I simply could not believe my ears. China's rubber-stamp legislature had never displayed such a level of opposition in its entire history, let alone on environmental grounds.

Big dams are, in effect, experimental technology. Those who design, build and operate them can't predict with any certainty the many serious impacts they will have on life-giving river systems.

Reservoirs don't only influence rainfall and droughts in their vicinity. They also contribute to climate change by emitting greenhouse gases.

The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is the world's largest hydropower project. Now the Chinese government has officially acknowledged the project's serious social, environmental and geological problems.

TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport. The 'GNR' is also now available on your cell phone via Stitcher Radio's mobile app! IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Thousands...

This decade will be remembered and felt for its impact on Nature: the species that were saved and those that were lost; the heating of the planet; the forests cut down and those that continue to provide oxygen to our children's children.