Hydropower projects

See also the Dams sub-section under Water
expand all
collapse all

Websites/Multiple Documents

Source/publisher: OnlineBurma/Myanmar Library
Date of entry/update: 2013-01-26
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
expand all
collapse all

Individual Documents

Description: "After heavily investing in the Myitsone Dam, China re-engages discussions about resuming construction of the project stalled for many years. The Chinese ambassador for Burma pressed to restart a contentious hydro-power dam project during a recent meeting with important Kachin political leaders in northern Myanmar. “The Chinese ambassador said China wants to resume construction of the Myitsone hydropower dam construction, since it’s already heavily invested in the project,” said U Kwam Gowng Awng Kham, chairman for Kachin Democratic Party. Planned near Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, the dam project has been a massive undertaking by the Chinese government, U Kwam Gowng Awng Kham said. With its suspension, China is going to keep trying to reboot the project. The previous Thein Sein government suspended it in 2011 after the project received widespread opposition. If it’s completed it would generate 6,000 megawatts, making it the fifteenth largest dam in the world. Most of the dam’s output would be sent to China. It would cause extensive flooding, and because it’s planned on a fault line, there are legitimate fears an earthquake could damage it causing flooding that would inundate neighboring Kachin State capital, Myitkyina. Since the NLD government came to power, China has been pushing for State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to restart the project. The objective of the Myitsone hydropower dam is for regional development, said U Kwam Gowng Awng Kham, but the negative impact a mega project of this kind will have on the environment would be huge. This is why Kachin and so many others across the country have been against it from the start..."
Source/publisher: "BNI Multimedia Group" via Network Media Group (Canada)
2019-01-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description: "I am from Myitkyina, a Kachin, born and bred in the town just 43 kilometers downstream from where the Mali and N’Mai Rivers merge to form the great Irrawaddy, the lifeblood of our nation, Myanmar. Myitsone, the confluence site, also has added significance for us Kachins: It is the heartland of our cultural identity. So it would not be a stretch to say that the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) is part of my life, just as it is for all who call Myanmar their home. To have the Irrawaddy flow freely for all time is a cause very dear to my heart. And putting my money where my mouth is, I used the US$50,000 I received from the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation as seed money to establish the non-profit organization Airavati with a few like-minded friends in 2014. Airavati’s major work entails preserving the environment, culture and way of life of the diverse communities that flourish along the Irrawaddy’s path – from its watersheds in the upper reaches of Kachin state to the delta region in Myanmar’s south. The Irrawaddy is a precious national heritage. From time immemorial, the Bamar and other ethnic nationalities have lived and thrived along its riverbanks. Not only is it an amazing natural ecosystem, it is also an icon of our cultural and national identity. If we do not safeguard this treasure, we will suffer from its devastating loss, just as our neighbors to our immediate east did when the Chinese dammed the Mekong River within their borders. The impact on downstream countries – Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam – has been disastrous and irreversible..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2019-05-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description: "This brochure is intended to serve as resource for NGOs and CSO representatives in your work to raise awareness among communities in Karen and Mon States about the current energy situation in Myanmar, and the effects the government?s proposed plans have on the land, health and human rights of the communities. Information in this brochure will hopefully provide communities with knowledge and awareness of the different existing options to access electricity and should be considered a complement to larger campaigns against harmful development projects, such as mega hydropower dams, special economic zones, and gas- and coal fired power plants. The brochure gives a brief overview of alternative energy forms. It is not intended to provide the reader with a detailed description of how these alternative energy forms function or how they can be installed The questions in the end of this brochure can serve as guidance when initiating a discussion with communities about their electricity situation. First of all it is important to establish whether or not the community have access to electricity or not. That question will lead in to what sort of electricity currently is available in the local area, which will open up a chance to discuss the differences between electricity coming from the national grid system and a locally distributed energy system. A community energy audit should be conducted to explore how much of communities income today is spent on energy and what energy they use. Follow up with an energy-needs survey looking at how much energy is necessary to provide sufficient electricity for the community, and a natural resources survey exploring where there is potential for developing renewable energy in the community or nearby locations to create a locally distributed energy system..."
