Community-based research on the Ayeyarwady

Community-based research on the Ayeyarwady

By Than Naing Soe   |   Thursday, 04 July 2013

A community-based strategic environmental assessment is being undertaken at 11 sites along the Ayeyarwady River from July to December to study the impact of development and mining on the waterway.

Seinyaungso, Mekong Energy and Ecology Network, Point and the Renewable Energy Association Myanmar will jointly implement the project, said Seinyaungso chairman U Tin Thit said.

The assessment will determine the impact of development on the economy and environment of the river. Once it is complete the groups plan to use the findings to make recommendations to the government about how to conserve the river, U Tin Thit said.

"We will research the state of the river for six months at least and probably longer," he said.

Seinyaungso was formed in 2010 and has about 100 members, mostly former politicians. It focuses primarily on environmental issues and in 2012 investigated complaints that pollution from the Monywa copper mine had caused health problems among area residents.

The research will be conducted at Myitkyina in Kachin State, Katha, Tigyaing and Sheinmaka in Sagaing Region, Thanbo island, Mandalay and Simeikon in Mandalay Region, Yenangyaung and Bukyun in Magwe Region and Mawlamyinegyun in Ayeyarwady Region.

In order to conduct the research, residents from the study areas were given training in Mandalay on June 29 and 30.

"We will launch the research in our own areas ... We want to ensure that the river is preserved well into the future," said volunteer U Thant Zin from Simeikon.

U Tin Thit added that a separate but related study would be conducted at the same time. 

"A social impact assessment is being made by professionals and academics," he said. "They will meet local people and ask them how their lives are affected by what's happening to the river.

"When both studies are completed they will be provided to the relevant government departments and ministries."

He said that public interest in the condition of the Ayeyarwady River had spiked in 2011 because of the Myitsone Dam project, which is a joint project between China Power Investment and Asia World. The dam was suspended by President U Thein Sein in September 2011 for the rest of his five-year term as president but CPI has been lobbying hard to restart the project.

However, U Tin Thit said hydropower dams are by no means the only threat to the future of the Ayeyarwady.

"Whether any dam projects are implemented in future does not matter; the river has already been spoiled by mining. If we want the Ayeyarwady to flow cleanly forever, the communities that live along the river will have to conserve it themselves.

Myitkyina resident U Kyaw Kyaw Oo said he believed mining has had a severe negative impact on the water quality of the river.

"In the past we could see the river floor from a depth of 6 feet," U Kyaw Kyaw Oo said. "We could see colourful stones and fish but that has changed – the water is a yellowish colour now.

"There are many boats that dredge gold from the river and use mercury to leach the gold from the rock, but this poisons the river."

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/07/04/community-based-research-on-the-ayeyarwady/