In late December, China approved the world’s largest hydropower project to begin construction.
The Motuo Project is expected to generate three times as much energy as the Three Gorges Dam located on the Yangtze River.
However, the project is controversial due to its location. The station is expected to be built on the Great Bend, a horseshoe-shaped section of the world’s deepest land canyon, known as the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in Tibet. Located on the Tibetan Plateau just north of the border between China and India, the canyon is three times deeper and 37 miles longer than the U.S. Grand Canyon. It was formed by tectonic interactions between the Indian and Eurasian plates, but these interactions and climate change now threaten the existence of a hydropower project on the river.
As glaciers in the basin shrink in response to climate change, landslides are occurring more frequently along the river. In March 2021, glacier collapse led to a massive landslide with an estimated volume of 100 million tons of rock and ice (equivalent to the mass of 302 Empire State Buildings). The debris blocked the Yarlung Tsangpo River just above the Great Bend and caused water levels to rise over 10 meters, or more than three stories. In October 2018, debris from a string of glacial landslides in the basin temporarily blocked the river and flooded the valley. In both situations, urgent evacuations prevented deaths, but the floods still damaged infrastructure.
These incidents have fueled concerns that future landslides could create waves that would breach the new dam and lead to devastating effects downstream if concrete debris, landslide material and large amounts of reservoir water flooded down the canyon.
Beyond the natural hazards, the construction of this dam and the resulting reservoir are likely to lead to flooding and the displacement of Tibetan people and entire towns, though China has not released these estimates yet.
The smaller Three Gorges Dam displaced 1.4 million people, though estimates vary, and the Chinese government has resettled thousands of Tibetans to construct the Gangtuo Dam, known in Tibetan as the Kamtok Dam, on the Jinsha River, some 1000 kilometers to the northeast of Yarlung Tsangpo. In early 2024, villagers and Buddhist monks protested over the planned Gangtuo (Kamtok) reservoir, which is expected to flood villages and sacred monasteries, including the 700-year-old Wontoe Monastery, which contains rare Buddhist murals. Authorities swiftly cracked down, beating and arresting protestors, though many Tibetan people and organizations still resist these hydropower projects as a violation of their autonomy.
In addition to domestic conflict, this dam would be constructed on a transboundary watershed known for its tense border relations, just upstream of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh where the river is known as the Siang or Dihang. Further south, the river is known as the Brahmaputra in most regions of India. Eventually the water body flows into Bangladesh as the Jamuna River. Officials in both India and Bangladesh also disapprove of the authorized Motuo Hydropower Project, citing concerns about water supply and water data sharing issues with China.
In response to the Motuo Hydropower Project, India threatened to build a dam on the Brahmaputra. India claims that this dam would help protect their water supply and economy, but it could further put the Jamuna’s water supply in Bangladesh at risk.
As the Motuo Hydropower Project advances with little acknowledgement of input from local communities and downstream nations, the concerns about natural hazards, displacement and water supply remain unresolved.