A new guide published by International Rivers this week explains how NGOs can influence Chinese dam builders.
Chinese companies and financiers are involved in more than 300 overseas dam projects, and Sinohydro, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, has become the world’s biggest hydropower company.
But Chinese projects are increasingly inciting opposition. In a number of recent cases, protests by local communities and NGOs have forced Chinese companies and financiers to suspend projects in Myanmar, Malaysia, and withdraw from Cambodia.
The guide points to progress made by the Chinese dam industry in recent years on paper: Sinohydro has prepared an environmental policy that puts it at the forefront of the international hydropower industry; and Chinese government agencies have also issued guidelines for companies investing overseas. But implementation on the ground remains poor.
Read the full guide here.