Salween River

This brief introduces the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Myanmar Hydropower Sector and seeks to generate dialogue, including around the study’s process, findings and recommendations. While the assessment was a contested process, it produced important outcomes, including the recommendation to reserve the mainstream of Myanmar's major river basins from hydropower development to keep these rivers free-flowing. The brief offers perspectives on the assessment’s outcomes—outlining the limitations and concerns with the assessment as well as ways its analysis and recommendations can b

Exclusive footage from remote Karenni State, Burma, documents the lives and environment of an ethnic group that faces extinction from the controversial Salween dams. One of the dam's reservoirs would completely submerge the homelands of the Yin Ta Lai people, of whom only 1,000 remain.Damning the Yin Ta Lai, a 13-minute video documentary that premieres today, captures rare footage from the thick rainforest that will be inundated by the Weigyi dam, one of the five planned for the Salween. Scenes of riverbank farming and fishing depict how the villagers rely on the natural flow of the river.The

Article from China Economic Times (Translated from Chinese by Google Translate Beta and Kevin Li)China's Sinohydro Corporation, China Southern Power Grid Co. Ltd. andChina's Three Gorges Project Development Corporation held a formalsigning ceremony in Sinohydro's headquarter, on Myanmar's SalweenRiver strategic cooperation framework agreement.China's Sinohydro as the core team in the field of China's hydropowerconstruction has a wealth of experience in overseas investment inhydropower, mining and project contracting, and formed a strong brandand competitive advantage in the world. China Southe

Thailand has decided to proceed with the construction of a hydropower dam in north-east Myanmar despite from environmentalists, media reports said Sunday. ( dpa )Thai Foreign Minister Noppodon Pattama confirmed Saturday that Thailand will push ahead with the 228-metre-high Tasang dam on the Salween River which has made little progress since the country won a concession to construct the massive project 10 years ago, the Bangkok Post reported Sunday.Noppodon visited Myanmar on Friday as a member of an official Thai delegation led by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to strengthen economic ties bet

Article from Bangkok Post The Export-Import Bank of Thailand is cleared to hand Burma anyremaining funds from a four-billion-baht soft loan to the junta thathad been suspended due to alleged irregularities, Foreign MinisterNoppadon Pattama said yesterday.Thailand will also push ahead with construction of the Tasanghydropower dam and other infrastructure projects in Burma, he added.The fresh move came as Thailand tried to foster closer economic tieswith Burma following the first official visit to the country on Fridayby Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej since he took office last month.The issue o

Article from Bangkok Post In honour of International Day of Action for Rivers today, it is worthy to highlight Southeast Asia's longest undammed river - the Salween-Nu River - which flows from Yunnan in China down through Burma, forming part of the Thai-Burma border. China's Nu River (Nujiang) has received extensive media attention due to the fact that - despite Beijing's official postponement of the Nujiang dams after domestic and international pressure - construction of the first dam (Liuku) has commenced with the apparent backing of the Yunnan provincial authorities.Although an official env

Article from The Irrawaddy Online Ethnic Karen people living along Burma's Salween River gathered today in colorful traditional dress to pray to the spirits of the river and the land around it for protection against the planned construction of a dam which threatens to devastate the area's fragile ecosystem.Over 250 villagers from 18 villages in the area affected by the planned Hut Gyi Dam took part in the ceremony, which was organized to show respect for the river and to express opposition to the project.They were joined by Burmese opposition politicians, environmentalists and student activist

Over half a million city residents, farmers, and fisher folk living at the mouth of the Salween River in Burma stand to lose their major source of drinking water, agricultural productivity, and fish stocks if dams planned upstream go ahead. In the Balance, a report released today by the Mon Youth Progressive Organization (MYPO), reveals how people living on the river’s banks, tributaries, and islands rely on the Salween estuary, where the fresh water of the Salween meets salt water of the Andaman Sea, and how their lives are intricately linked with the seasonal flows and daily tides of the r

Burma’s repressive military dictatorship, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the state-owned Energy Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), and the Chinese state-owned enterprise Sinohydro Corporation are pushing ahead quickly and secretively with plans to build a series of large dams in civil war zones on the Salween River in Burma.