helping farmers and putting attentions on agricultural environmental protection, I feel grateful indeed. I think Chinese farmers have hope, Chinese people have hope and China has its hope!

Hence I am now here, speaking out loud to Chinese NGOs: take action, care more about farmers and help them change their living conditions! Also, I would like to call on everyone's attention on this issue and give “green food” more space to grow!

Policy Watch (Back To Top)

Seas and Oceans: Life's Cradle, Human's Future

Expected! Bohai Sea becomes blue again! – Blue Sea Action Plan for Bohai Sea
(This is a short summary of the Chinese version, please see more details in Chinese)

In recent years, China has been strengthening marine environmental protection step by step. The World Environment Day theme selected for 2004 “ Wanted! Seas and Oceans - Dead or Alive?” has been a real encouragement to China 's marine environmental protection project. At present, a marine environmental protection operation system of “Integrated Pollution Control” has been set up in China . In the near future, China is hoping to achieve a fundamental change of the water quality in offshore areas through implementing a waste disposal license system and controlling the amount of waste discharge according to the carrying capacity of the water environment.

The Bohai Bay , once honored the “natural storehouse of fish, salt and oil”, however, i n recent 20 years, along with the speed of economic development and urbanization in areas around, has been suffering considerable pressure from pollution. “Seriously polluted” area is expanding every year. Bohai Bay has reached its limits of taking in pollutants. It is warned by scientists that if there is no immediate method taken to control pollution, Bohai Bay will be dead soon! By then, it will cost 200 years for the water in Bobai Bay to finish its circulation and refreshing process. In 2001, The State Council authorized “Blue Sea Action Plan for Bohai Sea”, which was jointly mapped out by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), the Ministry of Communications (MOC) and the four provinces and municipality in conjunction with Bohai Sea. This action plan aims on a fundamental conversion on pollution situation in the surrounding areas and achieving sustainable development by 2015.

Detailed local plans such as eco-agriculture; band on using Phosphor contained wash powder; strict limitation on sewage discharge from ships and ferries; cleaner production methods and technologies are implemented and moderated.

It is now expected that sewage disposal rate in areas around the sea will reach 75%, organic pollutants and heavy metals will be reduced by 50% very soon.

Statistics from environmental inspector show that in 2003, the amount of first and second class (classification follows 1,2,3,4,5 and worse than 5) water areas increased by 11.5%, fourth and worse than fourth areas decreased by 11.6% compared to statistics from 2001.

This might be a real long and difficult process, but we are working towards a direction of making the Bohai Sea clear again. And I think, we are holding a good chance and incentive in our hands now! Said Wang Jirong, the vice minister of SEPA.

Partnership Initiatives (Back To Top)

(Thanks to Carin for her contribution to Beijing Zoo and for allowing us to use information from her newsletter)

Beijing Zoo Enrichment Initiative

Introduction to Beijing Zoo:

Founded in the 32 nd year of Emperor Guang-Xu reign in Qing Dynasty (1906), Beijing Zoo was formerly called the “Garden of Ten Thousand Animals” and then in 1955 officially named “ Beijing Zoo”.

The Beijing Zoo covers an area of 86 hectares with 8.6 hectares of water. Today, it is the home to over 5,000 mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians of over 450 species, and further more to over 1,000 fish and aquatic invertebrates of over 500 species.

The Beijing Zoo today, is still developing and the newly opened enclosure for the otters is a big achievement of the zoo's Enrichment initiative program.

Start and Development of Enrichment Initiative Program:

Enrichment started in 1995 when Mr. Zhang-Jin-Guo returned from a visit abroad. The enrichment program has been increasing steadily since then. In year 2000, Dr. Carin Harrington came to study the behavior of tigers from the United Kingdom and then was asked to continue working in the zoo. Her role is to advise on enrichment with the aim that the animal keepers will understand and accept the new ideas on enrichment. In August 2003, the enrichment team was formed. The job of the team is to coordinate all the projects in the zoo. What they do is to make plans for all the animals in the zoo but to give order of priority to those showing any signs of distress, pacing in carnivores or rocking in primates. Tentative plans are made by the team and then discussed with the keepers. The final plan is again examined by the team. When all parties are satisfied, the material list is submitted and the work can commence. The areas are checked for safety before releasing the animals into their new enclosures. Many university students are now helping collect data to show the changes in animal behavior related to the enrichment program.

