Three Gorges Damn, China Top-down strategy

Three Gorges Damn, China Top-down strategy

1. Positives

   • Helps with flood control, protects 100million people from flooding
   • Generates 22,500 MW of power
   • Large ships can now use the Yangtze river, improving trade
   • Created jobs
   • Reduces the need for coal fired powerstations, meaning there's less pollution and cleaner air

2. Negatives

   • 1.3million people had to relocate, recieving little compensation
   • Yangtze wildlife species threatened, particularly the Yangtze dolphin
   • Silt will get trapped behind the dam, and in 50 years this will cause problems for flood control
   • Pollution from sewage, farm and industrial waste
   • Farmers downstream will no longer receive the annual floodwaters which irrigate their land
   • The dam is built on fault lines
   • Tourism has been negatively affected
   • Very expensive (US$26billion)