Oh Dam! Pumping Sustainability into Chinese Hydropower Investments

12/21/17 • 25 min

China has a lot of dams – about 87,000 of them — and has almost one half of the world’s large dams, including the largest, the Three Gorges Dam. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that China’s hydro companies were among the first wave of Chinese companies to zou chu qu -- to "go out” from China in the early 2000s. But while hydroelectric plants represent a source of non-fossil energy, they are also often associated with ecological and social disruption.

In this episode, we chat with Stephanie Jensen-Cormier, China Program Director at International Rivers, about the progress being made by Chinese hydropower companies to minimize environmental impacts domestically and abroad. She has almost ten years of experience working on and researching environmental and China-related issues and is also a long-time member of the Beijing Energy Network. You can read more about Stephanie’s reflections on Chinese overseas hydropower investment in a recent blog post she authored here.

And exciting news — Stephanie’s team is hiring for consultant and intern positions! Please visit the International Rivers website to access the JDs and contact Stephanie if you’re interested in joining the International Rivers team.

Previous Episode

Every Bite Counts！资深食品安全工作者如何看待中国农业与食物的未来

近些年来食品安全问题常常见诸报端。人们在思考其背后的原因的同时,也在试图寻找解决方案。今天参与我们对话的嘉宾是绿色和平东亚办公室食品与农业项目组的王婧。过去几年来,王婧和她同事们活跃在环保与生态农业圈,从事食品安全问题研究,倡导现代生态农业在中国的发展。本期节目中,她从政府、企业、农业生产者和普通消费者的不同角度分析了如何推动食品安全体系的建立,同时结合自身的经历介绍了生态农业在中国的发展现状和面临的问题。王婧亦是一名资深生态美食达人,是“吃货拯救世界”微信公众号的主要撰稿人,通过微信平台定期向大家推荐生态食材,推广生态农业和环境保护的理念。搜索chihuozhengjiushijie即可关注。

We are delighted to have Wang Jing from Greenpeace East Asia to share her work experience in the field of food and agriculture in this episode. We have learned the reasons behind food safety incidents and discussed the role of central and local government, business, farmers and consumers can play in addressing the issue. Jing has also shared some of her most exciting and interesting stories on organic farming. She also runs a WeChat public account (吃货拯救世界) on great organic food. Please search chihuozhengjiushijie to follow her.

Next Episode

做环境记者是一种怎样的体验呢？—— 采访澎湃新闻石毅

环保和记者是天然的盟友。环境记者这个行当在中国存在的时间还不是特别久,近年来,在越来越多的记者的见证和记录下,环境问题的曝光率和关注度越来越高。今天的环境中国播客,让我们来听听环境记者的故事。在中国做环境记者是一种什么样的体验呢?石毅是澎湃新闻的一名记者。她从2014年开始关注环境议题,报道涉及生物多样性保护、气候变化、野生物犯罪调查等。她对新疆卡拉麦里违规调减保护区面积的报道推动了保护区的整改;过去2年,她关注中国人和中国企业在非洲投资所引起的环境问题,报道了中国人在纳米比亚涉及象牙贸易,在刚果金涉嫌非法伐木。 2016年,她获得中外对话年度最佳环境记者奖。

In recent years, more and more environmental issues were exposed to the public through the documentation by environmental journalist, a profession that’s relatively new in China. In today’s Environment China Podcast, let’s hear the stories from a Chinese environmental journalist. Shi Yi works for 澎湃新闻 (www.thepaper.cn). Since 2014, she broke the news on topics such as biodiversity, climate change, wild animal poaching, etc. Her investigation has pushed forward the protection of Xinjiang Kalamaili Mountain Ungulate Nature Reserve, which won her the 2016 Best Environmental Journalist Award by China Dialogue. In the last 2 years, she has also investigated the environmental issues caused by Chinese and Chinese enterprises in Africa, such as ivory trade in Namibia and illegal lumbering in Congo.