The program aims at decorating the enclosures as natural as possible so that animal behaviors, their living environment and their social behaviors are enriched. It is now cooperated by many different groups including Jane Goodall Institute, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), British Embassy and so forth.

Successful Examples:

Monkeys:

In the new areas, it was observed that the monkeys groomed less thus reducing baldness on their skin. There was less aggression and more play behavior. There was less inactivity which reflects increased satisfaction in the animals.

Red Pandas:

Much new enrichment has been completed in the area and the project shows how dynamic enrichment is. They have rotated a Christmas tree from the squirrels' area into this enclosure and the red pandas now use the top of the tree as a beautiful natural bed. The animals are showing how adaptable they are. Carin is now making a request from their international friends after Christmas to give them their old trees.

Bears:

The brown bear enclosure is one of the big enrichment successes. The behavior of the bears has been improved by providing the grass and an enrichment program which has been running for over a year now. The honey tree has been a wonderful distraction from their lives of captivity, along with the live fish feeding and scatter feeding done by the keepers. The keepers follow the Beijing Zoo Bear Enrichment book. They rotate the enrichment devices every few days according to the guide. The ideas include live fish, ice blocks with treats in and smearing honey or fish around the enclosures as scent marking. The polar bears are on the same program. Instead of the pacing behavior, there is a wonderful display of toy throwing and exploration. Two students from Beijing Capital Normal University who are writing their graduation thesis on animal behavior found that the behavior of the bears became more natural with less pacing and more play and the visitors responded by not throwing food but watching “bears being bears”. The most robust have been the honey and fish logs. These are made in the enrichment workshop which is available to all keepers.

BITE— Beijing Zoo International Team of Enrichment

You may start to hear this name around the zoo, which is the name of the enrichment team's new international team of volunteers. There are ten members who will help you with your work all over the zoo, working with Carin, building huts, painting walls, making houses for small animals in logs, making hammocks and do any projects you suggest for them. This team works on Thursday mornings in the enrichment room and enclosures and sometimes on Saturdays.

Apparently, the volunteer group has enough members and their work is now temporarily stopped. There will be four more groups added into the volunteer team and they will restart working in either July or August. They are looking forward to more help and attention from every citizen of Beijing .

From the editor: Lucky enough, I had the chance to attend the opening ceremony of the new otter enclosure on June 1 st . This cute otter, who has spent 20 years of his life in a home as small as about 2 to 3 m 2 , is now finally, playing and swimming happily again. Carin told us that the otter was extremely happy when they first moved him to this new environment. He is a lucky otter!

A nation's attitude towards animals, I consider, is directly linked to the quality and ethics of the people. We are now living in an era of environmental protection and nature conservation. I am only hoping that all of us will give animals and every living creature of the nature a better chance to live. (Amanda)

Upcoming Conferences (Back To Top)
(Thanks to Eva for allowing us to use her information)

International Seminar on Green Schools in China and Teenagers Forum on the Environment

Date: July 29-31, 2004

Location: Taizhou , Zhejiang Province

Organizer: the Centre for Environmental Education and Communications (CEEC) of

SEPA, and the Taizhou Metropolitan Government

Contact: Mr. Zeng Hongying, CEEC

Tel: +86-10-84634281 ;84640857, Fax: +86-10-84640884

Email: mailto:zeng1590@sina.com

Ms. Jin Yuting, CEEC, Email: mailto:greenschool@126.com

M ailing address: Center for Environmental Education and Communication (CEEC) of SEPA, Yu Hui Nan Lu 1#, Chaoyang District, Beijing , 100029,

More Information: http://www.greenschools.com.cn/greenschools/huodong/gjyth/

The 4 th International Symposium on the Tibetan Plateau

Date: Aug. 4-6, 2004

Location: Lhasa , Tibet (plus post-symposium field excursions)

Organi z er : Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the People.s Government of

Tibet Autonomous Region of China

The China State Key Project on Fundamental Research

Contact: Ms. Feng Xuehua, Secretariat of the Symposium. 04, P. O. Box 9717 , Beijing

100101, P. R. China

Email: zhulp@igsnrr.ac.cn (Prof. Zhu Liping), gaoyc@igsnrr.ac.cn or

gaoyc@mail.igcas.ac.cn (Mr. Gao, Yingchun), fengxh@igsnrr.ac.cn (Ms. Feng, Xuehua),

