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Salween watch

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corinalis님의 [[아시아민중의 인권현장] 버마인들의 토지에 대한 권리] 에 관련된 글.

THREATENED PEOPLES, THREATENED RIVER

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.

Salween Dams - Critical Reasons to Oppose:

Civil War is raging in the area around the dam sites and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced at gunpoint
Dams are being used as a military strategy against the ethnic peoples of Burma
Torture, rape, and killings of villagers are continuing as more soldiers are being deployed and more landmines laid
Dams will provide financial support to the military junta
Massive corruption is inevitable given the complete lack of transparency
The dams will permanently degrade Southeast Asia’s longest free flowing river’s fisheries, floodplains, teak forests and wildlife habitats, and flood villages and fertile agricultural land

The dams on the Salween River in Burma are extremely controversial, due to the ongoing civil war against the ethnic people in the areas where the dams are planned, and the continuing rule of a military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), that denies the most basic rights to the entire population. The dam plans are seen by many as being one of the strategies used by the military regime to gain foreign support and funding for its ongoing war effort. It is also viewed as a strategy to increase and maintain its control over areas of ethnic land after many decades of brutal conflict.

Thailand which has already exploited most of its natural resources and faces environmental destruction due to large dam projects and commercial logging, has been looking to neighbouring countries to meet its energy wants. The government shows little concern about exporting the environmental and social problems, while importing only electricity.

Thailand is already paying US$600 million a year to the SPDC and the multinational oil companies that invested in the Yadana gas pipeline from Burmese offshore gas fields ( see ERI Website ). The revenue from the gas sale is the major source of income for the regime. This money is used directly for military purchases and the expansion of armed forces, which is currently under sanctions from most Western nations. The Salween dams would be by far the biggest investment in Burma. Building even one of the dams would bring in a minimum of 5 billion investment dollars into the country. Although the country faces a major energy crisis, the Salween dams, like the gas pipeline, are not designed to supply electricity throughout Burma but almost exclusively for export.

The SPDC is trying to maintain an illusion of peace following a long process of pressuring and persuading some of the many armed opposition groups to join them in ceasefire agreements. However, the areas where the dams are to be built are precisely where the conflict remains most intense. Despite claims that peace rules in Burma's ethnic states, the number of refugees flowing into Thailand has not decreased, and the Thai government is not allowing new arrivals to register for refugee assistance with the UNHCR. Since the Thai government aims to rebuild ties with the SPDC, it is keen to repatriate the over 140,000 refugees in border camps. The SPDC would like to see the refugees returned to their control in order to exert pressure on the armed groups, who have many family members among the refugees. Recent Thai orders for refugees to be moved from areas located near the planned dam areas to sites closer to the border show how the Thai government and the Burmese military regime are collaborating.

Thailand's renewed push to construct the Salween dams emerges from a government that is aggressively promoting economic growth and increased energy consumption. The country currently has approximately a 40% oversupply of electricity, however, it is seeking dams and other energy infrastructure projects in neighbouring countries for its long-term expansion plans. This is based on uncertain demand projections, and without regard to sustainability.

The Salween hydropower projects are also being promoted in the context of a regional electricity support network with neighbouring countries, but it will greatly benefit Thailand as an industrial centre. The Greater Mekong Subregional Development Program, a network of governments supported by the Asian Development Bank, is being used to legitimize and raise funds for harmful development plans such as these.

China's plans for development of dams on the Upper Salween River have recently come into the spotlight. There are plans for 13 mainstream dams in China alone ( see China plans 13 megadams on the Salween ). There are concerns that China, which has shown little regard for the huge impacts of its giant hydropower and other development projects, may also support the construction of dams on the Salween in Burma. China is already playing a key role in construction of large dams on other rivers in Burma.

Salween Watch considers the megadam plans on the Salween River to be part of an unsustainable development model that will have serious impacts on people's lives and on the whole environment. The Salween dam projects disregard the well-being and concerns of the local people, and supports an exceptionally oppressive dictatorship in Burma.

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