Activists slam Myanmar's environmental practices

Jul 25, 2011, 10:28 GMT

Bangkok - The Myanmar regime is undertaking widespread, large-scale industrial projects without regard for the environmental consequences, an activist group said Monday.

The regime, which derives most of its revenues from the extraction industry and hydroelectricity, has failed to implement any of the UN guidelines it has signed up to, the Burma Environment Working Group said in a statement released in Bangkok.

A lack of good practices, personnel and political will has led to negative environmental and social consequences, the group said.

'They have signed the UN convention on indigenous people only to get international recognition,' said Paul Sein Twa, a spokesman for the group.

'But they don't adhere to it. They have to budget and no people to implement anything.'

The leading international customers for Myanmar's natural resources are China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam and South Korea.

In March last year, China agreed to invest 8.2 billion US dollars in infrastructure projects for hydropower, oil, gas and mining in Myanmar.

But the country is losing an estimated 800,000 to 1 million hectares of forest per year as swathes are cut down for plantations or mining projects.

The environmentalists criticized the 48 hydroelectric dams at various stages of construction along the Irrawaddy river and its tributaries.

In the north of the country, the army has been putting down opposition from the ethnic Kachin people, who are resisting the building of the Myitsone dam, said Naw La, a spokesman for the group.

The army has already displaced 15,000 people from what he called the cultural heartland of the Kachin, he said.

The electricity from the project is to be sold exclusively to China.

The environmentalists called on foreign investors to stop the projects until citizens are properly consulted.

The project's operators should also adhere to international guidelines on impact assessments and environmental sustainability, and should not tolerate the eviction of indigenous peoples, the group said.