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.: THREATENED PEOPLES, THREATENED RIVER
Damming the Yin Ta Lai: Salween Dams Threaten a People With Extinction provides a rare glimpse into the remote heart of Karenni State in eastern Burma and the life of the Yin Ta Lai, of whom only 1,000 remain. Footage depicts a unique cultural heritage and the biodiversity of deep rain forests which will be lost if the Salween dams are built. The film also includes interviews from the residents near Moe Bye Dam reservoir who had to flee from the flood and still have not received electricity.
See the YouTube Video: English Thai Burmese Chinese
To order the full movie, please contact kdrg05@yahoo.com
First Salween Watch Newsletter Now Available! Download If you would like a hardcopy or a few, please email us at salweenwatch@gmail.com.
Burma’s Salween dams threaten over half a million lives downstream Over half a million city residents, farmers, and fisher folk living at the mouth of the Salween River in Burma stand to lose their major source of drinking water, agricultural productivity, and fish stocks if dams planned upstream go ahead. In the Balance, a report released today by the Mon Youth Progressive Organization (MYPO), reveals how people living on the river’s banks, tributaries, and islands rely on the Salween estuary, where the fresh water of the Salween meets salt water of the Andaman Sea, and how their lives are intricately linked with the seasonal flows and daily tides of the river. “If the water flow in the Salween changes even slightly and the water becomes too salty, it will disrupt a delicate natural ecosystem of water, plants, and fish that Mon people have depended on for generations” said Nai Tiaung Pakao, a spokesperson for the MYPO. The sediment rich soils along the Salween and on the islands at its mouth nourish the fertile paddy fields, vegetable gardens and fruit plantations that feed Burma’s third largest city of Moulmein. The Salween Dams will trap the vital sediment upstream and reduce farm productivity. Despite this, the military dictatorship ruling Burma has moved ahead with Thai and Chinese investors to build the dams without even informing communities downstream, let alone asking for their consent. “The Salween dam projects threaten the lifeline of our communities and are not following international standards of dam building. We must stand up to stop these dams” says Nai Tiaung Pakao Down load the full report:
Current News: November 21, 2007 The Nation: Chinese Buy Into Tasang Dam [Read this Article] Bangkok Post: Protests at Stock Exchange of Thailand and MDX Corp. [Read this Article] November 16, 2007 Bangkok Post: Salween on the Precipice [Read this Article] June 19, 2007 The Economist: Dam the Consequences [Read this Article]
Recent Events and Actions: | ||||||||||||||||||||
Protests in front of Thai embassies/consulates and other solidarity actions were held in a number of cities, including Washington, DC, Sydney, New Delhi, Essen, Paris, New York City, Hanoi, Jakarta, Tokyo, Melbourne, Auckland, and Manila, where a petition letter was submitted demanding the current Thai administration withdraw from the Salween Dam plans to build large dams on Southeast Asia’s last longest remaining free flowing river in an area already suffering the atrocities of civil war.
For the full press release click here
To read the petition letter to the Thai Prime Minister click here
For more photos of actions around the world click here
 Demonstration in Manila |
 Outside the Thai Ministry of Energy, Bangkok |
 Demonstration in Sydney |
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Where are the Friends of Salween Watch?
The Salween River, one of the great rivers of Southeast Asia, is under threat. The governments of the Salween countries; Burma, Thailand and China have been pushing forward with plans to dam this still free-flowing river. It is planned to both exploit the hydropower potential of the entire river basin, as well as to divert water to Thailand. A series of large dams along the course of the river, in southern China and the eastern states of Burma are being considered.
The dams will have major impact on the local ethnic people, who will suffer displacement and dispossession. In Burma, these people have already been suffering from many decades of brutal conflict that has decimated their populations. Preparations for the dam construction, including securing the dam sites and clearing the flood areas, have already caused gross human rights violations and massive population displacement (maps), although this has been concealed by the context of the ongoing civil war.
The development plans were made without consideration of the recommendations made by the World Commission on Dams. This reality together with the many negative impacts of large dams, make the projects unacceptable. In Burma the dams will be used by the military dictatorship for further oppression of its people. In order to bring an immediate halt to the Salween dam plans, urgent action is needed.
