Background

A bitter land struggle is unfolding in northern Burma’s remote Hugawng Valley. Farmers that have been living for generations in the valley are defying one of the country’s most powerful tycoons as his company establishes massive mono-crop plantations in what happens to be the world’s largest tiger reserve.

In 2006 Senior General Than Shwe, Burma’s ruling despot, granted the Rangoon-based Yuzana Company license to develop this “agricultural development zone” in the tiger reserve. Yuzana Company is one of Burma’s largest businesses and chaired by U Htay Myint, one of the country’s most powerful tycoons and a recently elected MP.

As the Hugawng case shows, there are no land rights in Burma. The military is allowed to freely confiscate farmers’ lands for Army projects or Army businesses. Powerful tycoons and foreign-backed companies who gain the favor of the ruling military can be granted or buy vast tracts of land and farmers pushed out. Land confiscation is a problem throughout Kachin State and land concessions have been granted to Burmese and Chinese companies to establish huge rubber and other plantations along the Chinese border.

Impacts

Social

Yuzana workers set fire to farm huts and houses, leaving charred remains and forcing villagers to move out.

Local villagers tending small scale farms in the valley since before it was declared a reserve have seen their crops destroyed and their lands confiscated. Conflicts between Yuzana Company employees, local authorities, and local residents have flared up and turned violent several times over the past few years, culminating with an attack on residents of Ban Kawk village in 2010. Fourteen villages lie within the zone slated for plantations and are expected to move off their farms into a relocation camp. Hundreds of families have already been forced to move – the camp has little water and few finished homes. Through further threats and intimidation, other families have been forced to take “compensation funds” which are insufficient to begin a new life and leave them destitute.

Over 3,000 workers, many of them survivors of Cyclone Nargis, have been recruited by Yuzana under false promises to work in the plantations and processing factory. They toil for months without any pay; those that are paid receive about US$1 per day. Many cannot save enough money even to return home and remain captive in slave-like labor conditions.

Environmental

Land clearing and destruction in the Tiger Reseerve. The bottom board says “conserve today for the future.”

The Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve in Kachin State was declared by the Myanmar Government in 2001 with the support of the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society. In 2004 the reserve’s designation was expanded to include the entire valley of 21,890 square kilometers (8,452 square miles), making it the largest tiger reserve in the world.

Today a 200,000 acre mono-crop plantation project is making a mockery of the reserve’s protected status. Fleets of tractors, backhoes, and bulldozers rip up forests, raze bamboo groves and flatten existing small farms. Signboards that mark animal corridors and “no hunting zones” stand out starkly against a now barren landscape; they are all that is left of conservation efforts. Application of chemical fertilizers and herbicides together with the daily toil of over two thousand imported workers are transforming the area into huge tapioca, sugar cane, and jatropha plantations.

Community Action

Despite the powerful interests behind the Yuzana project, villagers have been bravely standing up to protect their farmlands and livelihoods. They have sent numerous formal appeals to the authorities, conducted prayer ceremonies, tried to reclaim their fields, refused to move, and defended their homes.

The failure of various government officials to reply or resolve the problem finally led the villagers to reach out to the United Nations and the National League for Democracy in Burma. In March 2010 representatives of three villages filed written requests to the International Labor Organization to investigate the actions of Yuzana. In July 2010, over 100 farmers opened a joint court case in Kachin State to get their lands back. Although the farmers are seeking a solution to their situation by following the law, they still face threats and intimidation by the authorities. The residents of Hugawng Valley are thus at the frontline of protecting not only their own lands and environment but also the rights of all of Burma’s farmers.

Solution

We, KDNG stands firmly with these communities and therefore calls on Yuzana to stop their project implementation to avoid any further citizens’ rights abuses and calls on all Kachin communities and leaders to work together with Hugawng villagers in their brave struggle.

According to the 2008 constitution the Army in Burma still remains outside civilian law and can therefore confiscate land and push out farmers at any time. Genuine land rights are needed in Burma to avoid massive plantations that trample on citizens’ rights and have serious negative social and environmental impacts.

