Resettlement in the Three Gorges Project

Preface

PREFACE Issues surrounding dam and reservoir building and other large development projects and involuntary human displacement remain fervently contested both in China and in other parts of the world. These issues involve complex interrelationships between economic, environmental, social, technical, political, and cultural factors. They are particularly significant in China where development projects have routinely involved significant dislocations ofpopulations. The construction ofthe Three Gorges dam and the associated resettlement of displaced persons are among the central socio-economic transformations that have profoundly shaped modern life in China. The resettlement issue produced by the monumental Three Gorges project (TGP) has been a critical challenge for China, involving the relocation of some 1.2 million people over 17 years by 2009. This project has special demographic, social, economic and political characteristics that differentiate its resettlement policies and approaches from many others. Through investigating the largest planned displacement of people resulting from the biggest dam project in world history, this book provides a great depth of insight into TGP resettlement issues and developmental issues of poverty and social vulnerability. One of the strongest motivations underlying my work is the belief that the government of China and the Chinese people are pioneering a number of resettlement policies and implementations that have global implications for improving outcomes of resettlement. Over the years, academics, professionals, policy-makers, and the public at large have been concerned about TGP resettlement issues. Various resettlement problems occur at many phases of the TGP. The TGP resettlement and consequences of the displacement therefore need to be carefully analysed and their complex interactions with social, environmental and economic dimensions of development systematically explored. xiv Preface This book employs a multi-method approach, using geographical information system (GIS), intensive interviews, social surveys and documentary analysis, to examine different dimensions of the TGP resettlement, and rural resettlement in particular (especially 'government-organised distant resettlement' and 'near resettlement'). The book provides a set of empirically-grounded evaluations of the following issues: the impacts of the TGP resettlement process on the displaced people and their communities, the members of host communities and the affected regions; the problems and coping strategies in rehabilitating livelihoods and agricultural and non-agricultural production; the government's awareness of the adverse consequences of displacing people and the solutions to the associated problems; and the major strengths and weaknesses of government policies for the TGP and their implementations. I hope this book conveys the unprecedented complexities and arduousness of TGP resettlement, its limitless potentials, and the enormous challenges the nation has and continues to face as the project comes to its completion. YANTAN ...