The project context. The scheme is a sequential infrastructure development initiative to harness the available hydropower potential of Heihe river in a predominantly rural and power starved area of Zhangye. It includes seven medium-sized HPPs within Zhangye for a total of 643 megawatt (MW) at an estimated investment of $575 million. In 1995, the Zhangye City Government (ZCG) and Gansu Provincial Government (GPG) had identified the development of the scheme as a key project to accelerate rural infrastructure development, and started construction of the first project. At the end of 2005, two of the seven HPPs, have been put into operation, while 2 more are under construction.2 Since the 9th Five Year Plan3 the accelerated development of the scheme has been a core infrastructure initiative in the investment plan of Zhangye and Gansu province. PRC, GPG and ZCG are committed to and will implement the scheme as described in Schedule 1. The scheme will provide clean and reliable power to ease the chronic shortages in rural areas of Zhangye.
The project context. The ALARM project (Assessing Large scale Risks for biodiversity with tested methods) was carried out as a project of the EU 6th Framework Program from 2004 to 2009. Its core objective was to conduct an integrated large scale risk assessment for biodiversity. “Research focused on assessment and forecast of changes in biodiversity and in structure, function, and dynamics of ecosystems. This related to ecosystem services and included the relationship between society, economy and biodiversity. In particular, risks arising from climate change, environmental chemicals, biological invasions and pollinator loss in the context of current and future European land use patterns were assessed”18
