Threats to the environment of Burma/Myanmar
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Deforestation
See the separate Forests section (in preparation) and the sub-section on Deforestation below
Individual Documents
| Title: | | China plundering natural resources in Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 07 July 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | China was variously described as plunderer and arch destroyer of Burma’s natural resources on the 38th World Environment Day today, by local people and environmental activists.Mindless logging and rampant mining in northern Burma by China for over two decades has led to widespread deforestation, pollution of rivers and land with Mercury used in gold mining. There is now varied ecological dysfunction that the country has to contend with.
060510-timber |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Kachin News Group (KNG) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 20 September 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Rainforests Facing a New Challenge |
| Description/subject: | | Logging is back in Kachin State under a new mask. Logging no longer will be the illegal business in one of the world's biggest green regions that houses most of the teaks left on earth. Logging this time has returned into the region with bigger ambition and the safer shield under the title of agro-forestry development projects.
For decades, deforestation in Kachin State was traditionally carried out by agricultural farming industry of the local people and Asia's one of the longest civil wars in the nation. High speed massive illegal logging was introduced to the region only by logging companies from neighbouring Yunnan Province only after China's economy started roaring in 1990s. And it remarkably escalated in 1998 when China banned logging in its nation after facing serious floods in their home land. Forests in northern Burma were dwindling quickly in early 2000 and Kachin State became a hottest target for all the international watchdogs. But, finally, loggers have found a new and safest way to continue their business with a higher speed. |
| Author/creator: | | Phyusin Linn |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | UNPO |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 September 2010 |
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Metal mining and other extractive operations
Individual Documents
| Title: | | China plundering natural resources in Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 07 July 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | China was variously described as plunderer and arch destroyer of Burma’s natural resources on the 38th World Environment Day today, by local people and environmental activists.Mindless logging and rampant mining in northern Burma by China for over two decades has led to widespread deforestation, pollution of rivers and land with Mercury used in gold mining. There is now varied ecological dysfunction that the country has to contend with.
060510-timber |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Kachin News Group (KNG) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 20 September 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Environmental governance of mining in Burma |
| Date of publication: | | January 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | Conclusion -- local participation and respected insiders:
If there is one certainty of fair and effective local participation in
environmental governance, it is that there is no universal monolithic
system of rules, regulations and processes simply awaiting implementation
and practice. Just as disparate copper-mining operations can differ vastly,
so too do local potentialities for environmental governance participation
(Medowcroft 2004; and, for a contrasting account, Leone and Giannini
2005). There are, however, two consistent features of effective local
participation in environmental governance: it must involve local people
and have, to some degree, cooperation and support from relevant
institutions and stakeholders. That is, it’s a multi-stakeholder affair,
and moreover one that presupposes the recognition of the right to
organise.
Environmental conflict resolution is a tool for recourse and for
building common purpose’ between stakeholders (O’Leary et al.
2004:324). Scholars note the importance of understanding the many
varieties of environmental conflict resolution interventions as complex
systems embedded in even larger complex systems’ (O’Leary et al.
2004:324). In other words, the wider spatial, temporal, economic,
social, cultural and political contexts of the specific environmental
conflict resolution are relevant for building common purpose between
stakeholders. In Burma, conflict resolution is undertaken quite
differently from dominant Western models. EarthRights International
conducted research for five years on traditional methods of conflict
resolution and its relationship to resource-based conflict at the
local level in Burma. That research resulted in Traditions of Conflict
Resolution in Burma (Leone and Giannini 2005), which argues that
conflict resolution in Burma is based more on interpersonal respect
and a tradition of local respected insiders’ than on assumptions of the
objectivity of third-party outsiders’. Whereas official administrative
and court-based proceedings provide a level of comfort and trust to
the Western sensibility, these are the very institutions and processes
that might cause local villagers in Burma to feel uncomfortable and
distrustful. The report contends that the prospects for peace and earth
rights protection’ hinge on this respected insider model, adding that
such respected insider practices may serve as models for communitybased
natural resource management’ (Leone and Giannini 2005:1–2).
