Environmental and Regional Impacts of the Yarlung Zangbo Project
China has officially approved the construction of the world’s largest hydropower dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet, a project that could significantly impact millions of people downstream in India and Bangladesh. The dam, expected to produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, will surpass the Three Gorges Dam in terms of capacity, which is currently the largest in the world with a design capacity of 88.2 billion kWh.
The construction will aid in China’s efforts to meet its carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets while stimulating related industries, including engineering, and generating employment opportunities in Tibet. The Yarlung Zangbo River, which drops dramatically over 2,000 meters in a 50-km stretch, provides ideal conditions for hydropower generation but also presents substantial engineering challenges.
The dam’s costs are expected to exceed those of the Three Gorges Dam, which amounted to 254.2 billion yuan. The project will also likely involve resettling a significant number of people, although exact figures have not yet been disclosed. While Chinese officials claim the environmental impact will be minimal, concerns have been raised, particularly regarding the dam’s effect on local ecosystems and the flow of the river downstream.
The Yarlung Zangbo River becomes the Brahmaputra River as it flows south through India and Bangladesh, where it is feared that the dam could alter water flow, disrupting agriculture, water supplies, and local economies. China’s plans for additional hydropower projects upstream further complicate the situation, heightening regional tensions over water rights and environmental management.
