CURRENT CONTEXT : China has started building what is expected to become the world’s largest hydroelectric dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo River (known as the Brahmaputra River in India) near the Arunachal Pradesh border.

The project is located in a deep gorge in the Himalayas where the river takes a U-turn before entering India.

ABOUT THE DAM PROJECT

• The dam is being constructed in the Medog County of Tibet Autonomous Region.
• Once completed, it could surpass China’s Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in power generation.
• The Yarlung Tsangpo River flows through the Tibetan Plateau, forming the world’s deepest canyon before entering India as the Brahmaputra.

 KEY CONCERNS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DAM

Disaster Risk

• The Tibetan Plateau is seismically active due to tectonic activity.
• Large dams in such regions increase the risk of earthquake-triggered disasters.
• Example: 1950 Assam–Tibet Earthquake, one of the most powerful quakes in the region.

INDIA-CHINA WATER COOPERATION

• Expert-Level Mechanism (ELM) established in 2006 to share hydrological data during flood seasons.
• Despite ELM, there is no water-sharing treaty between the two countries.
• Both countries are not signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, 1997.