Green Peacocks Hold Up Chinese Dam Construction in Landmark Case

  • Hydropower project delayed over habitat of rare green peafowl
  • Yunnan court decision could prove milestone in eco-protection
China’s endangered Green Peafowl.Source: Friends of Nature
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A colony of fewer than 300 birds is standing in the way of one of China’s key hydropower dams in a battle between environmentalists and a construction company that has become a spotlight for China’s pledge to conserve its ecology.

A high court in Yunnan Province is to decide on a case that has held up construction of the 270 MW Jiasa River dam in limbo for almost three years on concerns from environmental groups that the reservoir could destroy a key habitat of the endangered Green Peafowl, China’s native version of the dazzlingly plumed birds.