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SALWEEN WATCH HOTMAIL-OUT Open letter regarding the "Workshop on Transboundary Waters: The Salween Basin" to be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, September 13-16, 1999 Salween Watch, 13th of September 1999
However, conspicuously lacking from the participant list are the indigenous peoples who would inevitably bear the costs of such development of the Salween River. Instead the listed participants of the meeting are members of an elite that in no way represent the interests of local communities. The participants include the Director General of the "Myanmar Department of Electricity" and several other Burmese government officials; Directors from the Thai Royal Irrigation Department and the Department of Energy Development and Promotion; specialists from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank; water engineers and academics from China, Japan, Canada, the USA, Mexico and Thailand; as well as dam construction consultants and developers, namely Panya Consultants and Italian-Thai. The workshop seems closely linked to plans to dam the Salween to produce hydroelectricity and to divert water to Thailand. Thai and Burmese governments, with the assistance of Japanese, Thai and Norwegian consultants, have been preparing these plans for the past decade, carefully concealing them from the people, particularly those living within the river basin. These ethnic peoples have been suffering from years of warfare and gross human rights violations inflicted by the Burmese military regime. Many hundreds of thousands have already been displaced from their lands. Some of the largest recent displacements have been taking place precisely in the same areas and at the same time that surveyors began studies at the site of a potential dam on the river in the Shan State. At least five sites have now been studied for dams in the Salween River Basin, a process which closely follows the recommendations of consultants working for the Asian Development Bank under the Greater Mekong Sub-regional Development Program. These plans have advanced well beyond the point where environmental and social impact assessments should have been carried out. In the meantime there has been absolutely no consultation with the real stakeholders in the projects: the indigenous people who stand to lose their lands forever. The damming of the Salween River would lead to the flooding of large tracts of forest and farmland. It would drown villages, and disrupt agriculture and fisheries above and below the dam. A giant dam would also be a grave hazard in an area that frequently experiences earthquakes. In addition, any dam on the Salween would be enormously expensive, contributing to the already massive national debts of Thailand and Burma. Thailand already has more than sufficient electricity supplies, and can find more appropriate and equitable ways to address water resource issues. We are gravely concerned that the planned workshop excludes participation by genuine representatives of the affected groups and will simply be used to legitimize a deeply flawed development process. We the undersigned therefore demand that any planning for such large scale developments be done in a way that:
We further demand that any such plans or projects that cannot be proven to meet the above conditions be abandoned without delay U Teddy Buri, MP, Loikaw 2 Constituency, National League for Democracy, Karenni State Khun Marko Ban, MP, Pekone Constituency, Democratic Organisation for Kayan National Unity, Shan State Sai Win Pay, MP, Mong Su Constituency, Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, Shan State U Daniel Aung, MP, Mong Peng Constituency, Lahu National Development Party, Shan State Salween Watch South East Asia Rivers Network Assembly of the Poor Shan Human Rights Foundation Karenni Evergreen Karen Youth Organisation Lahu Youth Organisation National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Legal Aid for Marginalised People Karenni National Youth Agency All Burma Students' Democratic Front Lahu Women’s Organisation South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People APEC Monitor NGO Network, Japan Citizens Alliance in Reforms for Efficient and Equitable Development, Pakistan Shan Democratic Union Lahu National Development Organisation Karenni Farmers' Network Democratic Party for a New Society Karen Nature Conservation Group Lahu Democratic Front The Buddhist Sangha of Shan State Friends of the People Shan Women's Action Network Green November 32 Ethnic Studies Centre, Chiang Mai Karenni National Women's Organisation Pa-O People's Liberation Organisation Wildlife Fund Thailand Shan State Organisation The Students and Youth Congress of Burma Karenni Human Rights and Law Education Team Migrant Assistance Program People's Liberation Front of Burma Palaung Youth Network Group Karenni Teachers' Union Karen Student Network Group Political Defiance Committee of the National Council of the Union of Burma Karenni Human Rights and News Agency
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