Water Refugees

“China’s growing thirst for water is driving one of the world’s biggest mass relocations, with 440,000 people leaving their homes to make way for a huge man-made canal project.” The Independent reports on the biggest state relocation program since the construction of the Three Gorges dam project: “The project is designed to take water from a section of the Yangtze, to satisfy demand in northern China’s drought-prone mega-cities, including the capital Beijing and the busy port of Tianjin. North China has only 20 per cent of the country’s water but 64 per cent of all arable land. At least 440,000 residents will be relocated to make way for the first stage of the project’s eastern and central routes, with 330,000 of them living in Henan and Hubei provinces.”