In 2018, Burmese government troops stepped up their war in Kachin State, further driving out indigenous populations and ex-panding control over the area’s rich natural resources and strategic tradingroutes.Thefiercestoffensivewas fought in northwest Kachin State’s Hugawng Valley, to secure the historic Ledo Road linking India and China, which is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and to seize hugely lucrative amber mines.

Kachin State amber is a global treasure: it is the only type in the world formed during the age of the dinosaurs. “Blood amber” is the Chinese name of the extremely rare, deep red variety of the gem found only in the Hugawng Valley – a name which resonates grimly with local residents who have been driven outbytherecentoffensive.

The amber mining boom began in 2010, due to demand from the Chinese market, causing tens of thousands of migrant miners from acrossBurmatoflocktotheregion.In 2015, discovery of a 99-million-year-old feathered dinosaur tail in Hugawng Valley amber further fuelled the trade.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) controlled the remote amber mining area, but the Burma Army collected taxes on all amber trans-port routes as the precious resource was exported across Kachin State into China, where the annual value of the trade is estimated at 1 billion USD a year.

In June 2017, the Burma Army moved to take over the amber trade at the source. They used aircraft to drop thousands of leaflets over the mining area, ordering all local residents to evacuate within ten days – or be branded as KIA insurgents.This included not only the mineworkers but also nearly 5,000 indig-enous villagers who had lived andfarmed there for generations.

The offensiv elasted nearly one year, during which civilians suffered not only the seizure of their lands and property, but also military harass-ment and violence. On January 26, 2018, three civilians were killed by an aerial attack, including the young mother of a 3 year-old child.In January 2018, nearly 3,000 civilians were trapped in the con-flictareabytheBurmaArmy,whorefused to allow them to pass to safety, holding them for eleven days without proper food or healthcare and blocking delivery of humanitar-ian aid. To this day, the thousands of indigenous inhabitants of the amber mining area are living in makeshift shelters in urban church compounds, unrecognized as IDPs and unable to return home.

Despite using the premise of “pro-tecting the environment” to justify theoffensive,unregulatedambermining resumed in the region just oneyearaftertheoffensivebegan,exposing the Burma military’s real motives in seizing the mines.

The offensive follow sarepeated pattern of military expansion and violence against ethnic peoples in Kachin State in order to consolidate extractive businesses to profit the military and central government at the expense of local indigenous populations.

Past documentation by KDNG has already shown that, far from protecting the environment, the government and military has been responsible for large-scale environ-mental destruction in the Hugawng Valley over the last 20 years. It has authorized destructive gold mining throughout the valley, and given per-mission for Yuzana Company to de-stroy hundreds of acres of forest and farmlands to carry out monocrop agriculture for the Chinese market. Similarly in nearby Hpakant, jade mining has expanded exponentially since government security forces seized control of the mines, generat-inghugeprofitsforgovernmentandmilitary elites, while driving local peopleofftheirlandsanddestroyingtheir livelihoods.

The central government must recog-nize the rights of indigenous peoples to live on their land and manage their own resources, and must im-mediately take steps to allow people displaced from the amber region to return home.

Constitutional change is critical to resolve conflict in Burma.Localpeople in Kachin State must own, manage, and receive revenues from the natural resources of the land where they live and work.

International pressure is urgently needed to help protect civilians in conflict zones in Kachin State and elsewhere in Burma. Foreign eco-nomic investment and peace process funding should be frozen until the Burma military stop sits offensives against Kachin and other ethnic peoples. In the meantime, interna-tional humanitarian aid should be sent to help communities displaced from their homes and livelihoods by central government aggression. Read more …

The Irrawaddy River is the lifeline of Burma. Running through the center of the country, millions depend on it for agriculture, fishing, and transportation. The ruling regime, without consulting local people, is now allowing Chinese companies (link to Chinese investor page on BRN website?) to build seven mega dams on the Irrawaddy and its tributaries in Kachin State. The seven dams will produce 17,160 megawatts of electricity, five times more than the current installed capacity for the entire country.