Source/publisher: KESAN
2017-08-21
Date of entry/update: 2018-11-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description: In January 2016, Burma?s state media reported that Naypyidaw was proceeding with four new hydropower dams on the Namtu (Myitnge or Dokhtawaddy) River, three of which are in conflict areas of Shan State. These new dams, together with the existing Yeywa dam, will form a cascade blocking half the entire length of the river. The most advanced of the new dams is the Upper Yeywa Dam in Nawngkhio township, started by Burma?s military regime in 2008, and slated for completion in 2018. The planned reservoir will stretch for over 60 kilometers, entirely submerging a large Shan village of nearly 500 residents, called Ta Long, and possibly submerging part of Hsipaw town. Ta Long (meaning ?large harbor”) is a prosperous community, renowned in northern Shan State for its organic oranges and pomelos, grown along the riverbank. Ancient stupas in the village are hundreds of years old. Ta Long villagers were neither informed nor consulted before the dam began. An Environment and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) was carried out for the dam only in 2014, six years after the dam had begun. During the ESIA, the villagers stated clearly that they were not willing to move. Despite this, dam-building has continued, with funding from China, and with the involvement of Chinese, Japanese, German and Swiss companies. A diversion tunnel has been completed, and construction of the main dam wall was beginning in early 2016. The other planned dams on the Namtu in Shan State -- the Middle Yeywa Dam being developed by Norway?s state-owned SN Power in Nawng Khio township, and the Namtu Dam in Hsipaw township -- are also proceeding without transparency, and without the informed consent of impacted villagers. This cascade of dams will have serious impacts on the ecology of the river. Disruption of fish spawning and migration patterns are likely to negatively impact the rich fish stocks upon which thousands of Hsipaw villagers rely. Toxins from mining upstream are also likely to build up in the reservoirs, endangering aquatic life and the health of those relying on the river. Methane emitted from rotting vegetation in the reservoirs will also contribute to global warming. Another serious concern for villagers living below the planned Namtu Dam in Hsipaw will be the unpredictable fluctuations in water level due to the operation of the dam, and risk of sudden surges causing accidents along the river bank. If there is heavy rainfall, large amounts of water may have to be released, causing flooding downstream. Even more worrying is the possibility of dam breakage, due to pressure from abnormally heavy rainfall, landslides or earthquakes. The Middle Yeywa dam is being planned over the Kyaukkyan fault line, the centre of the biggest earthquake in Burma?s history in 1912, measuring about 8 on the Richter scale. This is of great concern, as the weight of dam reservoirs near fault lines is known to trigger earthquakes. Dam breakage would release a deadly tsunami, destroying any lower dams and also threatening countless communities in the lower plains. Finally, it is highly unwise for Naypyidaw to be pushing through these risky, untransparent dam projects in active conflict zones. Since early 2016, fighting has intensified in Shan townships where these dams are planned. With Naypyidaw?s monopoly over natural resources being a key driver of the ethnic conflict, forging ahead with damaging hydropower projects over the heads of local ethnic communities will only fuel resentment and exacerbate the conflict. We therefore urge the new NLD-led government to immediately halt all plans to build new dams on the Namtu River, including the Upper Yeywa dam. Only when there is a negotiated federal settlement to the ethnic conflict, bringing genuine nationwide peace and decentralized natural resource management, should options for future hydropower development along the Namtu river be considered. Any future plans for hydropower development on the Namtu River must involve a transparent strategic impact assessment along the entire river, and there must be Free Prior and Informed Consent of affected indigenous communities.