Phone: +86 10 6485 6498 (Prof. Zhu Liping), +86 10 6235 8217 (Mr. Gao, Yingchun), +86 10 6488 9819 (Ms. Feng, Xuehua), Fax: +86 10 6488 9769

7th European Conference on Agriculture and Rural Development in China

Date: Sept. 8-10, 2004

Location: London (Old Royal Naval College, University of Greenwich )

Contact: Terry Cannon, School of Humanities, Old Royal Naval College, University of Greenwich, 30 Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS, Tel: +44 20 8331 8944 or +44 1634 883025, Fax: +44 20 8331 8850, Email: t.g.cannon@greenwich.ac.uk

China International Environmental Protection & Energy Saving, and Comprehensive Resource Utilization Exhibition

Date: Sept. 21-24, 2004 , Beijing

Venue: China World Trade Centre, Beijing

Contact: China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Machinery Sub-Council No.46, Sanlihe Road, Xichengqu, Beijing 100823, Tel.: +86.10.6859 4982/ 6859 4934, Fax: +86.10.6859 4996, Email: ccpitmsc@public3.bta.net.cn , Vivian_kang4982@hotmail.com

More Information: www.chinamachine.org/emaocu/lhzl/lhzl-huanbao.htm

International Conference on Land Resource Management and Ecological Restoration in the Loess Plateau (Western Development Strategy)

Date: Sept. 20-22, 2004

Location: Yangling City (near Xi.An)

Organiser: UNESCO Office Beijing

Contact: UNESCO Office Beijing, Jianguomenwai Gongyu 5-13-3 , 100600 Beijing , Tel.: +86.10.6532 7683, Fax: +86.10.6532 4854, Email: mailto:Date:Sept. 20-22, 2004

Water China 2004 . The 7 th China International Exhibition on Water and Wastewater Treatment Technology and Equipment

Date: Sept. 27-29, 2004 , Beijing

Venue: China World Trade Centre, Exhibition Halls I & II

Contact: Ms. Sandy JI, Mr. Julius ZHU, Grand Exhibition Services Co., Ltd., Rm. 318, No.21 Dongsi Shitiao, Beijing 100007, Tel.: +86.10.8401 8151, Fax: +86.10.8401 2838, Email: water@grandexh.com , mailto:grandexh@vip.sina.com

More Information: www.grandexh.com/water2004/

Women, Youth and Environment (Back To Top)

Goldman Environmental Prize—An Honor for All Committed Individuals in Environmental Protection

The Goldman Environmental Prize is every year granted to six individuals from six continental regions: Africa , Asia , Europe , Island Nations, North America and South/Central America . It was established in 1990 by Richard and Rhoda Goldman to demonstrate the international nature of environmental problems, to draw public attention to global issues of critical importance, to reward individuals for outstanding grassroots environmental initiatives and to inspire others to emulate the examples set by the prize recipients.

The prize—a project of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, reflects the Goldman family's longstanding commitment both to philanthropic endeavors and to environmental concerns. Since 1951, the Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund has actively supported a variety of environmental organizations and has stimulated numerous important environmental initiatives in California . Back in 1993, Dai-Qing was the first and so far the only Chinese who was granted this prize for her consistent effort on stopping the plan of the Three Gorgers Dam on Yangzi River in China.

This year, Margie Eugene-Richard, an African-American woman was given this prize for her extraordinary work in fighting with toxic and nuclear contamination.

Every time we as black Americans stand up for what is right, they say it's for greed of money. It's a fight for longevity. If we don't put a face to it, we can't make change. Truth and justice for the betterment of life, the environment and government is the stairway to upward mobility.

--Margie Eugene-Richard

Growing Up in Cancer Alley

Margie Richard grew up in the historically African-American neighborhood of Old Diamond in Norco , La. , in a house just 25 feet away from Shell Chemicals plant's fence line. Years later, she would lead the front line of a long, hard-won battle to hold Shell accountable for the devastating health problems in her community. Richard, 62, whose campaign has been hailed as a landmark environmental justice victory, holds the distinction as the first African-American to win the Goldman Environmental Prize.

