| Burma
ranks 88th out of 133 countries in Yale’s Environmental
Performance Index. Existing environment laws in Burma
are inadequate and the ones that do exist are poorly
enforced by the military regime. The junta does not
engage it own people about the environmental impact
of infrastructure and industrial development nor is
there any process that provides any transparency to
such projects. The situation is even more dismal in
when projects occur in areas inhabited by ethnic nationalities.
As a result, local communities and ecosystems have been
negatively impacted by such projects. Moreover, because
the SPDC’s failure to create any environmental
policies concerning the extraction of natural resources
(natural gas, timber, mining) has resulted in massive
environmental degradation and health hazards associated
with those activities. In most cases, infrastructure
projects and natural resources extraction have only
lined the regime’s pockets with little or no benefit
to local communities. |
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The SPDC has been
pushing forward with plans for the construction of
a series of large dams along the course of the Salween
River.
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More than 13 ethnic groups live in traditional communities
along its banks. The environmental outcomes of the proposed
dam will impact the ecology of the region and the people
who rely on it. |
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The entire reservoir area of the proposed dam represents
an ecoregion of outstanding biodiversity, the unstudied
potential of which will be lost forever once the forests
lie under water. Mountain animals will lose their dry
season grazing and watering area. Tens of thousands
of people will be forced to flee to higher ground, encroaching
on the remaining forests. Dam infrastructure will require
roads to replace those submerged by flooding, which
will enable logging in previously unreachable areas. |
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Preparations for the dam construction have already caused
pervasive human rights violations and massive population
displacement. |
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| Burma claims to
have the world's 10th largest reserves of natural gas.
Gas exploration can create the same environmental problems
as oil exploration. |
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Toxic wastes created in the drilling process are commonly
dumped into the ocean and kills large proportions
of life on the ocean floor, including shellfish beds. |
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The disposal of other toxic waste by-products from
the drilling process can have a disastrous effect
on wet lands, fish and wildlife and polluting water
supplies. |
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| Burma holds half
of the remaining forest in mainland Southeast Asia.
However, the rate of deforestation in the country has
more than doubled since the military regime came to
power in 1988. Forests represented 70% of Burma’s
total land area in 1948, but most independent estimates
currently indicate that only 30% of the country is still
covered with forest today, and declining fast. Poverty,
high taxation, and government resettlement programs
only contribute to the pressures on citizens to fell
more trees, clear land and degrade their own environments
for their own immediate survival. |
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Illegal logging and illegal trade of timber (especially
of teak) makes up most of the commercial extraction
of forests and is completely unsustainable.
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Shifting cultivation, the traditional form of agriculture
practiced by 2.6 million people, takes up 142,000
ha of land, contributing more to deforestation every
year. |
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Nearly two-thirds of energy consumption in Burma depends
upon wood as its fuel source. |
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Deforestation leads to massive soil erosion, sedimentation
of rivers, increased flooding, acute dry season water
shortages in some areas, and a considerable decrease
in biodiversity. |
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| Mining activities
in Burma account for widespread environmental degradation,
including air, ground and water pollution. |
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Kachin State
o Gold mining has already caused loss of biodiversity
in the riverine and forest ecosystems. Large areas
of land are deforested in order to make way for mining
and building necessary infrastructure.
o The gold mining industry exposes local people to
serious long-term risks from mercury poisoning. In
addition, there appears to be an almost complete absence
of storage or treatment of toxic wastes from the mining
of gold and lead. Mining waste is discharged straight
into rivers or onto land; the same is true for mercury
used in the mining process. Bioaccumulation of mining
chemicals will continue to take its toll on plants,
animals, water, species diversity, and human health.
o Mining causes structural changes to rivers which
can cause severe ecological damage. Rivers are diverted
for riverbed mining operations, while water blasting
of sediments destroys riverbanks. These structural
changes result in the loss of many riverine habitats
for endemic fish species. They also affect the direction
and speed of the water flow which reportedly has already
led to unusually low water levels in some areas and
increased flooding in others.
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• Sagaing Division
o The SPDC and the Canadian mining
company Ivanhoe Mines operate the biggest mining venture
in Burma, the Monywa Copper Mine.
o The Monywa project is an open pit
mine, the most destructive form of mining. Open pit
mining involves clearing standing vegetation and forests,
diverting drainage systems, and destabilizing topography
which causes mountain collapse, affects water tables,
amd causes the loss of topsoil and drainage patterns
(irrigation, aquamarine life, etc...). Moreover, the
open pit mine areas cannot be restored for future
use.
o The mine has polluted surrounding
with the toxic wastes produced in the mining process.
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| Burma is a country
vulnerable to natural disasters. Earthquakes, floods,
cyclones, and other catastrophes periodically hit Burma.
The military regime has a history of suppressing information
on natural disasters affecting the country and downplaying
the seriousness of the situation. |
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The 26 December 2004 tsunami that hit Burma’s
coasts killed 64 people and affected between 10,000
and 15,000, with 5,000 to 7,000 having lost their homes
and property. SPDC authorities initially denied the
severity of the effects of the tsunami and associated
earthquakes. Moreover, the regime hindered international
aid agencies and concerned people from providing direct
assistance to the communities affected. |
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Burma's northern states are prone to earthquakes as
a geological fault known as the Sagaing fault runs North-South
across the country through Mandalay, Yemethin, Pyinmana,
Toungoo and Pegu before dropping off into the Gulf of
Martaban. Burma’s new military and administrative
capital Naypyidaw is right on top of the Sagaing fault
system. The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology
records showed there were just 22 earthquakes on average
each year in Burma from 1917 to 2000. The frequency
soared to more than 200 in 2004 and over 300 in 2005.
In January 2006 alone, there were 28 tremors. |
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