Brooke Wilmsen

Development for Whom? Rural to Urban Resettlement at the Three Gorges Dam, China

Abstract When farmers are dispossessed of their lands to make way for a development project it is often inevitable that there will not be enough land to go around. It is unlikely that parcels of fertile land are lying vacant in the surrounding areas awaiting distribution. It therefore becomes necessary for people who previously derived their livelihoods from the land to move into cities. This research explores what happens to a sample of such people and whether they are able to restore their livelihoods. It examines the Three Gorges Dam resettlement in Chinas Hubei province and discovers that while the Chinese government has devised an inspired toolbox of benefit-sharing initiatives, the gains accrue to a minority who live in the most amenable location of the Three Gorges area. It concludes that the availability of capital through benefit-sharing initiatives does not guarantee its productive use.

Involuntary Rural Resettlement: Resources, Strategies, and Outcomes at the Three Gorges Dam, China

This article analyses the effects of resettlement on farming households in two villages within the area inundated by the Three Gorges Dam, China. The article also proposes a political-economic framework within which to understand the resettlement program and its implications for households. The households brought a variety of resources into the resettlement—land, savings, their labor, social ties, and communal resources—resources that became less during the resettlement process. Apart from extensive borrowing, largely to fund a major investment in new housing, the households’ responses tended to reflect constraints imposed on them by the resettlement rather than their ability to exploit new opportunities. As a consequence, farm incomes fell after resettlement, particularly in the village where more land was lost. The loss of farm income was not made up by increased off-farm income through paid work or self-employment. The households in the two villages have thus become more vulnerable to further external shocks than they were before the resettlement.

Voluntary and involuntary resettlement in China: a false dichotomy?

The success of involuntary resettlement is contingent on recasting the involuntary as voluntary. To explore this proposition, this article presents two projects in China – one “voluntary” (Poverty Alleviation Resettlement or PAR) and relatively “successful” and one “involuntary” (Three Gorges Project Resettlement or TGPR) and less so. The research finds the voluntary–involuntary dichotomy a false one. It is not volition that leads to better outcomes, but people-centred practices that are embedded in policy, planning, and implementation of PAR. Perhaps the most important lesson drawn is that all resettlements should be based on a commitment to settlement and not just resettlement.

Addressing the resettlement challenges at the Three Gorges Project

On 19 May 2011, the State Council released a statement vowing to overcome ‘issues’ created by the now completed Three Gorges Dam. Among these was the well-being of those displaced to make way for its construction. In the same statement, the Central Government promised that the displaced would catch up with provincial living standards by 2020. This paper examines some of the residual issues facing the Project region and presents the key components of the new Working Plan.

Progress, problems, and prospects of dam-induced displacement and resettlement in China

The construction of large dams continues apace in many developing countries. This is no more evident than in China, where half of the world’s large dams are now located. A decade ago the World Commission on Dams released its review of large dams around the world. The report provided a framework for the decision-making of governments, donors, policymakers, planners, and dam builders across seven strategic priorities: to gain acceptance; assess options; address existing dams; sustain rivers and livelihoods; recognize entitlements and secure benefits; ensure compliance; and share rivers across boundaries. Using the strategic priorities as a frame for analysis, this article reviews the progress made by the Chinese government over the last 10 years with respect to addressing the human casualties of large dam construction. It identifies specific frailties and strengths in Chinese policy and practice. It suggests that a stakeholder satisfaction model that places the affected population at the centre of the accountability structure would ensure that those who are tasked with the administration of resettlement policies are answerable to the affected people. In this way, resettlement from large dams can become truly people-centred.

Expanding capitalism in rural China through land acquisition and land reforms

ABSTRACT At the Third Plenary of the 18th Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, the Party announced a number of rural reforms. Commentators were quick to pronounce a win for farmers’ land rights. However, the broader commitment of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to deepening economic liberalization raises the question: can these reforms protect farmers’ rights in the event of land acquisition? The author draws on fieldwork, recent interviews and China’s documented history of land acquisition practice to identify four risks posed by these reforms: undervaluation, elite capture, exploitation and the expansion of the urban underclass. The article concludes that China’s steadfast resolve to expand capitalism in rural China is undermining its attempts to secure rural property rights.

Following resettled people over time: the value of longitudinal data collection for understanding the livelihood impacts of the Three Gorges Dam, China

Abstract The long-term effects of dam-induced displacement and resettlement are poorly understood. This paper presents a rare longitudinal assessment of the livelihood outcomes of people resettled as a result of a major dam project – the Three Gorges Project in China. It signposts pitfalls that practitioners need to be aware of when planning their own longitudinal monitoring and evaluation (M&E) projects, such as those relating to (i) sample and control group selection, (ii) deciding the timing and frequency of data collection, (iii) mitigating attrition and (iv) accounting for the broader social and policy changes that occur over longer periods when analysing results. The paper argues that longitudinal research is important not only for assessing resettlement outcomes accurately but also for ensuring that ongoing government interventions are adequate and not withdrawn prematurely.

Damming China’s rivers to expand its cities: the urban livelihoods of rural people displaced by the Three Gorges Dam

ABSTRACT Over the next two decades, China, the country with the world’s largest urban population, is orchestrating the urbanization of some 300 million rural people. In its National New-Type Urbanization Plan (2014) the State Council has outlined a range of strategies to grow its cities not least of which is rural-to-urban migration. This plan will have significant effects on other types of displacement, particularly, the forced displacement and resettlement of those living in the path of large dams. This paper reviews what is known about New-Type Urbanization Approach to Reservoir Resettlement. Then, based on a longitudinal study of 145 resettled households at the Three Gorges Dam, the livelihood effects of rural-to-urban resettlement are unpacked to provide lessons for its use in advancing urbanization. It finds that rural-to-urban resettlers have lower incomes than their urban-to-urban and rural-to-rural counterparts, and higher rates of food and income insecurity.

Challenging the risks-based model of involuntary resettlement using evidence from the Bui Dam, Ghana

Abstract The Impoverishment, Risks and Reconstruction (IRR) model is arguably the most significant conceptualization of involuntary resettlement to date, strengthening the praxis of the major international financial institutions. Even so, resettlement remains synonymous with impoverishment. While commonly attributed to the failure of governments to properly implement resettlement plans, this article finds that the assumptions embedded in the IRR model are contributory. Based on interviews and focus groups at the Bui Dam resettlement in 2016, the model is useful for identifying material losses, but fails to illuminate more complex social fragmentation, extra-local dynamics and relationships of power.

Mega Dams and Resistance: The Case of the Three Gorges Dam, China

To international observers of resistance against mega dams, the Chinese peasantry may seem rather passive. China builds dams. It builds lots of them. Time after time the Chinese Government seems to encounter little resistance. Perhaps the most infamous of these constructions is the Three Gorges Project (TGP) on the Yangtze River. It is the world’s largest dam and it was built with seemingly minimal resistance from those it directly affected. The dam was and remains high profile. This megalith of engineering graced the pages of National Geographic in the late 1990s and it captured the attention of the world’s media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and international banks. It also attracted criticism within China and abroad. The contention drew tourists from all over the world on long journeys to say goodbye to a place they did not know. However, for all the outside attention there was another group of people, a large group, who had to move to make way for the project. Some of them resisted and it is their resistance that this chapter explores.