Effective local participation in environmental governance in Burma
will necessarily involve a unique tradition-based paradigm developed
by local Burmese themselves.
While third-party outsiders are less likely to gain genuine traction
in communities in Burma, this is not meant to undermine the need
for objective third-party EIAs and environmental monitoring at largescale
mining operations such as Monywa. Rather, it simply indicates
the unique needs that must be considered for fair and effective local
participation in environmental governance of mining in Burma. While
administrative and judicial proceedings can make the average Burmese
villager uncomfortable, the same cannot be said for the rule of law and
justice (which are largely absent in Burma), which will be accepted
wholly by the average Burmese, particularly by those whose human
rights have been violated.
As Tun Myint (2003) has suggested, the successes and failures of
environmental governance are determined largely by how natural
resources are used and managed at the local level. This chapter
approached a genuine inquiry into the state of environmental governance
of mining in Burma motivated by a genuine concern for the natural
environment and the people of Burma who depend on it. It interpreted
current environmental governance of mining natural resources in Burma
as largely inadequate, weak and ostensibly favourable to corporate
interests over the public interest and the natural environment. Burma’s
economic, social, cultural, political and environmental future depends
on changing this. |
| Author/creator: | | Matthew Smith |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | 2006 Burma Update Conference via Australian National University |
| Format/size: | | pdf (144K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 30 December 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Spaces of extraction -- Governance along the riverine networks of Nyaunglebin District |
| Date of publication: | | January 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "Contemporary maps prepared by the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) place most of Nyaunglebin District in eastern Pegu
Division. Maps drawn by the Karen National Union (KNU), however,
place much of the same region within the western edge of Kaw Thoo
Lei, its term for the free state’ the organisation has struggled since 1948
to create. Not surprisingly, the district’s three townships have different
names and overlapping geographic boundaries and administrative
structures, particularly in remote regions of the district where the SPDC
and the KNU continue to exercise some control. These competing
efforts to assert control over the same space are symptomatic of a broader
concern that is the focus here, namely: how do conflict zones become
places that can be governed? What strategies and techniques are used
to produce authority and what do they reveal about existing forms
of governance in Burma? In considering these questions, this chapter
explores the emergence of governable spaces in Shwegyin Township,
which comprises the southern third of Nyaunglebin District (Figure
11.1)..." |
| Author/creator: | | Ken MacLean |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | 2006 Burma Update Conference via Australian National University |
| Format/size: | | pdf (357K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 30 December 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Grave Diggers: A report on Mining in Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 14 February 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | A report on mining in Burma. The problems mining is bringing to the Burmese people, and the multinational companies involved in it. Includes an analysis of the SLORC 1994 Mining Law.... 'Grave Diggers, authored by world renowned mining environmental activist Roger Moody, was the first major review of mining in Burma since the country's military regime opened the door to foreign mining investment in 1994. Singled out for special attention in this report is the stake taken up by Canadian mining promoter Robert Friedland, whose Ivanhoe Mines has redeveloped a major copper mine in the Monywa area in joint venture enterprise with Burma's military regime. There are several useful appendices with first hand reports from mining sites throughout the country. A series of maps shows the location of the exploration concessions taken up almost exclusively by foreign companies in the rounds of bidding that took place in the nineties. |
| Author/creator: | | Roger Moody |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Various groups |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.4MB) html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/grave-diggers-report-mining-burma
http://www.miningwatch.ca/sites/miningwatch.ca/files/Grave_Diggers.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 09 September 2010 |
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Militarisation
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Diversity Degraded - Vulnerability of Cultural and Natural Diversity in Northern Karen State, Burma |
| Date of publication: | | December 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | Executive Summary: "In traditional Karen society, knowledge and culture are closely linked to the natural
environment. This report examines the effects of the longstanding civil war on Karen
communities' cultural and natural environment with specific focus on the diversity of
cultivated and collected plant species. The information for this case study is based
on a survey done in an ethnic Karen village in Mu Traw District, Northern Karen State,
Burma. The case study provides a general overview of the community with a detailed look at
the local knowledge-based farming systems. The traditional Karen rotational farming
system is described in detail including selection of land and crops to be cultivated,
the seasonal calendar, techniques of seed conservation and planting, together with
spiritual beliefs that are connected to the agricultural practices. The report also
outlines the importance of non timber forest products (NTFP) in food security and in
women's traditional work.