Four generations of Richard's family have lived in Old Diamond, which also has another name: Cancer Alley, so called for the high rates of cancer, birth defects and other serious health ailments that plague the 1,500 residents who live on the four square blocks sandwiched between the Shell plant and a Motiva oil refinery owned by a Shell subsidiary. More than a third of Norco 's children suffer from asthma or bronchitis. Richard's sister Naomi died at age 43 from sarcoidosis, a rare bacterial infection. The disease typically strikes one in a thousand people, yet Richard knows of at least three other neighbors who suffer from the same sickness.

A Fatal Gas Blast

According to Richard, the defining event in her decision to become an activist occurred in 1973 when a Shell pipeline exploded, knocking one house off its foundation and killing an elderly woman and a teenage boy who was mowing the lawn. Richard recalls dashing out of her mother's house one block away and spotting a body lying beneath a sheet and the 16-year-old boy, then still alive, covered with raw burns and bubbling blisters. In 1988 another major industrial accident killed seven workers and released 159 million pounds of toxins into the air. Richard got in the habit of sleeping in her clothes so she could be ready to jump out of bed and run for her life if needed.

In 1989, Richard, then a middle school teacher, founded Concerned Citizens of Norco to seek justice from Shell in the form of fair and just resettlement costs for her family and her neighbors.

Fighting Back

Over the next 13 years, Richard led a community campaign that was equal parts hard science, grassroots organizing and media savvy. She joined forces with environmentalists and researchers to release a report that showed that the Shell refinery in Norco releases more than 2 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air each year.

In addition to serving as a community representative on a high-level EPA regulatory committee, she took her battle to the courts, acting as plaintiff in a high profile but ultimately unsuccessful class action suit against Shell. She has organized press conferences and local “bucket brigades,” empowering her neighbors with specially outfitted plastic buckets so they could monitor hazardous air pollutants on their own as well as educational workshops sponsored by Xavier University 's Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.

Richard also has a sharp eye for political theater. At one point she had a Web camera installed on her trailer home to broadcast live feeds of the refinery spewing petrochemical byproducts. While speaking at an international environmental conference in Holland , Richard approached Shell officials and invited them to take a sniff from a bag of Norco air.

Her untiring efforts have attracted powerful allies including U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters and helped spur a criminal investigation by the EPA that faulted Shell for failing to ensure plant safety and for falsifying its emissions reporting, a practice confirmed by a company whistleblower. Throughout the campaign, Richard, who the local media calls Norco 's “chief rabble-rouser,” faced stiff resistance from Shell officials who aggressively discouraged her group from seeking outside counsel and refused to hold open meetings with community members.

“There were times I thought it was an impossible task,” Richard recalled. “I remember standing in my yard thinking, ‘Lord, will there ever be hope?' But a little voice within me kept saying, ‘If we don't tell them, how will they know?'”

No More Shell Games

In 2000, thanks largely to Richard's efforts, Shell agreed to reduce its emissions by 30 percent and improve its emergency evacuation routes. Shell also agreed to pay voluntary relocation costs for residents who lived on the two streets closest to the plant. But Richard and Concerned Citizens turned up the heat, leading to a meeting at the Royal Dutch/Shell offices in London where they secured a $5 million community development fund and full relocation for all four Old Diamond streets. Since the agreement was brokered in 2002, Shell has bought about 200 of the 225 lots at a minimum price of $80,000 per lot.

A Victory for Environmental Justice

In addition to being the first community relocation victory of its kind in the Deep South , Richard's success in Norco has been an inspiring example for activists nationwide battling environmental racism in their own backyards. People of color are more likely than whites to live near areas polluted by industrial plants; seventy-one percent of African-Americans live in counties that don't meet federal air pollution standards. As a consequence, blacks suffer disproportionately from respiratory and other environmental ailments, studies show. Community protest against these conditions has produced a uniquely American brand of activism that is equal parts civil rights and environmentalism. Richard stands at the forefront of this important social justice movement.

“Every time we as black Americans stand up for what is right, they say it's for greed of money. It's a fight for longevity,” Richard has said. “If we don't put a face to it, we can't make change. Truth and justice for the betterment of life, the environment and government is the stairway to upward mobility.”

Activist-At-Large

After passing her presidency of Concerned Citizens to another member, Richard has become an activist-at-large. She continues to work with Shell on an initiative to improve community and environmental health and safety in Norco . She advises other communities battling corporate pollution including the African-American neighborhood of Westside in Port Arthur , Texas , which borders a refinery owned by Premcor, one of the nation's largest independent oil refineries. Port Arthur has the highest rates of respiratory illness in the state; more than 20,000 children in the area are exposed to toxins that can cause cancer, learning disabilities and birth defects, according to a recent study.

