Major impacts of the three gorges project on the Yangtze,China

The Three Gorges dam is a large multipurpose water resource project. It is found to be an effective means of achieving three goals: (1) preventing the densely populated areas of the Yangtze's middle and lower reaches from flooding; (2) generating hydropower required for promoting industrialization in Central‐South and East China; and (3) overcoming treacherous shoals and shallows for the passage of modern watercraft between Chongqing and Yichang. However, the project will have a variety of adverse impacts on the human, biological and physical environments downstream and upstream.