The results of this case study clearly shows that the civil war, which has been raging
for almost sixty years between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and
the Karen National Union (KNU), is the primary reason for the loss of both traditional
culture and biodiversity in Karen State. The fighting has caused tremendous human
rights abuses imposed by the Burmese military regime who have adapted the strategy
of targeting civilians in order to gain control over the ethnic insurgents. The local
people have been relocated or forced to live as Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in
the forest, far from their former villages and farmlands. This has resulted in massive
population influxes into formerly uninhabited forest areas and has thereby led to the
loss and degradation of forests and biological diversity. Relocation into areas less
suitable for farming and the unsettled life of IDPs caught in conflict areas have
disrupted the traditional agricultural practices. As a result, the food security of local
Karen communities is threatened because many traditional seed varieties and wild
edible plant species have been lost. The culture of Karen society also suffers because
of its close connections and relationships to the environment and agricultural practices.
Many aspects of Karen culture and local knowledge have already been lost." |
| Language: | | English, Karen |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (2.6MB-OBL version-English; 6.38 - Karen) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.kesan.asia/index.php/publication-and-media/reports/finish/4-reports/31-diversity-degrade... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 19 November 2009 |
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Multiple threats
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Threat to Burma’s Environment |
| Date of publication: | | 17 September 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | More than 20 mega-dams are being constructed or planned on Burma’s major rivers, including the Salween and Irrawaddy, by multinationals without consulting local communities, a wide range of NGOs charged in a statement Friday. In addition, the group charged, mining, oil and gas projects are creating severe environmental and social problems.
Several papers are to be delivered on Sept. 18 in an all-day seminar in Bangkok on the impact and consequences of overseas investment in large-scale projects in Burma that say as many as 30 companies from China alone are investing in dam projects on the two rivers. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Asia Sentinel |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=129&Itemid=125 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 20 September 2010 |
|
| Title: | | China plundering natural resources in Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 07 July 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | China was variously described as plunderer and arch destroyer of Burma’s natural resources on the 38th World Environment Day today, by local people and environmental activists.Mindless logging and rampant mining in northern Burma by China for over two decades has led to widespread deforestation, pollution of rivers and land with Mercury used in gold mining. There is now varied ecological dysfunction that the country has to contend with.
060510-timber |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Kachin News Group (KNG) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 20 September 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Kachin state, waiting for an ecological disaster |
| Date of publication: | | 31 December 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | Kachin State in northern Burma is sitting on a powder keg of an ecological disaster. From impending dam related devastation to the rape of the environment in terms of incalculable damage to the flora and fauna has rendered the state extremely vulnerable. Rampant felling of trees and the wanton killing of myriad wildlife for filthy lucre for export to China has led to a serious situation which is far from being addressed. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Kachin News |
| Format/size: | | html, pdf (252.26 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.kachinnews.com/commentary/689-kachin-state-waiting-for-an-ecological-disaster-commentary... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 20 September 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Identifying conservation issues in Kachin State |
| Date of publication: | | January 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | Conclusion:
"Kachin State is rich in natural resources. Its location near resourcehungry
China and its rule by people in need of hard currency has
resulted in the unsustainable exploitation of its natural resources. In
addition, the complex governance system makes management of these
resources difficult. This research has attempted to reflect the situation
of the many voiceless people in Kachin State. A pragmatic approach
is required to work together with all stakeholders. An opportunity
should be opened for the active participation of local stakeholders in
managing their resources not only for current but future generations.