Richard's activism has also taken her abroad. In 2002 she spoke at the World Summit on Sustainable Development and met with citizen groups in South Africa struggling with contamination from industrial run-off. This year, as in years past, she plans to help lead an international delegation to Royal Dutch/Shell's annual general meeting (April 24-25) in London where she will pressure the corporation to take responsibility for its dirty industrial practices and the medical costs associated with treating environmental illness.

“Whether she's on the steps of the U.N. or in Nigeria , or in her own front yard, she is not intimidated by whatever circumstances she is faced with,” said Maura Wood of the Sierra Club's regional office in Louisiana . “She sets out to get the message of her community out to the world.”

Warning and Pollution (Back To Top)

Should a dam be built at Nujiang? Opinions vary among government officials, engineers and environmentalists. Should the local residents of Nujiang have a say in this? However there is a problem – the mountain dwellers are not well educated. To solve the problem, China 's NGOs have come up with an idea, let the locals see with their own eyes what has happened at the other dams, so they can ask questions, make comparisons, and draw their own conclusions.

That's why they showed up in Man Wan, Lancang River .

Nujiang Locals Seek Answers

Don't be the “Indian woman”

Translated by: Wangfeng (Global Village of Beijing ), Volunteers

In 2004, the State Council called a halt to the project to build a 13-level dam at Nujiang in Yun'nan province and rejected the proposal presented by the State Development and Reform Commission. The scale of the project was compared to that of the three-gorges.
“But this is far from enough, we are afraid that it will be reconsidered.” Yu Xiaogang, the organizer of the Green Watershed, said, “it is a result of a fight amongst the environmentalists, the government and the companies. The local s residents have not expressed their opinions yet, or have not accurately expressed themselves yet.”
“Green Watershed” is one of many NGOs who have voiced their opposition to building a dam at Nujiang. On May 24 th , 2004 , Yu took 14 representatives from Nujiang to Manwan power plant on the Lancang River .

Yu Xiaogang often tells a story happened in India .

A young woman had recently lost her husband. According to the local custom, she must be buried alive with him. She knew about the custom and agreed. Just when her relatives were about to set flames to her, an English man who chanced by, attempted to save her. He accused her relatives of being cruel. They argued they were just following the tradition, and he should not interfere. But the Englishman said this custom should be abandoned if it was backward and destroyed life. The argument went on, but the woman did not say a word.
“She either had no chance to speak or did not know what to say.” Yu said, “We found ourselves in a similar situation here at Nujiang. Now the NGOs, the government and the companies have all been heard, but the local residents have not voiced their opinions yet, which is not right.” If the dam were to be built, 70,000 to 80,000 people will have to be relocated, and thousands more down stream will be affected too. Among them many people are from ethnic minority groups. Many are not aware that a dam will be built in their neighborhood and they will be displaced owing to the poor dissemination of information and language barriers. One resident said, “the dam will benefit everyone, according to the government.”

Yu said, “we want to show them how life has changed for the people after the power plant was built at Lancang River, how the environment was affected, so they can decide for themselves whether they want a dam at Nujiang. Or how they could negotiate a better deal with the government to protect their rights.”

Lessons from Manwan power plant

Assisted by OxFam Hong Kong, Yu Xiaogang and several other experts did undertook some intensive research regarding the Manwan power plant in 2000. The power plant was constructed 18 years ago, with the slogan—“People will become rich when the plant starts to generate electricity.” The plant was named one of the five best hydro-power-generating projects during China 's 7 th and 8 th 5-year plans. It was well know for receiving the fastest result with the least amount of investment.

However the life of the local residents has not improved since the plant became operational in 1993. A lot of problems surfaced instead. The displaced residents had to deal with limited resources at their new home. Compared to their previous location, they have less land, forest, farmland, fish, and water to support their livelihood. Their sources of sustenance become limited and risky, and their quality of life has deteriorated. Though the power plant promised to give 3 to 5% of the electricity generated to the local people “to replace wood with electricity,” in reality, no one is willing to pay s for building the distribution network in the mountains, and the local residents can't afford to buy electrical appliances.