Source/publisher: Shan Human Rights Foundation, Shan State Farmers? Network, Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization
2016-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.92 MB
more
Description: ၂၀၁၆ ခုနှစ်ဇန်နဝါရီလတွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ သတင်းဌာနမှသတင်းထဲတွင် နေပြည်တော်သည် ရေကာတာ ရေအားလျှပ်စစ်စီမံကိန်း ၄ ခု ကို နမ္မတူ( မြစ်ငယ် (သို့) ဒုဋ္ဌဝတီ )မြစ်ပေါ်တွင် တည်ဆောက်ရန်စီစဉ်လျှက်ရှိကြောင်း၊ ၎င်းအနက် ရေကာတာ (၃)ခုသည် ယခု ရှမ်းပြည်နယ် ပဋိပက္ခ ဖြစ်ရာနေရာအတွင်းတွင်ဖြစ်နေသည်။ ၎င်းရေကာတာသစ်များ နှင့် ရဲရွာရေကာတာတို့သည် မြစ်ကြောင်းတခုလုံး၏ထက်ဝက်ကိုပိတ်ဆို့လိုက်ရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ ဆောက်လုပ်ဆဲအထက်ရဲရွာရေကာတာသည်နောင်ချိုမြို့နယ်တွင်ရှိပြီးဗမာစစ်အစိုး ရက၂၀၀၈ခုနှစ်မှစ၍တည်ဆောက်ခဲ့သည်၊၂၀၁၈ခုနှစ်တွင်ပြီးရန်ခန့်မှန်းထားသည်။ တည်ဆောက်မည့်ရေလှောင်ကန်သည် အကျယ်အဝန်း (၆၀) ကီလိုမီတာ ရှိသည်။လူဦးရေ (၅၀၀)ခန့်နေထိုင်သည့် ရှမ်းရွာကြီး ဖြစ်သော တာလုံရွာသည် ရေအောက်လုံးဝမြုပ်သွားပြီးသီပေါမြို့ ၏တစ်စိတ်တပိုင်းတို့မှာ လည်း ရေအောက်မြှပ်သွားနိုင်သည်။ တာလုံ ၏အဓိပ္ပါယ်မှာ (ဆိပ်ကမ်းကြီး)ဟုဆိုသည်၊စည်ကားသာယာသည်။ ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်- မြောက်ပိုင်းတွက် အော်ဂင်းနစ် သဘာဝလိမ္မော်သီး၊ ကျွဲကောသီးတို့မှာ နမ္မတူမြစ်ကမ်း တစ်လျှေက်တွင် စိုက်ပျိုးကြ၍ လူသိများသည်။ နှစ်ပေါင်းတစ်ရာကျော် ရှေးပဝေသဏီ ကတည်းက တည်ထားကိုးကွယ်သော စေတီပုထိုးများလည်းရှိသည်။ ရေကာတာ မတည် ဆောက်မှီကတည်းက တာလုံရွာသားတို့အား အကြောင်းကြားခြင်း မရှိသည့်ပြင် ညှိနှိုင်း တိုင်ပင်မှုများမရှိခဲ့ပေ။ သဘာဝနှင့် လူမှုဝန်းကျင်ထိခိုက်မှု အကဲခတ်အဖွဲ့ (ESIA) Environment and Social Impact Assessment တို့က၂၀၁၄ ခုနှစ်မှသာ စလုပ်ဆောင်လာသဖြင့် ရေကာတာစဆောက်ပြီး(၆) နှစ်မှ ရောက်လာခဲ့ခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။(ESIA)လုပ်နေစဉ်တွင်လည်း တာလုံရွာမှ ဒေသခံပြည်သူလူထုတို့မှာ ပြောင်းရွှေ့မှုကို မလိုလားကြကြောင်း ရှင်းရှင်းဖေါ်ပြကြသည်။ သို့သော်လည်း ဒီရေကာတာတည်ဆောက်မှုကို တရုတ်အရင်းအနှီး နှင့်ဆက်လက် လုပ်ဆောင်နေပြီး တရုတ်၊ဂျပန်၊ဂျာမန် နှင့် ဆွစ်ကုမ္မဏီ တို့လည်းပါဝင်ပတ်သက်နေသည် ရေလွှဲပေါက်ဥမင်လိုဏ်ခေါင်း မှ ပြီးစီးနေပြီဖြစ်ပြီး ရေကာတာ၏ အဓိကနံရံကို၂၀၁၆ ခုနှစ် အစောပိုင်းတွင်တည် ဆောက်သွားမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ ရှမ်းပြည်နယ် နမ္မတူ မြစ်ပေါ်တွင်တည်ဆောက်မည့် အခြားသော ရေကာတာ စီမံကိန်းများမှာ နောင်ချိုမြို့နယ် တည်ဆောက်နေသော အလယ်ရဲရွာ ရေကာတာစီမံကိန်းသည် နော်ဝေနိုင်ငံပိုင် အက်စ် အင်န်ပါဝါ ( SN Power) တာဝန်ယူတည်ဆောက်သည်။ သီပေါမြို့နယ်ရှိ နမ္မတူမြစ် ပေါ်တည်ဆောက်နေသည့် ရေကာတာလည်း ပွင့်လင်းမြင်သာမှုမရှိသလို ထိခိုက်နစ်နာမည့်လူထူကို ဆွေးနွေးအကြောင်းကြားခြင်းမရှိပေ။ ၎င်းရေကာတာ များ၏ အဆင့်များကြောင့် မြစ်ချောင်းပေါ်ရှိ သဘာဝဂေဟ စံနစ်ကို ပြင်းထန်စွာ ထိခိုက်နိုင်သည်။ငါးများသွားလာကျက်စားရာကို အနှောက်အယှက်ဖြစ်စေသဖြင့် သီပေါမြို့မှ ထောင်ပေါင်းသော ရပ်သူ၊ရွာသားအများ မှီခိုစားသောက်ရသော ငါးများ ထိခိုက်နစ်နာနိုင်သည်။ အထက်တွင်ရှိ သတ္တုတူးဖေါ်သည့် လုပ်ငန်းများကြောင့် ရေလှောင်ကန်များ အဆိပ်သင့်ရကာ ငါးတွေနှင့် အမှီပြုသည်သူများ၏ကျန်းမာလည်း ထိခိုက်နိုင်သည်။ သဘာဝပေါက်ပင်များ ရေဠေယင်ကန်တွင် ပုပ်သိုးပြီးမီသိန်းဓါတ်များထုတ်လွှတ်သဖြင့်ကမ္ဘာကြီးကိုပိုမိုပူနွေးလာမှု ကို ပိုဖြစ်စေသည်။ အခြားသောစိုးရိမ်ပူပန်မှုမှာ သီပေါမြို့နယ် နမ္မတူရေကာတာ စီမံကိန်းအောက်ပိုင်းတွင် နေသောသူများသည်ရေကာတာလုပ်ငန်း၏ ရေအတက်အကျကိုမခန့်မှန်းနိုင်ရကာမြစ်ကမ်း တစ်လျှောက်တွင် ရုတ်တရက်တစ်ရှိန်ထိုးရေကြီးလာနိုင်သော အန္တရာယ်များ ကြုံနိုင်သည်။အကယ်၍ မိုးသည်းထန်စွာရွာသွန်းပါက ကြီးမားသောရေထုထည်ကိုရေဂါတာ က လွှတ်ချမည်ဖြစ်သဖြင့် မြစ်အောက်ပိုင်းတွ?
Source/publisher: Shan Human Rights Foundation, Shan State Farmers? Network, Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization
2016-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 1.41 MB
Local URL:
more