Regardless of the country’s political situation, international assistance
for conservation in Myanmar is needed urgently. Such aid is required
not for the support of undemocratic practices, but to help the people
of Myanmar, who deserve to manage their environment through the
country’s democratisation process." |
| Author/creator: | | Tint Lwin Thaung |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | 2006 Burma Update Conference via Australian National University |
| Format/size: | | pdf (117K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://epress.anu.edu.au/myanmar/pdf/whole_book.pdf
http://epress.anu.edu.au/myanmar/pdf_instructions.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 31 December 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Smash & Grab: Conflict, Corruption and Human Rights Abuses in the Shrimp Farming Industry |
| Date of publication: | | June 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | "...Shrimp farming has led to serious conflict over land rights and access to natural resources. Resulting social problems include increased poverty, landlessness, and reduced food security. In Ecuador, a single hectare of mangrove forest has been shown to provide food and livelihood for ten families, while a prawn farm of 110 hectares employs just six people during preparation and a further five during harvest. Globally, tens of thousands of rural poor in developing countries have been displaced following the impact of shrimp farming on traditional livelihoods. For instance, 20 thousand fisher-folk in Sri Lanka's Puttalam District migrated following declines of fish catches following the advent of shrimp farming.
Wealth generated by exporting farmed shrimp rarely trickles down to the communities affected by the industry. Corruption, poor governance and greed have resulted in powerful individuals making vast sums of money from shrimp farming with little regard for the basic human rights of the poor communities living in shrimp farming areas. "It is another example of resource-use conflict in which the poor and vulnerable are suppressed by a powerful elite intent on making quick profits, whilst turning a blind eye to the abuses that result" said Dr Mike Shanahan of EJF..."
Examples from Burma |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Environmental Justice Foundation |
| Format/size: | | pdf (2399K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Breaking the Silence |
| Date of publication: | | 15 March 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | Paper submitted to
the forty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women March 4-15, 2002 by
Women's League of Burma (WLB). "...The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the root causes of poverty and environmental
degradation in Burma, and show how this has affected women and to give examples of how women are organizing themselves
to survive and create an enabling environment for political and social change, and for gender equality..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Women's League of Burma (WLB) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.asiasource.org/asip/breaking.cfm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Paradise Lost? |
| Date of publication: | | September 1994 |
| Description/subject: | | Environment and Freedom of Expression in Burma. In the past decade, there has been a growing international consensus over the fundamental relationship between the universal values of "human rights", "environmental rights" and "development rights". "The Myanmar Tourism Policy is based on preservation of cultural heritage, protection of natural environment, regional development and generation of foreign exchange earnings." |
| Author/creator: | | Martin Smith |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Article 19 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (174K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | The Biodiversity Hotspots - Indo-Burma pages |
| Description/subject: | | Encompassing more than 2 million km² of tropical Asia, Indo-Burma is still revealing its biological treasures. Six large mammal species have been discovered in the last 12 years: the large-antlered muntjac, the Annamite muntjac, the grey-shanked douc, the Annamite striped rabbit, the leaf deer, and the saola. This hotspot also holds remarkable endemism in freshwater turtle species, most of which are threatened with extinction, due to over-harvesting and extensive habitat loss. Bird life in Indo-Burma is also incredibly diverse, holding almost 1,300 different bird species, including the threatened white-eared night-heron, the grey-crowned crocias, and the orange-necked partridge. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Conversation International |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 September 2010 |
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Oil and gas pipelines
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Pipeline Nightmare (English and Burmese) |
| Date of publication: | | 07 November 2012 |
| Description/subject: | | "Shwe Pipeline Brings Land Confiscation, Militarization and Human Rights Violations to the Ta’ang People.
The Ta’ang Students and Youth Organization (TSYO) released a report today called “Pipeline Nightmare” that illustrates how the Shwe Gas and Oil Pipeline project, which will transport oil and gas across Burma to China, has resulted in the confiscation of people’s lands, forced labor, and increased military presence along the pipeline, affecting thousands of people.
Moreover, the report documents cases in 6 target cities and 51 villages of human rights violations committed by the Burmese Army, police and people’s militia, who take responsibility for security of the pipeline.
The government has deployed additional soldiers and extended 26 military camps in order to increase pressure on the ethnic armed groups and to provide security for the pipeline project and its Chinese workers. Along the pipeline, there is fighting on a daily basis between the Burmese Army and the Kachin Independence Army, Shan State Army – North and Ta’ang National Liberation Army in Namtu, Mantong and Namkham, where there are over one thousand Ta’ang (Palaung) refugees.