Yu Xiaogang said, “Manwan's record low investment stems from the fact that they offered the lowest level of compensation to the displaced locals. A one time subsidy of less than 3,000 RMB per person was paid, and an annual 400 RMB per person was made each year, which meets the country's minimum required standard.”
Manwan power plant is located in the west of Yun'nan province, the first of eight power plants to be develop at on Lancang River . Everyone involved, except the local residents, profited from the project. Currently, the state collects an annual profit of more than 100 million RMB, the provincial government claims more than 50 million RMB, the 4 counties received more than 50 million RMB, and the Manwan power plant and the Yu'nan provincial power company received profits of more than 120 million RMB. While making great contributions to the country's fiscal income, the power plant's compensation to the displaced residents was the bare minimum. In total, 55 million RMB was given to the 7,260 displaced residents, averaging less than 8,000 RMB per person, far below a reasonable amount required to meet the actual cost of relocating.

Presently, the local government's promise of “replacing wood with electricity” has become nonsense. Survey shows that the income of the displaced residents dropped significantly.

“The power plant made money, and provided tax income to the country.” Said Bi Wenzhi, a local resident from Tianba village near Manwan power plant, “but the tax did not improve the lives of the people who live close to the dam.”
Manwan's residents:
Irrespective of the worries and heated debates from the outside world, the small Manwan village is quiet. Cool nights follow hot days. Along both side of the Lancang River up in the mountains, many families are suffering in poverty. It's hard to compare them with the rich and relaxed livestyle of those inside the beautiful power plant.

“We used to live in Tianba, a rich village with abundant natural resources.” Zhang Xueping recalled, “now all has become a sad memory.”

Tianba, 800 meters away from the dam, had been flooded when the river was blocked. The villagers had to move out into the mountains. Bi Wenzhi from Tianba said, “the village was destroyed, now we are only recognized as a collective group when we visit higher government officials outside our region, or when we staged a quiet demonstration in front of the power plant.” After the dam was built, the average farmland per person was reduced by .58 mu. The quality of the land has degenerated as well. An old man told me, “the land near the bottom of the village is better for farming than the slope, which produces less than 1/4 of the yields.”
The villagers from Tianba did receive one seemingly favorable treatment in return though: their residential status was changed from farmer to non-farmer. They were excited at the beginning thinking that they could purchase food at the more favorable rates offered to non-farmers. However many years later, they discovered even this sweet deal had gone sour: they were not considered a farmer, a worker, or someone who lost their previous job from a state-owned company. Bi Wenzhi said, “if anyone from outside wants to marry a Tianba villager, or anytime a baby is born, no matter where they live in the mountains, they have to pay 300 RMB to receive a legal residential card. It's because we are non-farmer residents.”

Professor He Daming, director of Asian rivers research center at Yunnan University , said the Manwan power plant was designed under the planned economy, built during the transitional period, and operated following the rules of a market economy. It is different now, the once favorable non-farmer residential card can't bring the cardholders any real benefits, they are “nothing” – having no land to farm and are jobless. The locals have tried in vain to solve the problems.

As time has passed, the local residents have found it more difficult to claim their rights, especially after the management of the power plant was handed over to the Kunming based, Yun'nan Huaneng Lancang River Water and Electricity Ltd. Co. The move was one of China 's economic reforms.

Tianba villagers found themselves in a helpless situation. They left home to find work outside. Only low paying jobs were waiting for them because of their poor education. Among the ones who had stayed, many of them live on collecting garbage thrown out from the power plant. Yang Wencui, a 78-year old lady, told me, while going through the garbage pile, “if we get lucky, we can get 1 or 2 RMB per day for selling the garbage, usually we get 10 or 20 cents.”

Not far away, a 26-year old mother was picking the garbage as well, while carrying her 2 year old on her back. She wept when asked why she had to do this, “I have no land, no job, this is the only way to survive.”

“I worry more about my sons and grandsons,” the old lady said, “they can't go to school, they can't farm or work, I'm afraid they will be led astray and cause trouble.”

Having a power plant next door doesn't guarantee paying less for the electricity. The cost of the electricity per kw/h has gone up from 0.17 to 2 RMB after it traveled from the plant to the electricity supply office, then to the village, and finally reached the homes of the villagers.
In addition the environmental impact is high, He Daming said, the amount of sediment accumulated in the first three years after completion of the dam equaled to 15 years of planned accumulation, this is severely damaging the water quality.

