why is the yangtze river important：The Yangtze - Asia's longest river

As China’s economy has developed, pollution in the Yangtze and its lakes has multiplied – particularly from industries and agriculture, including large-scale fish and pig farming.

Dams are a big issue too. More than 50,000 dams have been built in the Yangtze basin since 1950, and more are planned. Dams divert and disrupt the natural flows of the river, which affects wildlife and people.

During construction of the massive Three Gorges dam, the world’s biggest hydropower station, 13 large cities, 140 towns and 326 villages were fully or partly submerged, and over 1 million people had to move.

Now climate change is threatening to bring more droughts, floods and extreme weather events to the river basin, and dry up more of its lakes.

It all adds to the challenges we’re tackling to help protect the Yangtze.