“Even though the international community believes that the government has implemented political reforms, it doesn’t mean those reforms have reached ethnic areas, especially not where there is increased militarization along the Shwe Pipeline, increased fighting between the Burmese Army and ethnic armed groups, and negative consequences for the people living in these areas,” said Mai Amm Ngeal, a member of TSYO.
The China National Petroleum Corporation and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise have signed agreements for the Shwe Pipeline, however the companies have not conducted any Environmental Impact Assessments or Social Impact Assessments. While the people living along the pipeline bear the brunt of the effects, the government will earn an estimated USD$29 billion over the next 30 years.
“The government and companies involved must be held accountable for the project and its effects on the local people, such as increasing military presence and Chinese workers along the pipeline, both of which cause insecurity for the local communities and especially women. The project has no benefit for the public, so it must be postponed,” said Lway Phoo Reang, Joint Secretary (1) of TSYO.
TSYO urges the government to postpone the Shwe Gas and Oil Pipeline project, to withdraw the military from Shan State, reach a ceasefire with all ethnic armed groups in the state, and address the root causes of the armed conflict by engaging in political dialogue." |
| Language: | | English, Burmese/ ျမန္မာဘာသာ |
| Source/publisher: | | Ta’ang Students and Youth Organization (TSYO) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (English, 2MB-OBL version; 6.77-original; 1.45-Burmese-OBL version) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.palaungland.org/wp-content/uploads/Report/S%20P%20N%20Report/Pipeline%20Nightmare%20report%20in%20English%20version%20(Final).pdf (original)
http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs14/Pipeline_Nightmare-bu-op--red.pdf (full report in Burmese)
http://www.palaungland.org/wp-content/uploads/Report/S%20P%20N%20Report/Immediate%20Release%207%20N... (Summary in Burmese)
http://www.palaungland.org/wp-content/uploads/Report/S%20P%20N%20Report/For%20Immediate%20Release%2... (Summary in Thai)
http://www.palaungland.org/wp-content/uploads/Report/S%20P%20N%20Report/2012-11%20Shwe%20Pipeline%2... (Summary in Chinese) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 November 2012 |
|
| Title: | | Total Denial Continues - Earth rights abuses along the Yadana and Yetagun pipelines in Burma |
| Date of publication: | | May 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | "Three Western oil companies -- Total, Premier and Unocal -- bent on exploiting natural gas , entered partnerships with the brutal Burmese military regime. Since the early 1990's, a terrible drama has been unfolding in Burma. Three western oil companies -- Total, Premier, and Unocal -- entered into partnerships with the brutal Burmese miltary regime to build the Yadana and Yetagun natural gas pipelines. The regime created a highly militarized pipelinecorridor in what had previously been a relatively peaceful area, resulting in violent suppression of dissent, environmental destruction, forced labor and portering, forced relocations, torture, rape, and summary executions. EarthRights International co-founder Ka Hsaw Wa and a team of field staff traveled on both sides of the Thai-Burmese border in the Tenasserim region to document the conditions in the pipeline corridor. In the nearly four years since the release of "Total Denial" (1996), the violence and forced labor in the pipeline region have continued unabated. This report builds on the evidence in "Total Denial" and brings to light several new facets of the tragedy in the Tenasserim region. Keywords:, human rights, environment, forced relocation, internal displacement, foreign investment. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced
relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Earthrights International |
| Format/size: | | pdf (6MB - OBL ... 20MB - original) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.earthrights.org/files/Reports/TotalDenialCont-2ndEdition.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Total Denial - A Report on the Yadana Pipeline Project in Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 10 July 1996 |
| Description/subject: | | "'Total Denial' catalogues the systematic human rights abuses and environmental degradation perpetrated by SLORC as the regime seeks to consolidate its power base in the gas pipeline region. Further, the report shows that investment in projects such as the Yadana pipeline not only gives tacit approval and support to the repressive SLORC junta but also exacerbates the grave human rights and environmental problems in Burma.... The research indicates that gross human rights violations, including summary executions, torture, forced labor and forced relocations, have occurred as a result of natural gas development projects funded by European and North American corporations. In addition to condemning transnational corporate complicity with the SLORC regime, the report also presents the perspectives of those most directly impacted by the foreign investment who for too long have silently endured the abuses meted out by SLORC for the benefit of its foreign corporate partners." ...Additional keywords: environment, human rights violations. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | EarthRights International (ERI) and Southeast Asian Information Network (SAIN) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (310K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
