{"id":34040,"date":"2016-06-24T11:56:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T11:56:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-10-09T14:14:58","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T14:14:58","slug":"9040-silk-road-project-suspended-over-threats-to-lake-baikal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/9040-silk-road-project-suspended-over-threats-to-lake-baikal\/","title":{"rendered":"Silk Road project suspended over threats to Lake Baikal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every Chinese person knows about one place in Siberia \u2013\u00a0 Lake Baikal. It is not necessarily famous for its unique biodiversity or for being the deepest lake in the world. \u00a0Every winter, radio broadcasts warn Chinese listeners about \u201ccold air masses that are moving in from the Lake Baikal\u201d. \u00a0It\u2019s also the subject of a\u00a0popular\u00a0folk\u00a0song<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lake Baikal contains 20% of the world\u2019s freshwater resources and affects the regional climate of North Asia and the Arctic Basin. The lake is home to 2,500 aquatic species and local communities in Mongolia and Russia revere the lake as the\u00a0\u201cSacred Sea\u201d.<\/p>\n

See also: Backward steps at Lake Baikal\u00a0<\/a>
\nSee also: Global warming affects Lake Baikal<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chinese people are beginning to value Lake Baikal and are increasingly coming as tourists to see it. Some visitors\u00a0are even investing in the risky tourism business around the lake. Recently the China-based Well of the World company proposed pouring Baikal water into bottles to quench Chinese thirst.\u00a0 But this nature-friendly relationship could be severely damaged as the China Export-Import Bank (China EXIM Bank) has pledged a soft loan to Mongolia for a project that may tip the fragile ecological balance of the ancient lake.<\/p>\n

\"Selenga<\/a>
\nThe Selenge River drains much of northern Mongolia into Lake Baikal.<\/span><\/p>\n

On November 11, 2015, Mongolia and China issued a joint statement that calls for the development of large industrial projects including major coal projects and hydropower. For that Mongolia secured a US$\u00a01 billion (6.6 billion yuan) loan from the China EXIM Bank, which it intends to use for the construction of the\u00a0Egiin Gol hydropower project<\/a>. \u00a0A\u00a0US$\u00a0100 million concession<\/a>\u00a0for access roads and bridges has been awarded to China Gezhouba<\/a> and construction activity began during the harsh winter months.<\/p>\n

These energy schemes are essential parts of China\u2019s New Silk Road Initiative<\/a>, aimed at integrating the country with its neighbours. But in the spring, Chinese authorities intervened to suspend the dam project until due diligence is carried out on transboundary impacts. This highlights the lack of environmental safeguards and green development guidelines under the Silk Road, which provides polluting state-owned companies that are, no longer welcome at home, with opportunities to invest in infrastructure, energy and heavy industry in neighboring countries.<\/p>\n

Dam damage<\/strong><\/p>\n

The hydropower project is located on the Eg River near its confluence with the Selenge River, the main source of Lake Baikal. Feasibility studies for the hydropower dam were completed ten years ago under the auspices of the Asian Development Bank in an ill-directed attempt to boost renewable energy use in Mongolia. Although electricity generation potential of the rapidly drying rivers of Mongolia is 3,000 times smaller than that its wind and sun potential, the World Bank followed the Chinese script. Its feasibility studies for several coal projects and two more large dams in the Baikal Basin, one of them \u2013\u00a0 the Shuren Hydro dam \u2013\u00a0 is planned on the Selenge River itself.<\/p>\n

Mongolian government agencies are looking at 10 more hydropower dam locations on the Baikal Basin, justified by the need to \u201cde-carbonise\u201d the energy sector and achieve energy independence from Russia.<\/p>\n

Climate stricken lake<\/strong><\/p>\n

The International Union for Conservation of Nature\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0in 2015 that the combined effects of the projects on the lake are not fully known and could seriously damage its UNESCO World Heritage status.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0World Heritage Committee<\/a>\u00a0discussed the dams that could damage Lake Baikal at a meeting in Bonn in July 2015. The committee\u00a0set forth requirements<\/a>\u00a0for an impact assessment of Egiin Gol and two other projects, as well as a cumulative impacts assessment for all three dams. The committee requested Mongolia (and by default, China) to hold approval\u00a0of the projects until all assessments for dams have been completed and reviewed by the World Heritage Centre.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Sergey<\/a>
\nLake Baikal\u00a0(Image by Sergey Gabdurakhmanov<\/a>) <\/span><\/p>\n

The ecosystem of the lake has already been severely damaged by the construction of the Irkutsk Hydropower plant built upstream in Russia in 1960. This, along with prolonged drought in Mongolia, has led to a decline in the lake\u2019s water levels. Climate change and pollution combined to create an ecological and socio-economic crisis on the Baikal Lake shore with massive invasive algae blooms, a decline in fisheries and an increase in severe peat fires in the Selenge River delta.<\/p>\n

Weak standards\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

So how did China, which is prioritising a cleaner environment at home, and promoting \u201cgreen development\u201d globally as a G20 leader, make such a dangerous mistake by starting work on Egiin Gol?<\/p>\n

This is a consequence of gaps still present in the design of China\u2019s\u00a0New Silk Road Initiative<\/a>\u00a0(or One Belt One Road) aimed at integrating the country with its neighbours and global markets. However great it is at boosting new economic cooperation, the\u00a0New Silk Road Initiative<\/a>\u00a0so far lacks clear environmental safeguards and specific green development guidelines. Grand plans for \u201cnew economic corridors\u201d are not subjected to strategic environmental assessments to avoid environmental damage and select the best alternatives.\n<\/div>\n

\"silk<\/a>
\nMap sourced from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, there is no mechanism for consultation with stakeholders living along the Silk Road. Without this, Chinese investors lack information on actual environmental and social risks. Or they get it too late, as in this case when supervising agencies ordered Gezhouba to stop construction.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s National Development and Reform Commission suspended the project over concerns about transboundary impacts of the dam project, according to sources within the company and the Mongolian foreign ministry.\u00a0 China EXIM Bank has also asked their Mongolian counterparts to conduct due diligence on Egiin Gol. Meanwhile the project is in limbo.<\/p>\n

Most likely, Chinese agencies pursuing energy cooperation with Mongolia had not assessed the environmental effects of various investment options or the associated trans-boundary water issues. Then, all of a sudden this spring, the EXIM Bank\u00a0received a letter<\/a>\u00a0from the people of Russia\u2019s Kabansk District in the Selenge River Delta and learned that the project it was supporting could harm Lake Baikal, which is the source of cold winter air in China.<\/p>\n

An alternative way forward was proposed by the\u00a0 64,000 people who\u00a0signed a petition last year asking Mongolia, Russia and China<\/a>\u00a0to support solar and wind instead of hydropower and coal. China, with its ambitions to develop a large-scale renewable industry, should listen to these voices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

An earlier version of this article was published on\u00a0<\/em>Russia Beyond the Headlines<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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