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Green Watershed is an environmental organization based in Yunnan.
We have developed several environmental protection programs.
For example, we have a program that focuses on
the protection of the Lashi Lake watershed.
With the involvement of the local people in the Lashi Lake area
we have been carrying out this program for more than ten years.
Green Watershed also runs other programs
such as the Green Credit program.
Through this program
and together with nine other Chinese NGOs
we monitor Chinese banks
and advocate for the implementation and execution of green credit policies.
Why are we so interested in the Nu River?
As far back as 2003, we and many other Chinese NGOs
undertook efforts to protect the Nu River.
The Nu River is not only an area of great biodiversity
it is also Yunnan’s only still undammed river.
Furthermore, it’s one of China’s two last undammed rivers.
Therefore, in 2003, our organization began to engage
in the controversy surrounding the hydropower company involved
and opposed its plans to build dams on the Nu River.
The Nu River is rich in natural resources and biodiversity
but it is also located in a region
that quite frequently experiences natural disasters.
Floods and mudslides occur every year along the Nu River
and power stations built along the Nu River
would be built on top of a large fault zone.
The area surrounding the Nu River
is also an active earthquake zone.
This, combined with the frequent flooding and mudslides
exposes the power stations to a number of risks.
These mudslides could also destroy these power stations.
If a dam located upstream collapses,
it could lead to a domino effect,
and the downstream power stations could
subsequently be destroyed as well.
For downstream communities and for Burma
this would create a major disaster.
So, we believe that our organization
together with other NGOs throughout the entire country
should form a Nu River protection and preservation alliance or network.
We and many of these NGOs are constantly communicating
about how to best protect the Nu River and its biodiversity,
how to engage hydropower companies in dialogue,
how to construct a discourse relating to
our watersheds and community NGOs.
We also want to address the possibility
of hydropower companies using methods of environmental protection
to guard against seismic risks
as well as engaging hydropower companies
in a national discourse around energy savings and emission reductions
to justify this kind of development on the Nu River.
We believe that
as long as we can organize well
advance scientific research
and of course, gain the support of ordinary people
we can preserve the Nu River and this World Heritage site.