Description: In January 2016, Burma?s state media reported that Naypyidaw was proceeding with four new hydropower dams on the Namtu (Myitnge or Dokhtawaddy) River, three of which are in conflict areas of Shan State. These new dams, together with the existing Yeywa dam, will form a cascade blocking half the entire length of the river. The most advanced of the new dams is the Upper Yeywa Dam in Nawngkhio township, started by Burma?s military regime in 2008, and slated for completion in 2018. The planned reservoir will stretch for over 60 kilometers, entirely submerging a large Shan village of nearly 500 residents, called Ta Long, and possibly submerging part of Hsipaw town. Ta Long (meaning ?large harbor”) is a prosperous community, renowned in northern Shan State for its organic oranges and pomelos, grown along the riverbank. Ancient stupas in the village are hundreds of years old. Ta Long villagers were neither informed nor consulted before the dam began. An Environment and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) was carried out for the dam only in 2014, six years after the dam had begun. During the ESIA, the villagers stated clearly that they were not willing to move. Despite this, dam-building has continued, with funding from China, and with the involvement of Chinese, Japanese, German and Swiss companies. A diversion tunnel has been completed, and construction of the main dam wall was beginning in early 2016. The other planned dams on the Namtu in Shan State -- the Middle Yeywa Dam being developed by Norway?s state-owned SN Power in Nawng Khio township, and the Namtu Dam in Hsipaw township -- are also proceeding without transparency, and without the informed consent of impacted villagers. This cascade of dams will have serious impacts on the ecology of the river. Disruption of fish spawning and migration patterns are likely to negatively impact the rich fish stocks upon which thousands of Hsipaw villagers rely. Toxins from mining upstream are also likely to build up in the reservoirs, endangering aquatic life and the health of those relying on the river. Methane emitted from rotting vegetation in the reservoirs will also contribute to global warming. Another serious concern for villagers living below the planned Namtu Dam in Hsipaw will be the unpredictable fluctuations in water level due to the operation of the dam, and risk of sudden surges causing accidents along the river bank. If there is heavy rainfall, large amounts of water may have to be released, causing flooding downstream. Even more worrying is the possibility of dam breakage, due to pressure from abnormally heavy rainfall, landslides or earthquakes. The Middle Yeywa dam is being planned over the Kyaukkyan fault line, the centre of the biggest earthquake in Burma?s history in 1912, measuring about 8 on the Richter scale. This is of great concern, as the weight of dam reservoirs near fault lines is known to trigger earthquakes. Dam breakage would release a deadly tsunami, destroying any lower dams and also threatening countless communities in the lower plains. Finally, it is highly unwise for Naypyidaw to be pushing through these risky, untransparent dam projects in active conflict zones. Since early 2016, fighting has intensified in Shan townships where these dams are planned. With Naypyidaw?s monopoly over natural resources being a key driver of the ethnic conflict, forging ahead with damaging hydropower projects over the heads of local ethnic communities will only fuel resentment and exacerbate the conflict. We therefore urge the new NLD-led government to immediately halt all plans to build new dams on the Namtu River, including the Upper Yeywa dam. Only when there is a negotiated federal settlement to the ethnic conflict, bringing genuine nationwide peace and decentralized natural resource management, should options for future hydropower development along the Namtu river be considered. Any future plans for hydropower development on the Namtu River must involve a transparent strategic impact assessment along the entire river, and there must be Free Prior and Informed Consent of affected indigenous communities.
