US conservationist confirms gold mining threatens world's largest tiger reserve

From the Kachin Development Networking Group

Alan Rabinowitz of the Wildlife Conservation Society last week confirmed that gold mining was "one of the biggest challenges" to the world's largest tiger reserve in Burma's Hugawng valley, polluting waterways, posing a threat to human health and contributing to a reduction in wildlife.

In an interview with the Myanmar Times on February 12, 2007, Rabinowitz said there were many gold mines in the valley despite government plans to shut them down by the start of 2007.

Valley of Darkness , a report released last month by the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) detailed that there are 31 main gold mining areas with over 100 active mines throughout the tiger reserve. According to the report, the ruling military junta grants concessions to gold mining companies in the valley, collecting handsome taxes and bribes. A new concession was recently granted to the Sea Sun Star Company allowing them to mine in the valley until 2008.

In the interview, Rabinowitz remained optimistic saying that "the future looks great for Hugawng valley" and calling for a "balance between development and conservation." A spokesman for KDNG said this was unrealistic given the junta's profits from the gold mining industry. "According to the Kachin proverb, Hkan hpe U hkum rim Sha u, ngu tsun ai ga malai, asking the junta to stop gold mining is like asking a wild cat to stop hunting chickens" said Tsa Ji. "Development can only be sustainable under a democratic system that allows local people to participate in decisions about the use of their natural resources."

Valley of Darkness also details the social impacts of gold mining, including the booming sex and drug industries, land confiscation and militarization. The report is now available in Burmese as well as English at: www.aksyu.com

World’s largest tiger reserve being ravaged by Burmese junta’s greed for gold

Valley of Darkness, a new report by undercover local researchers, exposes how Burma’s military junta is promoting extensive gold-mining in the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve in northern Kachin State, devastating not only the environment but also local communities.

The junta has expanded control of the valley, confiscating farmlands and homes to accommodate its military infrastructure, and selling off vast tracts as gold-mining concessions. The valley’s forests and waterways are now being ravaged by over 100 hydraulic and pit mines using mechanized pumps and dredges and dumping mercury-contaminated tailings. Thousands of desperate migrants from all over Burma are working in squalid mining communities throughout the once pristine valley, where drug addiction and HIV/AIDS have become rampant.

“Under the regime’s increased control, the rich resources of Hugawng valley have turned out to be a curse.” said Tsa Ji, one of the authors of the report. “Only the junta and a handful of businessmen are benefiting from the gold while the local people suffer the consequences.”   more »

Looks like its time to turn our attention again to the Salween River. Early this past December the Thai government finally signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the SPDC for the development of a series of hydropower dams on the Salween river. The Salween Watch site has all the dirt on the issue. S.H.A.N. has also published a great report on the public health ramifications of the proposed dams.

As one might expect, the dams will lead to massive displacement and loss of livelihood for locals in Shan and Karen States, as well as environmental destruction. Combined with the recent MoU Thailand signed to develop 17.5 million acres under a contract farming system in Shan State, one has to seriously question the current Thai administration's motivations and/or intelligence. It seems the dams are being built not only to produce electricity, which will be sent to Thailand, but are also intended to divert water to the Chao Praya basin, to be used in industrial operations in Thailand.   more »

The Kachin Independence Organizations, one of the cease-fire groups within Burma, has censored an environmental report due to be released by the Pan Kachin Development Organization here in Chiang Mai. The report assesses the impacts of development, particularly logging, on the environment of Kachin State.

The KIO, which won forestry and mining concessions in its cease-fire agreement with the junta, fears the report may harm its image and relationship with the junta.

The KIO is also one of the cease-fire groups which are refusing to lay down their weapons at the behest of Rangoon, expressing distrust in the junta's promises of protection and development.

The KIO can stand up to the junta with its guns, and call the generals dishonest, but they're worried an environmental report may damage the relationship?

Exploration is well under way by Daewoo of the natural gas feilds off the coast of Arakan State in western Burma. Arakan State borders Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal, and is home to the Arakanese (Rakhine) and the Rohingya, Burma's muslim minority. Read about it here: History of Arakan State.

For the last several months, I've been editing stories via email every day for Narinjara News, covering Arakan State. The stories are brief, and come plainly stating news that should all rights be shocking. Its been through bits and peices in these articles that I've learned about this place and the people there. Its only been with today's article on the Shwe Gas project, and my subsequent decision to finally google something, that the sequence of news events as they've been coming to me have seemed to coalesced into a disturbing pattern.

Daewoo stands to earn an annual profit of $100 million from the project. Here's what the people of Arakan state have gotten lately:   more »

The news from Burma's been pretty busy lately, but some of us have been to busy cleaning up to blog. You can get your news updates here.

Chiang Mai was inundated with floods, again, last week. The first flood hit early in August, and was reportedly the worst in 40 years, with the Ping river reaching about 4.75 meters. About three weeks ago we had another, smaller, flood. Then this past week there was another one, even worse, with the river hitting 5 meters. Luckily, sort of, we had more warning and did not actually lose anything. Except the nice new paint job we did after the first flood. The government even gave us a goody bag of supplies, with some prawn mama noodles, toilet paper, sardines, and soy milk. Mmm..thanks Mr. Thaksin, but can I just have the 100 baht in cash next time?   more »

The worst flood in 40 years hit Chiang Mai and the north of Thailand this weekend, and even yours truly and her cat are now staying with friends. The area from the Night Bazaar to the Airport was one of the hardest hit in Chiang Mai, being inundated with up to two meters of murky scummy river water in the deepest places. The flood lasted about two and half days, with the clean-up effort already begun yesterday. As a prime tourist destination, the government will be quick to clean up and restore order. With damages estimated at about 1 billion baht, the hardest hit will be small businesses, and workers in the night bazaar. Many of the workers in the night bazaar are fearing wage cuts, and loss of income from commissions. Its doubtful they'll be able to access official releif efforts without legal papers and id cards. Although I wouldn't be surprised if the the government issues emergency loans and funding to their employers to get their businesses up an running again. We'll just have to wait and see what will happen to the workers. I've also been told that an exiled Burmese human rights organization has also been hit hard by the flooding, their office being near the river and the Night Bazaar. Again, they won't be able to access official channels for releif, and must rely on the generosity of friends.   more »

The Salween dam, a proposed joint venture between Thailand and Burma, is back on the agenda after the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), has decided it's a good idea. There are innumerable reasons as to why this is the stupidest thing the Thai government has done of late, and I expect to be expounding on them in the future. In fact, it is an assigment I'm giving myself for the blog. So stay tuned. In the meantime, read more:

From Scorched Earth To Flooded Earth: The Generals' Dam On Burma's Salween River

Signature campaign to oppose the Salween Dam

I was forwarded the attached article "The War on Kachin Forests" recently, and although it was published a few years ago, it offers some good background info on the environmental/logging issue. The forest in Kachin state is a "Biodiversity Hotspot", making one of the most valuable and endangered ecosystems in the world. A more recently published article in The Kachin Post discusses the same issue. Its good to see how much has been done in the three-plus years between articles. The Chinese government of course denies that it is engaged in illegal timber trading. Which begs the interesting question of where all of the trees in Kachin state have been disappearing too. And what are all of those new Burma - China highways and bridges are being used for if not the export of resources? They're certianly not for tourist busses.