Myanmar’s Environmental Challenges

Description: 

"After eight years collecting dust on the planning shelves and also at the confluence of the Mali and N’mai Rivers in upper Burma, the Chinese are seeking to revive the Myitsone Dam, which has been stalled since 2011 after then-President Thein Sein, in an unprecedented about-turn, put it on hold amid massive protest. In late 2009, as Asia Sentinel reported, a team of 80 Burmese and Chinese scientists and environmentalists conducted a 945-page environmental impact study of the Myitsone Dam for China Power Investment itself and concluded that the dam should never be built. Although the Chinese government ignored the recommendations of its own scientists, the Burma Rivers Network, which opposes the dam, obtained a copy of the assessment and made it public. Nonetheless, the Ministry of Electric Power-1 said it had done its own environmental assessment and the dam would be built regardless. The Myitsone dam was opposed by a wide range of environmentalists, social activists, artists and others including Aung San Suu Kyi, who requested a review of the facility earlier this year. Thousands of people have been displaced from its catchment area, which is said to be as big as the island of Singapore. Beijing nonetheless sees Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis as a perfect opportunity to rekindle the dam, which would displace thousands of local people in Kachin State and flood a vast area of significant biodiversity and natural resources..."

Creator/author: 

Gregory McCann

Source/publisher: 

"Asia Sentinel"

Date of Publication: 

2019-08-02

Date of entry: 

2019-08-18

Grouping: 

  • Individual Documents

Category: 

Countries: 

Myanmar

Language: 

English

Resource Type: 

text

Text quality: 

    • Good