In the meantime, the growing number of displaced residents and the impact on the environment due to the relocation has caught the engineers off guard. Most of the displaced residents chose to move up on the slope of the mountain to cultivate the slope, they cut the trees, which has wreaked havoc on the environment, aggravated the land loss and had increased the chance of a landslide. Within a short period after the dam commenced operation in 1993, more than 100 landslides have occurred. In March 1995, a small adjustment in the water level of the dam caused a huge landslide, destroying many homes of the displaced residents, thousands of people were affected. When the local government sought compensation from the power plant, they were flatly rejected. The plant reasoned that they should not be held responsible since the disaster happened after the dam was finished.

Around Manwan area, many other villages are sharing the similar misfortune as Tianba, some are even worse. Li Guojun from Taipingzhang village said, “before it was easy to irrigate farmland on the banks of the river, but now we cannot grow food on the slope. We can't afford to buy both the electrical equipment and the electricity to bring the water uphill.”

Local Residents become shareholders?

After talking to the villagers of Tianba Village , Cha-Fasheng from Nujiang said: it is hard to believe that their lives have become like this, how could the local government just leave them alone like that? Bi-Wenzhi said: Now the question is that the government is afraid of us, not visa versa, since they are always unable to solve our problems and difficulties, no body wants to come work in our village. Zheng-Shaozhen, a resident from Nujiang, said: the government always says that building hydro plant can make us wealthy. But after seeing the conditions of Manwan Hydro Plant, we can't expect what the future will be.”

The information of Manwan made the representatives of Nujiang residents astonished. After the two days conversation and discusssion with Manwan residents, He-Yuke, a resident from Xiaoshanba Village of Nujiang County, said:” we do need a thorough consideration after returning, only fools would repeat the road of Manwan residents, but we won't confront the government directly. If the government insist on building this hydro plant, it has to maintain the interest of our Nujiang people, we would never allow the situation that the government and enterprises gain all the benefit while leaving us Nujiang people even poorer.”

Such visits should be organized by the government, now, they are still stressing on the possible benefit of building hydro plants, and Manwan station is the best example. Yu Xiaogang said, But the local government never does things like this, as a matter of fact they dare not to, otherwise, there would be no one supporting their development projects.

A villager of the Tianba Village told the guests from Nujiang: if you have any questions or requests, you must consider and express them very clearly in advance, as soon as the project is finished, neither the local government nor the electricity company will give you anything, it will be too late to struggle then.

Professor Dang-Chenglin, the superintendent of the Zoology & Propagation Research Institute, Yunnan University, said: it is true that hydro project on the downstream of Nujiang River is not the only way to solve local poverty and to trigger economic development. However, natural resources in Nujing State are scarce, and it is probably really hard for most of us to realize how difficult the living condition in Nujiang County is. Developing hydro project at any rate is a realizable way to promote socioeconomic development in Nujiang County .

The annual revenue of Nujiang County was 105,000,000 RMB in 2002, compared to fifteen years ago, this number only increased 30,000,000 RMB; and the self-sufficient rate was only 14.7%. In March 2004, Ou-Zhiming, the sheriff of Nujiang County , showed that almost all the lands of the area below 1500 meters have been developed. Due to the poor geographical condition, it has been proved that the carrying capacity of the environment will not be able to support large scale tourism, also, 98% of the Nujiang drainage area is high mountains and canyons, the local economy used to be mostly dependent on forestry before. These years, cutting trees is no longer allowed and the local economy is facing great difficulties.

“Certainly, the greatest beneficiary is the electric power company, and local government will also be able to overcome poverty. But it is unknown if the profit will be ever shared by the local people, an environmentalist said, does the interest of enterprises really represent that of the people? Then what is the representation of the “most common people”? Those decision-makers should represent the the majority's interest, not simply the interest of the enterprises.”

In some countries such as Canada and America , considering that the local residents have the right to use their resources, they have developed a share holding system according to which the local residents can become shareholders and hold about 30% of the share of the energy company. “As long as the electricity stations generate electricity and create economic income, the local residents Have nothing to worry about their living. More over, they are always bonded with the electricity stations and enterprises,” Yu Xiaogang said, “but the Chinese residents have no such opportunities and treatment.”

For the whole Chinese article, please see: http://www.nujiang.ngo.cn/Chinese/New_Articles/014