When discussing China's environmental movement, few areas of the country get as much attention domestically or internationally as Yunnan does.

The reasons are plentiful: Yunnan is China's most biodiverse region, it is home to around half of the country's minority groups, it possesses massive hydropower potential and after a bit of a late start it is now fully on the economic development bandwagon.

Home to the headwaters of the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween rivers, Yunnan's abundant natural resources support not only Yunnanese but also millions of people elsewhere in China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Because of this, what happens in Yunnan has ramifications beyond the province.

China's Green Beat has recently produced two Yunnan-focused clips, the above piece looks at the Nu River, one of the two rivers left in China that has yet to be dammed. Although the Yunnan government appears determined to dam the river, there are hydropower options that would likely be able to electrify local villages.

However, exporting hydroelectric power has become big business for Yunnan, which sends electricity to markets including Hong Kong and Vietnam. For this reason alone, it is difficult to imagine the current plans to dam the Nu to be shelved by the provincial or central governments.


This second clip focuses on the consumption of biofuel in Lijiang. Overcollection of wood for fuelling inefficient stoves is one of the main threats to that region's ecological balance and biodiversity – the smoke from the primitive stoves is also responsible for eye disease among the local elderly.

More efficient stoves are being introduced to the region, reducing the average villager's wood consumption from 50 kilograms/day to only 15. These stoves also eliminate the danger of eye disease from cooking one's daily meal. This piece also takes a look at biofuel as a source of gas for cooking and fertilizer for food.

Related articles:

Official: Yunnan still hopes to dam Nu River

Video: Kunming's no-car days

Tags: biofuel, biomass, China's Green Beat, energy, environment, Hong Kong, Lijiang, Nu River, Vietnam, 丽江, 怒江

Construction of an oil and gas pipeline between Yunnan and coastal Myanmar is scheduled to begin in the first half of next year, according to Chinese media reports citing Mi Gongsheng, director of the Yunnan Provincial Reform and Development Commission.

The US$2.5 billion pipeline project is one of several major infrastructure and energy projects planned for Yunnan in 2009. The other projects reportedly focus on large-scale industry, railway expansion, cleaning up Dianchi Lake, power and coal projects, construction, power grid improvements and rural road construction. Mi added that Yunnan will spend 72 billion yuan (US$10.5 billion) on energy projects next year.

China recently announced a massive national initiative to upgrade the country's energy, aviation, rail and internet infrastructure as part of its reaction to the current global financial crisis. This will be China's largest pipeline project since completion of a pipeline from northwestern China's Xinjiang to its energy-hungry east coast in 2004.

China National Petroleum Corp, the country's top oil producer, will control a 50.9-percent stake and will manage the project, with the remainder held by Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise.

China – whose energy projects in Sudan have already been a source of international criticism – is likely to get more of the same for its cooperation with Myanmar's government, which is run by a repressive military junta that is most notable for keeping the country's last democratically elected leader – Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi under arrest for 13 of the last 20 years.

Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, construction, energy, global financial crisis, infrastructure, Myanmar, oil, pipeline, Sudan

The Jinghong Hydropower Station's first generating unit went into operation last Thursday, according to a Xinhua report. The 108-meter high dam in southern Yunnan's Xishuangbanna prefecture is the third of 15 planned for the Lancang River (澜沧江), which is known as the Mekong after flowing out of China.

The Jinghong Hydropower Station joins the already operational Manwan and Dachaoshan power stations as the central government is preparing to build 12 more dams on the Lancang generating a total of 25.2 million kilowatts.

The 12.3 billion yuan (US$1.76 billion) station at Jinghong is projected to have a total installed capacity of 1.75 million kilowatts upon completion.

According to Xinhua, "The project is a key part of the country's strategy to develop its vast western region and send electricity from there to the more populated eastern area."

Related articles:

Official: Yunnan still hopes to dam Nu River

China's second-largest hydropower project enters construction stage

Mekong River drying up

Tags: Dachaoshan, dams, energy, environment, hydropower, Jinghong, Lancang River, Manwan, Mekong River, Xishuangbanna

Last Thursday the flow of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River was blocked in order to build China's second-largest hydropower project, according to local media reports. The damming of the Jinsha River, as the Yangtze is known in Sichuan and Yunnan, will pave the way for construction of the Xiluodu Power Station (溪洛渡电站), which is scheduled for completion by 2015.

The 50 billion yuan (US$6.74 billion) project will have an installed capacity of 12.6 GW, making it the second-largest hydropower station in China after the 18.2 GW Three Gorges Dam. The Xiluodu project is located on the border of Sichuan and Yunnan.

Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, the state-owned company charged with the Xiluodu project, was ordered by China's State Environmental Protection Agency in 2005 to halt work on the dam until it completed and submitted an environmental impact assessment. Now that the river's flow is blocked, the construction phase of the project is set to begin.

Southwest China's numerous rivers are increasingly being harnessed to quench the country's growing thirst for electricity - much to the chagrin of domestic and international groups concerned with the impact of dams upon the environment, archeological sites and residents displaced by such projects. The Jinsha River is also due to have another hydropower station - Xiangjiaba - begin operations in 2015 with an installed capacity of 6 GW.

Image: Xinhua News

Tags: energy, environment, hydropower, Jinsha River, Xiluodu Power Station, Yangtze River