Yet electricity generated by the 152-foot tall Irrawaddy Myitsone dam (6,000 MW), is slated to be sold to China (link to China hydropower magazine article which says electricity will go to China), not used in Burma where there are chronic energy shortages. The sale will provide millions of dollars in revenue to Burma’s regime which has consistently used foreign revenues to build up its military at the expense of health and education, leaving the country with some of the worst social indicators in the world.

The Irrawaddy Myitsone Dam is located on the mainstream Irrawaddy, three miles downstream of the famous confluence of the N’Mai and Mali rivers in Kachin State. The confluence is a revered landmark for all of Burma and particularly important cultural site for the Kachin people and will be submerged by the dam.

The dams are also located in a conflict zone where tension between the armed Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and Burma’s Army is rising. In March 2011 the KIO wrote to the Chairman of People’s Republic of China (link to letter) warning that it will not be responsible if civil war breaks out when Burmese troops enter KIO-controlled areas to provide security for dam construction.

COMPANIES INVOLVED
While China Power Investment Corporation is the Project Manager of the “Confluence Region Hydropower Projects,” several companies have been or are currently involved in the preparation, construction and financing of the 6,000 MW Irrawaddy Myitsone Dam. Asia World Company, run by Burmese drug-lord Lo Hsing Han, has a key player in facilitating the project.

Burmese
Asia World Company
State-run Myanmar Electrical Power Enterprise
Suntac Technologies

Chinese
China Power Investment Corporation (CPI)
China Southern Power Grid Co. (CSG)
Sinohydro
Yunnan Machinery Equipment Import & Export Company Limited (YMEC) (now UREC)
Changjiang Institute of Surveying, Planning, Design and Research (CISPDR)

Japanese
Kansai Electric Power Company, Incorporated (KEPCO)

CONCERN

Social Concerns:

• Over 60 villages, approximately 15,000 people, will be forcibly relocated without informed consent for the Myitsone Dam alone. Families from six villages have already been forced to move and are currently suffering in a relocation camp. This dislocation will continue to fuel social problems including conflicts over jobs and land, and an increase in migration and trafficking to neighboring countries. Women will be particularly impacted. (flood zone map)

Increasing conflict and security concerns:

• The dams are located in an area with a long history of conflict that remains unstable. An outbreak of fighting would put local people, the project, and Chinese personnel at risk. In April 2010 a series of at least 10 separate bombs exploded at the Myitsone Dam construction site, injuring a Chinese worker and destroying several temporary buildings and vehicles.

• Increased militarization around the project sites has restricted movement and livelihoods and will lead to further threats to human security. It is well-documented that development projects in Burma are accompanied by increased militarization and human rights abuses, including forced labor and rape.

• The lack of local benefits and the disregard for local concerns is contributing to resentment and ethnic tension, thereby increasing the likelihood of further violence which may affect Chinese personnel and company assets.

Economic Concerns:

• The Irrawaddy River provides vital nutrients to wetlands and floodplain areas downstream including the delta region which provides nearly 60% of Burma’s rice. Changes to the river’s flow and the blocking of crucial sediments will affect millions farmers throughout Burma and decrease rice production. (photo of delta rice paddies)

• Downstream fisheries will be decreased due to the block of fish migration routes and sediment flows and changes in the river’s natural cycles.

• The dams will create unpredictable water fluctuations and shortages which will disrupt downstream transportation and fisheries.

• At times when fresh water flows are restricted according to electricity generation needs and during reservoir filling, reduced water levels will increase sea water intrusion into the farmlands of the Irrawaddy delta.

• Farms and forests upstream will be flooded in a reservoir at least the size of New York City.

Safety Concerns:

• There are no safeguards to ensure that the dam operators will prioritize the safety of local communities over electricity demands in China when releasing water from the dam; sudden water surges cause boating accidents and drowning.

