Enviromental Issues

The Chinese government came up with the plan to build the Three Gorges Dam and it has been a very controversial topic within the country ever since. The reason why so many people opposed the construction of the dam is because the costs were high and people doubted that it could bring more benfits than costs. Also, the most important reason as of late, is that the construction of the dam brought many significant environmental issues.

First of all, the Three Gorges Dam impacts the local ecological environment. Pollution has become one of the main reasons why the dam affects the ecological environment. The water level has now drowned over 560 kinds of plants (“Three Gorges Dam”, n.d., para.18). Also, because the dam cut off the river, most fish cannot go through the dam. This may cause the change of habits and even cause genetic variation. Additionally, the dam is changing the physical landscape and may cause landslides. According to observation, there are more earthquakes occurring in this area as well. The forest cover went down from 20% to 10% and waste management has become a problem; domestic sewage and garbage is being emitted into the Yangtze River. The water pollution might cause the spread of diseases.

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