At least 37,000 people will be displaced and the Yintale, a sub-group of the Karenni, could face extinction because of the damming of rivers across Karenni State, according to a new report released by local researchers.
The report, launched at a press conference in Thailand on Thursday by the Karenni Development Research Group (KDRG), exposes secret plans by the Burmese regime and the state-owned Datang Corporation of China to build three dams in the state under a memorandum of understanding signed in January 2010.
The three dams are the 600 MW Ywathit Dam on the Salween River; the 130 MW Pawn River Dam; and the 110 MW Thabet River Dam to the north of the Karenni State capital of Loikaw.
The Yintale, an ethnic group numbering only around 1,000, live as subsistence farmers on the banks of the Salween and Pawn rivers near the sites of two of the proposed dams, traditionally planting millet and sesame.
“If the dams go ahead, the income they generate will be stained with Karenni blood,” said Khu Thaw Reh of KDRG.
The KDRG report says that engineers guarded by armed soldiers are now surveying for the projects. Further evidence of their progress is the construction of shelters for engineers and workers and logging upstream from the dam sites, the report said, adding that local villagers have been told to stay away from the areas under development.
“These dams are killing off our people. We will have nowhere to go, even though this state belongs to us, at least in name,” said Khu Thaw, a KDRG member from inside Burma.
“It is sad for the future of the Karenni people. The regime shouldn't just come in here and do as it pleases just because there are so few of us,” he added.
Besides threatening indigenous people, the KDRG report says the projects could fuel conflict and instability in the area, destroy forests and diminish biodiversity, reduce agricultural production, and cause water surges and shortages.
Others agreed that the project would have a negative impact on the local environment.
“Nearly 50 species of animal in the area will be extinct because of these projects,” said Sai Sai, the coordinator of Burma Rivers Network, a coalition of organizations representing various dam-affected communities in Burma.
Another major concern is that the new hydropower dams could lead to the kinds of abuses that typically accompany major development projects in Burma.
“In the past, we experienced the building of the Lawpita hydropower dam. Even after we lost our land, we weren't able to demand compensation,” said Thaw Reh.
Lawpita, the first large-scale hydropower project built in Karenni State, forced over 12,000 people from their homes. An estimated 18,000 landmines were planted around the site and thousands of Burmese troops came in to secure the project, resulting in abuses against the local population, including forced labor, sexual violence and extrajudicial killings, according to the KDRG.
In total, the Burmese regime, working in partnership with Chinese and Thai companies, plans to build seven dams along the Salween River and its tributaries. Most are located in conflict zones and have exacerbated local resentment because almost all of the electricity expected to be generated will be sold to China and Thailand.
“How can investors think that this is just business as usual when armies are battling all around them and people are fleeing for their lives?” said Thaw Reh. “They should wake up to the risks of these dams and immediately stop their operations.”
At present, 21 major dam projects are under construction around the country, in Kachin, Shan and Karenni states and Mandalay and Sagaing divisions. The total output of these dams, many of which are being built by Chinese companies, is expected to be 35,640 MW of electricity.
Datang Corporation, the company involved in building the Karenni dams, belongs to the United Nations Global Compact, whose members commit to conducting business according to universally accepted principles of human rights and environmental and labor standards, according to the KDRG report.
Source:http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20912
The report, launched at a press conference in Thailand on Thursday by the Karenni Development Research Group (KDRG), exposes secret plans by the Burmese regime and the state-owned Datang Corporation of China to build three dams in the state under a memorandum of understanding signed in January 2010.
The three dams are the 600 MW Ywathit Dam on the Salween River; the 130 MW Pawn River Dam; and the 110 MW Thabet River Dam to the north of the Karenni State capital of Loikaw.
The Yintale, an ethnic group numbering only around 1,000, live as subsistence farmers on the banks of the Salween and Pawn rivers near the sites of two of the proposed dams, traditionally planting millet and sesame.
“If the dams go ahead, the income they generate will be stained with Karenni blood,” said Khu Thaw Reh of KDRG.
The KDRG report says that engineers guarded by armed soldiers are now surveying for the projects. Further evidence of their progress is the construction of shelters for engineers and workers and logging upstream from the dam sites, the report said, adding that local villagers have been told to stay away from the areas under development.
“These dams are killing off our people. We will have nowhere to go, even though this state belongs to us, at least in name,” said Khu Thaw, a KDRG member from inside Burma.
“It is sad for the future of the Karenni people. The regime shouldn't just come in here and do as it pleases just because there are so few of us,” he added.
Besides threatening indigenous people, the KDRG report says the projects could fuel conflict and instability in the area, destroy forests and diminish biodiversity, reduce agricultural production, and cause water surges and shortages.
Others agreed that the project would have a negative impact on the local environment.
“Nearly 50 species of animal in the area will be extinct because of these projects,” said Sai Sai, the coordinator of Burma Rivers Network, a coalition of organizations representing various dam-affected communities in Burma.
Another major concern is that the new hydropower dams could lead to the kinds of abuses that typically accompany major development projects in Burma.
“In the past, we experienced the building of the Lawpita hydropower dam. Even after we lost our land, we weren't able to demand compensation,” said Thaw Reh.
Lawpita, the first large-scale hydropower project built in Karenni State, forced over 12,000 people from their homes. An estimated 18,000 landmines were planted around the site and thousands of Burmese troops came in to secure the project, resulting in abuses against the local population, including forced labor, sexual violence and extrajudicial killings, according to the KDRG.
In total, the Burmese regime, working in partnership with Chinese and Thai companies, plans to build seven dams along the Salween River and its tributaries. Most are located in conflict zones and have exacerbated local resentment because almost all of the electricity expected to be generated will be sold to China and Thailand.
“How can investors think that this is just business as usual when armies are battling all around them and people are fleeing for their lives?” said Thaw Reh. “They should wake up to the risks of these dams and immediately stop their operations.”
At present, 21 major dam projects are under construction around the country, in Kachin, Shan and Karenni states and Mandalay and Sagaing divisions. The total output of these dams, many of which are being built by Chinese companies, is expected to be 35,640 MW of electricity.
Datang Corporation, the company involved in building the Karenni dams, belongs to the United Nations Global Compact, whose members commit to conducting business according to universally accepted principles of human rights and environmental and labor standards, according to the KDRG report.
Source:http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20912
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