• The dam is located 100 kilometers from a major fault line in an earthquake-prone area; if the dam breaks, it will flood Kachin State’s capital city of 150,000 that lies just 40 kilometers downstream of the dam.

• Mercury from mining operations in and along the rivers will accumulate behind the dams and transform to more toxic methyl-mercury which will then be released downstream, increasing the incidence of diseases and birth defects.

Environment Concerns:

• The dams will flood forests upstream in one of the world’s “hottest hotspots” of biodiversity, threatening hundreds of animal and plant species, many of which are endemic or endangered. (could add more about this once EIA is public or link to EIA)
• The dams will impact downstream riverine ecosystems that are home to the endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin.

• The dams will forever change Burma’s main river ecosystem and an important Asian river. 84% of the Irrawaddy River’s water originates above the dam sites and will be affected by these dams.

• Extensive and environmentally destructive gold mining as well as logging have already begun along the banks of the N’Mai and Mali rivers and upstream of the dam sites.

Process Concerns:

• State-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) is not following Chinese or international dam-building standards or the recommendations of its own preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment. (link to EIA)
• No environmental, social or health impact assessments of the dams have been publicly disclosed
• Locally-affected residents have not been consulted about the projects; their attempts to voice concerns (link to appeals page or community action section) have been ignored.
• A flawed compensation and resettlement process that has no independent oversight or accountability mechanisms is being carried out using intimidation by military authorities.

• The majority of electricity generated by the dams will be exported to China. Based on the experience of other hydropower projects in Burma, any remaining power will be used by the Burma Army and associate military businesses and will not be available or affordable to local people.

• The sale of electricity from the Myitsone Dam alone could earn the military regime over US $500 million per year and foreign direct investment income of an estimated US $3.6 billion. There is no transparency in how revenues will be spent.
• Despite the risks of arrest, torture or death for dissent in military-ruled Burma, brave people are voicing their concerns and demanding a halt to the dams. Various community leaders and villagers have sent numerous appeal letters to Burma’s military government and the Chinese government. (link to appeal letters page)Mass prayer ceremonies calling for the protection of the rivers have been held along the river’s banks and in churches up and downstream.

  In a face-to-face meeting with the Burma Army’s Northern Commander, local women made it clear that no amount of compensation will make up for the losses these dams will bring to their community and future generations.(video box or link here) Posters, leaflets and graffiti against the dam have been posted and distributed in cities in Kachin State. (photo of graffiti)

  Downstream, artists and writers from across the country have organized tours and art exhibitions to highlight the importance of the Irrawaddy for all of Burma. Overseas Kachin communities have sent letters to the Embassy of China in seven countries and held demonstrations in New Delhi and London.

  
  SOLUTIONS

  In order to protect the health of the Irrawaddy upon which millions in Burma depend, the dams in Kachin State must be stopped. We KDNG urge China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) to immediately stop construction of the Myitsone Dam and other dams in Kachin State and pull out from investment with Burma’s regime for the sake of the good image of its company and to avoid being complicit in multiple serious abuses associated with the project.

  Rural communities in Burma and Kachin State are utilizing the appropriate technology of small hydropower to realize their electricity needs on their own. The Kachin capital of Myitkyina is one of the few cities in Burma that currently receives 24-hour electricity due to an existing small hydropower project. The concept of decentralized management and the right of local people to manage and utilize the electricity generated by small hydro needs to be promoted in Burma.

  Small hydro Explanation –

  Small hydropower (SHP) can be tapped from small streams, medium and large rivers. It is an environmentally-friendly source of energy generation. SHP, defined most frequently as generating less than 10 MW of power, has very little negative impact and can provide needed power to remote locations.

  In small hydro systems, water is diverted through a channel to a turbine where it strikes the bucket of a wheel, causing the turbine to rotate. The rotating shaft is connected to a generator which converts the motion into electrical energy. They require no large dams or reservoirs and thus no displacement or submergence of forests and farm fields.