Sustainability of the gorges project

The gorges project in china has elicited a lot of criticism at home and from people around the globe over environmental concerns. The results of the construction of the dam are good on one side and bad on the other. This has called for intensive project impact assessment. The government of china is the sponsors of the building of an enormous dam that is intended to hold water that in the gores river. The government intends to address two major concerns with the building of the dam. These are:  bringing to an end the flooding that happens in the lower gorges course and also to help the government meet its high energy needs.

The construction of the dam however has faced criticism. People have raised the opinion that the dam will cause much harm to the society as its construction will destroy large tracts of fishing grounds; destroy   very beautiful canyons in the place besides displacing many villages. This argument is made in the background of a possibility that the dam may eventually silt up and hence become useless.

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Objective

The aim of this paper is to critically look at the gorges project that has attracted lots of criticism. Emphasis will be made on the sustainability of the project and this will involve an interrogation of the issues on the ground. The issue of globalisation that is seen to be behind the move of building the power generating dam will also be looked at. The discussion is an eye opener to the real situation on the ground and the benefits that the people stand to gain from it.  The issues addressed here are those that indicate the sustainability of the project. The discussion aims at a logical conclusion to the problem at hand.

Executive summary

The issue of globalisation has come up in the modern world and has caused an increase in competition for international markets. China has joined the forces of globalisation and has become one of the leading forces. As the economy of china grows there is need for expansion and this has led to the building of the great dam in Gorges River. Opinions in support of the project and opinions against the project abound. A thorough understanding of the economical benefits and the demerits of the project needs to be done so as to prevent a situation of confusion.

Sustainability of the Gorges Project

China started a system of economic development called open door policy in 1978 and this policy has seen the economy of china grow enormously over the years such that at the present china is one of the leading players in the global economy. Forces of globalisation impacted on the stance of china concerning its stance on economic policy. It made china change from being a command economy that operated in isolation to a market based economy. Its move to join the World Trade organization in the year 1991 and its ongoing commitment to the organisations charter is an indication of its intention to fully use the advantages of globalisation. The world trade organisation is an agent of globalisation. Globalisation has facilitated trade exchanges across the world such that one country can sale its goods to any other country. China has since taken advantage of this and has reaped the benefits. What remains is an ambition to expand the economy so that it may perform at an optimal level. Chinas building of the ambitious gorges dam electricity generating plant is remarkable but the construction has also become a source of controversy as it is said to have in store negative environmental impacts. Environmental impacts that are destructive are not welcome in the area which the project is taking place.

China currently boasts one of the world’s highest economic growths. This is due to the expansion of the economy through putting up of more industries that have caused high production of goods and that translates to lots of income from exported goods. China is a dominating force in the realm of international trade. The production happens as the economy grows and industries expand. The industries need power to run and the power that is available is not sufficient to support the expansion. Hence the Chinese government has decided to embark on an enormous power generating project. The project is being built on the gorges river where the largest dam in the world is being constructed.  The china government emphasizes on the importance of the dam on the social welfare of the people. The argument they offer is that with the power generated the economy will grow and the people of china will have a higher standard of living. Again, by stopping the flooding that usually occurs in the river, the government will be offering a social good to the people. This emphasis is aimed at convincing the population that the project will yield more good than evil.

Here, the government plays the role of a marketer to the product that in this case is the power project. Marketers are concerned with teaching consumers of products so they are interested in consumers learning. The learning theories used are behavioural and cognitive. For marketers’ consumer learning is the process by which individuals get knowledge on consumption and the experiences they apply on related behaviour in the future. In this case the people’s response to the elimination of a looming danger is goodwill. As the people of china are very much disturbed by the flooding many of them would accent to the project. The opportunity cost involved in this is the displacement of people which can be addressed by resettlement and the feared destruction of fishing ground can be compensated by the great gains in national economic growth.  So it is highly likely for the people of china to be convinced of the dispensability of the opportunity cost. The project is sustainable in that the income that it generates will be used to perform those issues it is said to upset. Again the problem of siltation of the dam and hence utmost failure can be addressed since money generated from a booming economy can be used to remove the silt and ensure that the project goes on. When one weighs the situation it becomes evident that the project is very sustainable.

Conclusion

The argument above shows that there are quite enormous issues behind the building of the Gorges project. It is a good project that is facing some teething problems of a nature which is not easy to dismiss. The profitability of the project makes the said disadvantages irrelevant such that they can’t make the project stall.  It is a project which, if successful will greatly lead china to realizing more economic growth. The problems that are caused by the construction of the dam can be addressed.

References

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