The Global Initiative has formed a rich partnership with Chinese government agencies, research institutes, universities, and NGOs that will carry out  re-operation investigations and demonstrations on dams in the southeastern part of the country.  The dam sites selected for reoperation evaluation by the partnership include the Xiaolangdi, Sanmenxia, Luhun and Guxian dams on the Yellow River; the major reservoir groups such as the Longtan and Datengxia on Main Stem Pearl River; and the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze River, where NHI is working on a joint strategy with The Nature Conservancy. 

The initial focus of the China demonstration component will be on the physical feasibility of reoperating the dams’ major water management systems to generate permanent environmental flows and sediment processes.  The feasible scenarios will then be subjected to an economic and social feasibility analysis.  The survivors of these two screens will be subjected to a legal and institutional feasibility analysis.  An important part of this analysis will include the close examination of policy, regulatory and environmental issues that would accompany the chosen reoptimization scenarios.

The China component is currently on hold while funds are being raised and is expected to be launched in 2010.