Govt tackling Three Gorges' hidden environmental threats

The government is facing up to the hidden environmental threats stemming from construction of the 180 billion yuan ($24 billion) Three Gorges Project, experts and officials said at a workshop yesterday.

Environmental damage caused by the largest hydroelectric river dam project in the world needed to be addressed to avert a disaster, participants said at the two-day forum debating the project, in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.

On the plus side the dam will prevent seasonal flooding on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and electricity generated by hydropower will reduce carbon emissions, but the benefits will have an environmental cost, they said.