China recently approved the construction of the world's largest hydropower dam at Yarung Tsangpo River in Tibet. Once in operation, it becomes the most powerful energy equipment of the earth with a large lead. The neighbors India and Bangladesh are concerned about.
The project has triggered a widespread concern of its possible effects on both the environment and the local communities, which are particularly acute in subsequent countries such as India and Bangladesh. The river is known as Brahmaputra in these countries Article The conversation about this energy project remembers. Critics fear that the dam displaces the residents, disrupt ecosystems and make existing water -related challenges worse.
The project underlines the complex geopolitical dynamics of rivers that exceed the national borders. Important questions arise: Who has a river that flows through several countries? Who has the right to water? Are nations obliged to prevent pollution or maintain open navigation channels? And can downstream communities that are thousands of miles away can claim precipitation that falls upstream? These are difficult questions, and international law currently only offers limited clarity or consensus.
The Yarung Tsangpo is one of the Arctic and Antarctic, which comes on the Tibetan plateau and is often referred to as the “third pole” of the earth, and is one of several important rivers that feed in South and Southeast Asia. These rivers are of crucial importance for more than a billion people in countries such as Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
However, this critical region is already faced with water stress due to climate change. Shrinking glaciers and shift precipitation patterns reduce the river flow during the dry season and at the same time increase the frequency and intensity of the floods during the monsoon. These extremes form significant risks for agriculture, water supply and human settlements in the entire region.
Historically, the dam building in the Himalayas has led to the shift of municipalities, ecological damage and increased flood risks. It is unlikely that the new Grand Dam Yaryn Tsangpo will be an exception. The area is located in a seismic area in which the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, and is susceptible to earthquakes, landslides and fall floods, all of which increase the potential danger.
The Brahmaputra River is a lifeline for millions further downstream and plays a crucial role in agriculture and ecology in the region. It bears some of the highest sediment loads in the world that are essential for maintaining the fertile delta and ecosystems such as the Sundarban Mangroven Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A dam of this size would integrate large sediment volumes, disturb these natural processes and threaten both nutritional safety and the resistance of the coast.
Despite the cross -border nature of the Brahmaputra, there is no comprehensive contract to regulate its use. The lack of a cooperative framework between China, India and Bangladesh makes the coordinated administration and disaster prevention difficult. While models of successful river participation agreements are available, such as the Donau River Convention with 14 nations and the European Union, many rivers in the global south, including the Brahmaputra, suffer from a lack of similar international cooperation and scientific research.
By Nazrin Sadigova