Killing the Irrawaddy

From the beginning, the people in Kachin State have known that the building of such a mega dam at the origin of the Irrawaddy River will effectively kill the river itself and drastically affect the lives of millions of people. The Kachin people and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), an ethnic armed group representing the Kachin people, have appealed several times to both the Chinese and Burmese authorities to abandon the dam project at Myitsone. Also, a team of scientists from China and Burma, hired and funded by CPI, submitted its “Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) (Special Investigation)” to both Chinese and Burmese authorities in October 2009, in which they recommended the abandonment of the Myitsone Project. However, the appeals of the Kachin people and suggestion of scientists fell on the deaf ears of greedy and inhumane regimes. As such, construction of the Myitsone Dam has been active and ongoing.

After receiving complaints from the Kachin people, CPI hired a team of experts and scientists from the Chanjiang Institute of Survey, Planning, Design and Research (CISPDR) of China and the Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA) of Burma to conduct the EIA on Hydropower Development of the Irrawaddy River Basin above Myitkyina, Kachin State. CISPDR was in charge of technology and quality of the whole environmental assessment of the project outside China. BANCA was responsible for the environmental baseline study and Biological Impact Assessment (BIA). The agreement for conducting EIA special investigation was signed between BANCA and CPI (Southwest Hydro Division) on December 24, 2008. BANCA started its investigation on January 7, 2009 with 84 team members. Chinese scientists joined the Burmese team on January 14, 2009. They worked together for five months in Myitsone and other areas around the dam sites. BANCA submitted the EIA report to CPI in October 2009.

In its report, BANCA identified Myitsone as “nationally important, regionally significant and globally outstanding.” It also identified the Irrawaddy River as “the most important lifeblood in Burma. Millions of people are depending on the Irrawaddy for their livelihoods. It acts as a conduit of communication to over fifty million people.” The report claimed that, “The hydropower development in Kachin State by constructing a series of large and medium dams may definitely impact on the people of Myanmar [Burma] as a whole, in addition to adverse impacts on riverine, aquatic, terrestrial and wetlands ecosystems .” The report further warned that, “The fragmentation of the Irrawaddy River by a series of dams will have very serious social and environmental problems not only at upstream of dams but also to very far downstream until the coastal delta.” The report also warned that “Loss of Myitsone will be a terrible tragedy for all of Myanmar people, especially the Kachins.”

The report also highlighted the danger of strong earthquakes: “The dam site is located less than 100 kilometers from Myanmar’s earthquake-prone Sagaing fault line. The highly sensitive Sagaing fault line runs north-south through Myanmar (Burma). Earthquakes have been experienced at places along the fault line. Dam breakage would be disastrous for Myitkyina, the capacity of Kachin State, which lies only 40 kilometers (24 miles) downstream.”

And the report made the following recommendation. “The best option would be to develop two smaller hydropower dams substituting the already proposed Myitsone Dam and its location at two appropriate locations above the confluence of the Malihka and Mayhka rivers.”

The authors of the report also requested that their report be made available to the public and said that public opinions and discussions should be invited. In addition, they requested that CPI make a full-scale EIA by conducting nine other assessments on effects of the dam, a procedure set up by the Mekong River Commission. However, Chinese and Burmese authorities have never made the report public, and have ignored the call to conduct the remaining assessments. As of today, they continue to kill the Irrawaddy by force.

The Chinese government has been a staunch supporter of the Burmese regime since 1989. China supplies weapons to strengthen the Burmese military, provides loans and financial assistance to the regime to run its governing machine, protects the regime in the United Nations and other international forums, and tries to kill or water down any UN resolution that will take effective action against the regime for its human rights violations. Largely because of China’s strong protection and support, the Burmese military regime has survived to this day, under the disguise of a so-called civilian government, successfully weathering international criticisms and pressure.