Source/publisher: Shan Human Rights Foundation, Shan State Farmers? Network, Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization
2016-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Shan
Format : pdf
Size: 1.27 MB
Local URL:
more
Description: Summary: "A recently built dam on the Longjiang (Nam Mao or Shweli) river in Yunnan Province of China has severely disrupted the livelihoods of about 16,000 villagers living in the Mao Valley along the northern Shan State border in Burma. The Ruili-Muse border crossing, in the Mao Valley, is the main border trade point between China and Burma, and local communiti es rely principally on income from ferrying goods across the river on either side of the crossing. However, in early 2010, when the reservoir in the Longjiang Dam started to be fi lled, the river dried up, falling to unprecedented low levels and bringing boats to a standsti ll. Since the start of the rains in May 2010, there have been huge daily fl uctuati ons in the river levels, causing not only grounding of boats, but also fl ooding of goods, cutti ng ferry workers? incomes by up to two-thirds. The numerous ferry operators have thus had to drasti cally reduce the numbers of their trips. The resulti ng drop in trade is not only cutti ng the income of the riverside communiti es, but also that of many of the 30,000 people living in the town of Muse, who rely on the border trade. These communiti es were never informed by either Chinese or Burmese authoriti es about the dam and its impacts. They are urgently requesti ng the Chinese authoriti es to modify the dam?s operati on so that the river?s environmental fl ow can be restored, and the disrupti on to their livelihoods minimized. This case study provides evidence that builders of hydropower dams on transnati onal rivers in China have neglected to consider the trans-boundary environmental and social impacts of these projects. There is an urgent need for transparent, comprehensive and parti cipatory assessments of the environmental and social impacts of these projects on the enti re length of the rivers."
Source/publisher: Shan Women?s Action Network (SWAN)
2010-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-01-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 2.51 MB
more
Description: Summary: "A recently built dam on the Longjiang (Nam Mao or Shweli) river in Yunnan Province of China has severely disrupted the livelihoods of about 16,000 villagers living in the Mao Valley along the northern Shan State border in Burma. The Ruili-Muse border crossing, in the Mao Valley, is the main border trade point between China and Burma, and local communiti es rely principally on income from ferrying goods across the river on either side of the crossing. However, in early 2010, when the reservoir in the Longjiang Dam started to be fi lled, the river dried up, falling to unprecedented low levels and bringing boats to a standsti ll. Since the start of the rains in May 2010, there have been huge daily fl uctuati ons in the river levels, causing not only grounding of boats, but also fl ooding of goods, cutti ng ferry workers? incomes by up to two-thirds. The numerous ferry operators have thus had to drasti cally reduce the numbers of their trips. The resulti ng drop in trade is not only cutti ng the income of the riverside communiti es, but also that of many of the 30,000 people living in the town of Muse, who rely on the border trade. These communiti es were never informed by either Chinese or Burmese authoriti es about the dam and its impacts. They are urgently requesti ng the Chinese authoriti es to modify the dam?s operati on so that the river?s environmental fl ow can be restored, and the disrupti on to their livelihoods minimized. This case study provides evidence that builders of hydropower dams on transnati onal rivers in China have neglected to consider the trans-boundary environmental and social impacts of these projects. There is an urgent need for transparent, comprehensive and parti cipatory assessments of the environmental and social impacts of these projects on the enti re length of the rivers."
