Are we too clever for our own good?
We continue the theme developed in part 2 and in subsequent articles we’ll discuss a wide range of issues related to population growth and the consumption of resources at an unlimited rate.
Water management & diversion – benefits versus the impacts
In a possible effort to avoid agricultural, political & social disasters of the past (see the link to ‘Tombstone’ below) the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China is the largest of its kind ever undertaken. The project involves drawing water from southern rivers and supplying it to the dry north. This massive scheme has already taken 50 years from conception to commencement and is expected to take almost as long to construct.
Planned for completion in 2050, it will eventually divert 44.8 billion cubic metres of water annually to the population centres of the drier north. The intent is to increase agricultural productivity and hopefully reduce the land subsidence and dust storms of recent years. The result will likely be increased population, consumption and pollution.
Have the consequences and impacts been adequately considered?
Tombstone by Yang Jisheng