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Pollution (various sources)
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Poisoned Waters |
| Date of publication: | | September 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "Chemical pollution and silt are killing Burma’s beautiful Inle Lake... Inle Lake, one of the country’s major tourist attractions, is terminally ill and its fishermen have fallen on bad times. The lake’s surface is shrinking dramatically. As its surface inexorably drops, the pollution of its water rises. The fish are dying and entire species are threatened with extinction..." |
| Author/creator: | | Kyi Wai |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol 15, No. 9 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www2.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=8466 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 29 April 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Valley of Darkness - gold mining and militarization in Burma's Hugawng valley |
| Date of publication: | | 09 January 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | Executive Summary: "The remote and environmentally rich Hugawng valley in Burma's northern Kachin State has been internationally recognized as one of the world's hotspots of biodiversity. Indeed, the military junta ruling Burma, together with the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society, is establishing the world's largest tiger reserve in the valley. However, the conditions of the people living there have not received attention. This report by local researchers reveals the untold story of how the junta's militarization and self-serving expansion of the gold mining industry have devastated communities and ravaged the valley's forests and waterways.
The Hugawng valley was largely untouched by Burma's military regime until the mid-1990s. After a ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and the junta in 1994, local residents had high hopes that peace would foster economic development and improved living conditions. However, under the junta's increased control, the rich resources of Hugawng valley have turned out to be a curse.
Despite the ceasefire, the junta has expanded its military infrastructure throughout Kachin State, increasing its presence from 26 battalions in 1994 to 41 in 2006. This expansion has been mirrored in Hugawng valley, where the number of military outposts has doubled; in the main town of Danai, public and private buildings have been seized and one third of the surrounding farmland confiscated. Some of the land and buildings were used to house military units, while others were sold to business interests for military profit.
In order to expand and ensure its control over gold mining revenues, the regime offered up 18% of the entire Kachin State for mining concessions in 2002. This transformed gold mining from independent gold panning to a large-scale mechanized industry controlled by the concession holders. In Hugawng valley concessions were sold to 8 selected companies and the number of main gold mining sites increased from 14 in 1994 to 31 sites in 2006. The number of active hydraulic and pit mines had exploded to approximately 100 by the end of 2006.
The regime's Ministry of Mines collects signing fees for the concessions as well as 35% - 50% tax on annual profits. Additional payments are rendered to the military's top commander for the region, various township and local authorities as well as the Minister of Mines personally. The junta has announced occasional bans on gold mining in Kachin State but as this report shows, these bans are temporary and selective, in effect used to maintain the junta's grip on mining revenues.
While the regime, called the State Peace and Development Council or SPDC, has consolidated political and financial control of the valley, it has not enforced its own existing (and very limited) environmental and health regulations on gold mining operations. This lack of regulation has resulted in deforestation, the destruction of river banks, and altering of river flows. Miners have been severely injured or killed by unsafe working practices and the lack of adequate health services. The environmental and health effects of mercury contamination have yet to be monitored and analyzed.
The most dramatic effects of this gold mining boom, however, have been on the social conditions of the local people. The influx of transient populations, together with harsh working conditions, a lack of education opportunities and poverty have led to the expansion of the drug, sex, and gambling industries in Hugawng valley. In one mining area it was estimated that 80% of inhabitants are addicted to opium and approximately 30% of miners use heroin and methamphetamines. Intravenous drug use and the sex industry have increased the spread of HIV/AIDS. Far from alleviating these social ills, local SPDC authorities collect fees from these illicit industries and even diminish efforts to curb them.
