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Population Displacement in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of the Yangtze River, Central China: Relocation Policies and Migrant Views

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Population Displacement in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of the Yangtze River, Central China: Relocation Policies and Migrant Views INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POPULATION GEOGRAPHY Int. J. Popul. Geogr. 6, 439±462 (2000) Population Displacement in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of the Yangtze River, Central China: Relocation Policies and Migrant Views Li Heming and Philip Rees* 1School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK ABSTRACT involvement of those affected in policy- making and relocation affairs. Despite Employing empirical data derived from a expressing their support for the project, the questionnaire survey and in-depth majority of rural migrants have mixed interviews (1997±1998) in the Three Gorges feelings about their relocation. The results of reservoir area, and using secondary sources our survey and interviews have revealed the in both Chinese and English, the paper fact that a number of relocatees are facing the describes the number, categories and spatial risk of impoverishment because of a shortage distribution of migrant ¯ows, evaluates the of ®nancial and economic resources, the major methods of settling relocatees, and environmental constraints on relocation explores the state of relocatees' feelings capacity, and mismanagement of the about their relocation. We found that the operation. Under such circumstances, it is number of people to be relocated is still very dif®cult for those affected to view their uncertain and environmental, social and displacement as a good opportunity to behavioural factors in¯uence the number. improve their standard of living. Copyright The relocation programmes are involved in # 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. settling people in nearby areas, in moving them far away, or in settling rural migrants in Received 11 July 2000; revised 19 September 2000; accepted 25 urban industrial enterprises. These September 2000 resettlement processes are challenged Keywords: population; displacement; respectively by a tight people/land resettlement; Three Gorges dam project; relationship on higher ground above the Yangtze River; China reservoir, by the dif®culties in rebuilding production systems and adapting to a new social setting outside the reservoir area, and INTRODUCTION by increasing unemployment in urban China. A series of problems with the he Yangtze River is the third largest river relocation operation have resulted because of T in the world after the Nile and the the lack of a generalised framework for Amazon, and is the `golden waterway' population relocation and the inadequate in China, linking southwest and central China with coastal regions. Proposed in the early 1900s and reintroduced in the 1950s, the Three Gorges Project (TGP) was launched in 1992 * Correspondence to: P. Rees, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT. and is currently under construction in the E-mail: [email protected] Three Gorges area of the Yangtze valley, Copyright # 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 440 Li Heming and Philip Rees Figure 1. The area to be inundated by the reservoir. central China. The area, one of the most major reasons: it will generate the most spectacular landscapes in China, is well- electricity of all hydropower stations globally known for its picturesque mountains and and it will displace the most people in a single cliffs, deep gorges and tributaries, as well as project in human history. Over one million for its long history and unique culture. After people will have to make way for its construc- damming the Yangtze at the end of 1997, the tion, and many more people will be affected, project has entered its second phase. The including those whose communities will re- project is also one of the most controversial ceive relocatees from the reservoir area and water conservancy projects in China. Rapid those who will be threatened by the reservoir economic growth has allowed decision-ma- water rising during the ¯ooding season. The kers, planners and technocrats to envisage second section of the paper puts migrants carrying out the huge project, and a relative displaced by reservoir construction in a more degree of freedom of speech has made it general context of forced migration, drawing possible for scholars and intellectuals to on a growing literature. The paper provides in engage in heated debates over the project. In the third section a general picture of the international society, many environmental displaced population, its categories, character- organisations such as the International River istics and spatial distribution, with a focus on Network (IRN) and Probe International call for how they will be moved and resettled. We the project to be stopped, as do the world's draw on TGP planning documents, commen- foremost dam ®nanciers and builders, includ- tary by experts, newspaper reports on reloca- ing the World Bank, the US Export-Import tion schemes, an extensive set of interviews Bank, Canadian BC Hydro and Ontario Hydro, with TGP and government of®cials at various who are refusing to participate. times during 1998 and a large household The Three Gorges Project is regarded as the survey of both potential and actual migrants largest water project in the world for two carried out by the ®rst author and teams of Copyright # 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Popul. Geogr., 6, 439±462 (2000) Population Displacement in the Yangtze River Area 441 student interviewers from the Central China de®nition, there were 13 million of®cially Normal University and the Sichuan Three recognised refugees in the world in 1996 Gorges College (Li, 2000, Chapter 4). Based (UNHCR, 1997). Parnwell (1993: 42) estimated on the 1997±1998 survey in which 570 migrant that some 140 million people seeking refuge households and hosts were interviewed in from political (and ecological) crises have been Yichang, Zigui, Xingshan and Badong counties displaced during this century. The traditional in Hubei Province, and in Yunyang and de®nition emphasises that refugees must cross Kaixian counties in Chongqing Municipality international boundaries to be classi®ed as (Fig. 1), we discovered how these people felt such, but increasing violence within countries about their displacement, what expectations is displacing migrants within countries as well they had, and to what extent they supported (Connor, 1986; Schmeidl, 1997). the project. The survey ®ndings are discussed A second category of forced migrant is in detail in the fourth section of the paper. In produced by environmental change in origin the ®fth section, we explore whether the areas. Myers and Kent (1995: 18) de®ned project might yield a good opportunity for environmental refugees as `persons who no the migrants to escape from poverty. longer gain a secure livelihood in their tradi- tional homelands because of ¼ environmental FORCED MIGRATION AND RESERVOIR factors of unusual scope'. These environmental DISPLACEES factors include a wide range of events: the slow build-up of environmental degradation The migration literature is full of many through drought, deserti®cation, deforestation valuable classi®cations of what is a wide- and sea-level rise, sudden and devastating ranging phenomenon (White and Woods, natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic 1980; Standing, 1984; Parnwell, 1993). In most eruptions and ¯oods, and industrial accidents cases these frameworks assume that the such as chemical plant explosions (Bhopal, migrant has a choice about whether to mi- India), the leakage of poison gas (Seveso, Italy) grate or not, and that migration is chosen or and nuclear meltdown (Chernobyl, Ukraine). not depending on the balance of push/pull One of the most severe natural disasters factors at origin and destination. However, occurred in the summer of 1998 in the Yangtze there is an increasing recognition that many valley, when 335,000 people were forced to migrants have no realistic choice but to move: evacuate the Jinjiang Flood Diversion area these migrants are labelled `involuntary' or (Chutian dushibao, 1998). The ®rst author was `forced' migrants (Boyle et al., 1998). Three recruited for levee protection duty in Wuhan major categories of forced migrants can be during this ¯ood. Timberlake (1988) estimated identi®ed: political refugees, environmental that tens of millions of people have been refugees, and people displaced by dam and permanently uprooted by environmental other major construction projects. All these crises and warned that 15% of the population groups have to move, but the time over which of Bangladesh is likely to be forced to abandon their move can be planned, and the resources their homes because of rising sea-levels. of the state and household available to aid the Normally, international rescue and assistance process, increase as we move through the spring into action when severe natural disas- categories. ters occur, regardless of national boundaries, Refugee migration `represents an extreme as long as the nation states experiencing the form of marginalisation of individuals and disaster are willing to accept help. groups' (Black, 1991: 287). The UN 1951 The term `environmental refugees', how- Convention on Refugees employs a relatively ever, has been criticised by several researchers. narrow political de®nition, limiting refugee McGregor (1993) considered that the use of the status to those living `outside their own term has no foundation in law and confuses country owing to a well founded fear of different types of service and institutional persecution, for reasons of race, religion, responsibility. Kibreab (1994) observed that nationality, membership of a particular social the term has been widely misused by aca- group or political
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