The Jinghong Dam () is a gravity

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

composed of

roller-compacted concrete Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) or rolled concrete (rollcrete) is a special blend of concrete that has essentially the same ingredients as conventional concrete but in different ratios, and increasingly with partial substitution of fly ash for Po ...

on the Lancang (Mekong) River near

Jinghong Jinghong (; khb, ᨩ᩠ᨿᨦᩁᩩ᩵ᨦ; th, เชียงรุ่ง, , ; lo, ຊຽງຮຸ່ງ; also formerly romanised as ''Chiang Hung'', ''Chengrung'', ''Cheng Hung'', Jeng Hung, ''Jinghung'', ''Keng Hung'', ''Kiang Hung'' and ' ...

Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The main purpose of the dam is

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power production and it has an associated 1,750 MW power station. Part of the power generated is sold to Thailand under an agreement with China. it is the nearest Chinese dam upstream of the Thai border, and has helped to cause huge fluctuations in river levels, affecting people's livelihoods downstream by disrupting the river's natural cycle. It, along with the many other dams on the river, is exacerbating the effects of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and impacting the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

, disturbing the migratory patterns of fish as well as riverbank plants and local

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

downstream.

References

Hydroelectric power stations in Yunnan Dams in China Dams in the Mekong River Basin Gravity dams Dams completed in 2008 Roller-compacted concrete dams Buildings and structures in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture {{PRChina-powerstation-stub

See also

References