The SPDC continually boasts about how the people of Kachin State are benefiting from its border area development program. The case of Hugawng valley illustrates, however, the fundamental lack of local benefit from or participation in the development process. The SPDC is pursuing its interests of military expansion and revenue generation at the expense of social and environmental sustainability
This report documents local people speaking out about this destructive and unsustainable development. Such bravery should be encouraged and supported.".......The main URL for this document in OBL leaqds to a 1.5MB version, obtained by passing the original through ocr software. The original and uthoritative version can be found as an alternate link in this entry. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (3.77MB - original and authoritative; 1.5MB - ocr version) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.eldis.org/assets/Docs/24720.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 09 September 2010 |
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| Title: | | At What Price? Gold Mining in Kachin State, Burma |
| Date of publication: | | November 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | Contents:-ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS;
MAP;
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY;
INTRODUCTION & METHODOLOGY;;
BACKGROUND;
UNEARTHING BURMA;
ENVIRONMENT AND MINING LAWS;
THE LAND OF THE KACHIN;
GEOGRAPHY & BIODIVERSITY;
HISTORY;
GOLD IN THE KACHIN HILLS;
CONCESSION POLICY;
ROLE OF THE KIO;
FOREIGN INVESTORS;
CHINA;
GOING FOR KACHIN GOLD: MINING TECHNIQUES;
PLACER MINING;
PANNING;
BUCKET DREDGES;
SUCTION DREDGES;
HYDRAULIC MINING;
GOLD ORE;
OPEN-CAST MINES;
SHAFT MINES;
CHEMICALS IN THE MINING PROCESS;
DANGER: MERCURY;
ALTERNATIVES TO MERCURY;
CYANIDE LEACHING;
CASE STUDIES OF MINING AREAS IN KACHIN STATE;
HUKAWNG;
MALI HKA;
N’MAI HKA;
HPAKANT;
GOLD AND THE ENVIRONMENT3;
AFTER THE GOLD RUSH: TAILINGS AND ACID MINE DRAINAGE;
LAND REHABILITATION;
THE RIVER ECOSYSTEM;
GOLD AND ITS SOCIAL IMPACT;
SEEKING WORK, SEEKING GOLD;
ENDANGERING MINERS;
MINING AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS;
RECOMMENDATIONS... APPENDICES: IVANHOE MINES LTD.; EXAMPLES OF MERCURY AND METHYLMERCURY POISONING; CASES OF CYANIDE POLLUTION; AGREEMENT BETWEEN MYITKYINA TPDC AND NORTHERN STAR MINERALS TRADING AND PRODUCTION CO. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Images Asia Environment Desk, Pan Kachin Development Society |
| Format/size: | | pdf (3.4MB) 66 pages |
| Date of entry/update: | | 21 December 2004 |
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| Title: | | CURRENT STATUS OF PESTICIDES RESIDUE ANALYSIS OF FOOD IN RELATION WITH FOOD SAFETY |
| Date of publication: | | 30 January 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | FAO/WHO Global Forum of Food Safety Regulators
Marrakech, Morocco, 28 - 30 January 2002
"Being a developing agricultural country at least in a foreseeable future, Myanmar is inevitable the use of pesticides in agriculture food production although other parallel efforts of non-chemical nature are being endeavoured in pest control strategies. Although there is a low pesticide consumption rate in Mayanmar, the present data indicates the urgent need of a cautious control in the use through coordination and cooperation of various government agencies and the people themselves. In addition, agricultural pesticides use in the country is expected to be increased with the abrupt change of cropping pattern for high rice production and extension of various crops grown areas.
The use of agro-chemical on food crops is estimated about 80% of the total. At that time the use of organo-chlorine insecticides (oc's) is decreasing but the percentage of those pesticides is total (about 10%) is still high. The use of pyrethroids is increasing..." |
| Author/creator: | | Mya Thwin, Thet Thet Mar |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | FAO, WHO |
| Format/size: | | html,pdf (27.14 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/004/ab429e.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
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