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Livelihood | Dam Sites | Salween Delta Area | Relocation of Mae Kong ka camp

Livelihood


A temporary stall where fuel is sold to boatmen at the mouth of the Salween, Mon State	Distinctively styled dugout canoes remain in common use along the Salween by fishermen, people crossing the river and those tending riverbank cultivation sites.

In a country where many of the main "highways" and roads remain as dirt tracks, large numbers of vehicles are arbitrarily commandeered for military use or are subject to prohibitively expensive registration and fuel costs, river transport is vital - and often the only option.	At a market in Central Shan State, local women sell a variety of species caught in the abundant waters of the undimmed river

A moderately sized specimen of an exceptionally delicious fish, shown proudly by its Karen captor	Boat transport in the muddy delta, with some of the spectacular limestone (karst) formations the Salween is renowned for in the distance

An indigenous elder from Karenni (Kayah) State newly arrived at a refugee camp on the Thai border shows curious neighbours how to prepare a kind of nut he found in the vicinity that they had never seen before – some of the rich biodiversity of the Salween watershed

Dam Sites


Rocks painted with Japanese characters and a sign with elevation readings bearing the words Dam Left Axis at the site of the proposed Ta Sang dam in Southern Shan State in year 2000	One of the many large sandbanks on the heavily silted but fast flowing Salween, with a view of it's steep gorges beyond

Japanese tunneling technology at work at the Paunglaung Dam site close to the new capital of Nay Pyi Daw, recently completed with Chinese, Burmese and Japanese input. Chinese and Japanese funds, expertise and technology have been sought and or gained for the Salween dams.	Surveyors crude markings on rocks at the site of the proposed Wei Gyi dam on the border of Northern Karen State and Thailand

Salween Delta Area


Landscapes of the Salween Delta, with it's floodplains annually blessed with fertility renewing silt brought down and spread by the river and its distinctive karst outcrops	Lone fisherman out in the rainy season floodwaters of the delta

Local transport vessels load people and trade goods for journeys between the Mon State capital of Moulmein (Mawlamyine) and the Karen (Kayin) State capital of Hpa-an and beyond	Peaceable dawn scenes at the rivers mouth

First class "A-Grade" protected forest on a Salween tributary threatened by the planned Mae Lama Luang dam, which would divert some 2 billion cubic metres of water from the Salween to send into the flood prone Chaophraya River of Thailand	Yuam River, looking up from the edge of the refugee camp towards the site of the nearby Mae Lama Luang water diversion dam site.

Relocation of Mae Kong ka camp


Refugees were shifted from Mae Khong Kha Camp to the "A-Grade" forest area along the Yuam river in 2002(??) by the Thaksin government citing the refugees harmful impact on the forest in the Salween National Park, and alleged concern for their safety in the storm and flash-flood prone area. However, expressing concerns about the forest was duplicitous as much of the national park around Mae Khong Kha would be flooded by the dams, and the new refugee camp was in even better quality forest.	New refugee huts crowded onto steep and unstable slopes

Good forest cut and burnt to clear space for the refugee camp in an area dangerously close to the border where pro-regime groups in the past have repeatedly attacked and burnt down refugee camps	Closely packed huts on the steep slopes of the dry forest, through which fires sweep every year