Source/publisher: Shan Women?s Action Network (SWAN)
2010-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-01-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 3.62 MB
more
Description: Summary: "A recently built dam on the Longjiang (Nam Mao or Shweli) river in Yunnan Province of China has severely disrupted the livelihoods of about 16,000 villagers living in the Mao Valley along the northern Shan State border in Burma. The Ruili-Muse border crossing, in the Mao Valley, is the main border trade point between China and Burma, and local communiti es rely principally on income from ferrying goods across the river on either side of the crossing. However, in early 2010, when the reservoir in the Longjiang Dam started to be fi lled, the river dried up, falling to unprecedented low levels and bringing boats to a standsti ll. Since the start of the rains in May 2010, there have been huge daily fl uctuati ons in the river levels, causing not only grounding of boats, but also fl ooding of goods, cutti ng ferry workers? incomes by up to two-thirds. The numerous ferry operators have thus had to drasti cally reduce the numbers of their trips. The resulti ng drop in trade is not only cutti ng the income of the riverside communiti es, but also that of many of the 30,000 people living in the town of Muse, who rely on the border trade. These communiti es were never informed by either Chinese or Burmese authoriti es about the dam and its impacts. They are urgently requesti ng the Chinese authoriti es to modify the dam?s operati on so that the river?s environmental fl ow can be restored, and the disrupti on to their livelihoods minimized. This case study provides evidence that builders of hydropower dams on transnati onal rivers in China have neglected to consider the trans-boundary environmental and social impacts of these projects. There is an urgent need for transparent, comprehensive and parti cipatory assessments of the environmental and social impacts of these projects on the enti re length of the rivers."
Source/publisher: Shan Women?s Action Network (SWAN)
2010-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-01-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Shan (ရှမ်းဘာသာ)
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 2.9 MB 3.6 MB
more
Description: Introduction: "This might refer to our relationship with the environment just as well as to that between a man and a woman. Our relationship with the environment requires careful attention for we must take care of it if we want it to reciprocate. Around the globe today, that relationship is being challenged. We are here in a wondrous and wonderful part of the world. This sketch of Asia?s major rivers flowing down from the Tibetan plateau illustrates just how central our location is, both geographically and in terms of the hundreds of millions of human lives and other biological phenomena impacted by the flow of these waters. The river of concern for me today is the Salween, in some locations called the Nu Jiang or the Thanlwin. Lately my focus has been on Myanmar (Burma) and its current struggles to emerge form a long period of difficult political and economic conditions. Many, dare I say all of us, desire to help this great country to achieve higher levels of prosperity and sustainable well-­being. One focal point for many has become the Salween..." .....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­25 July 2015
Creator/author: James Lin Compton
Source/publisher: International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­25 July 2015
2015-07-25
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 85.38 KB
more
Description: "In a blueprint for the energy sector in 2011-15, China?s State Council on Wednesday lifted an eightyear ban on five megadams for the largely free-flowing Nu River [Salween], ignoring concerns about geologic risks, global biodiversity, resettlement, and impacts on downstream communities. ?China?s plans to go ahead with dams on the Nu, as well as similar projects on the Upper Yangtze and Mekong, shows a complete disregard of well-documented seismic hazards, ecological and social risks? stated Katy Yan, China Program Coordinator for the environmental organization International Rivers. Also included in the plan is the controversial Xiaonanhai Dam on the Upper Yangtze. A total of 13 dams was first proposed for the Nu River (also known as the Salween) in 2003, but Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao suspended these plans in 2004 in a stunning decision. Since then, Huadian Corporation has continued to explore five dams – Songta (4200 MW), Maji (4200 MW), Yabiluo (1800 MW), Liuku (180 MW), and Saige (1000 MW) – and has successfully lobbied the State Council to include them in the 12th Five Year Plan..."
Source/publisher: International Rivers
2013-01-25
Date of entry/update: 2013-01-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 71.33 KB
more
Description: A fierce heat wave combined with a drought to create serious water shortages in many parts of Burma in May... "Temperatures in Rangoon, Pegu and Irrawaddy divisions and in central Burma and Arakan State reached three-decade record highs of up to 45 degrees Celsius, according to official reports. The excessive heat dried up ponds in many villages, leading to a shortage of water for drinking and sanitation. Many communities in need received emergency water supplies from volunteer workers—and the government..."
Creator/author: Myat Moe Maung
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 6
2010-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-08-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
more