Flowing from the headwaters in Tibet, the Salween traverses China and Myanmar and defines a part of Thailand’s western border. Stretching over 3,200km (2,000 miles), it’s Asia’s longest free-flowing river, operating from the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan province in south-west China to the delta close to Mawlamyine in south-east Myanmar, the place it meets the Andaman Sea.
Nonetheless, plans for seven main hydropower initiatives alongside the Salween basin threaten this standing. They’ve additionally been a relentless supply of competition, notably within the Salween’s northern reaches. In February 2021, the army junta took management of Myanmar, ending cross-border cooperation to guard the river throughout the Myanmar, China and Thailand borders.
Amidst this upheaval, we assess the standing of the dams and look at the stakes concerned, notably relating to the wildlife and communities liable to displacement.
What wildlife does the Salween River assist?
The Salween sustains a wealthy ecosystem, internet hosting over 200 species of fish, greater than a dozen of that are endemic. Moreover, some migrate from the Indian Ocean to the river’s higher reaches, including to its ecological range. The basin is believed to accommodate almost half of China’s animal species, together with solar bears, leopards, pangolins and black snub-nosed monkeys. The river additionally boasts the world’s best biodiversity of turtles and quite a few bat species.
Why is the Salween River essential?
The Salween basin, which spans over 320,000 sq. kilometres, is the second-longest river in Southeast Asia after the Mekong and helps over 10 million individuals. Coming into Myanmar within the northeast, it flows via rural and agrarian areas, in addition to the densely populated Mon State and its capital Mawlamyine, sustaining fisheries and agriculture.
As a free-flowing river, the Salween gives distinctive habitats for beach-nesting birds and migrating and wintering water birds. The Three Parallel Rivers part in Yunnan is a Unesco World Heritage web site recognised for being probably “essentially the most biologically numerous temperate area on earth”, together with its pure and geographical options.
The Salween, which can also be sacred to its Indigenous inhabitants, flows via a few of Myanmar’s most politically turbulent areas. Because the coup, conflicts between ethnic armed organisations and the army have intensified, centred round management of the river, its sources and other people.
What dams are deliberate for the Salween River?
Whereas massive hydropower initiatives have been deliberate for numerous stretches of the river for many years, no dams have reached completion alongside the Salween mainstream. Yunnan provincial authorities halted plans for 13 hydropower initiatives in 2016, with plans to show the realm right into a nationwide park. However in Myanmar, seven dams, involving Chinese language and Thai firms, are in numerous levels of planning and development, all with no identified completion dates.
Three of the biggest dams – Tasang, Hatgyi and Weigyi – are essentially the most contentious. The Tasang, additionally known as Mong Ton, is Myanmar’s largest proposed dam. Growth of the 7.1-gigawatt, 230-metre-tall dam has already resulted within the compelled relocation of 300,000 individuals in northern Shan State. The Electrical energy Producing Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and China Three Gorges Company broke floor in 2007 with some early-stage development, which has since stalled.
The Hatgyi and Weigyi dams have moved ahead slowly below Myanmar’s junta. Situated in southeastern Kayin State, within the Salween’s decrease reaches, constructing of the 1.3-gigawatt Hatgyi dam – a collaboration between EGAT and Sinohydro Worldwide – has made progress below Common Min Aung Hlaing’s regime. Building has led to unrest, together with compelled relocations by Border Guard Forces and army clashes in 2016 earlier than the coup, involving the since-disbanded rebel Democratic Karen Buddhist Military.
Of explicit worldwide curiosity is the Weigyi dam, financed by Thailand and contracted to Energy Building, China Southern and China Three Gorges Mission Company. This is because of cross-border implications: the 4.5-gigawatt-capacity dam is situated on Myanmar’s border with Thailand. Nonetheless, environmental advocacy has turn into difficult below the army regime, with lecturers and activists expressing security considerations.
Plans to proceed with smaller dams like Ywathit, Kunlong and Nong Pa may additionally exacerbate tensions, as evidenced by clashes over land clearance for the Ywathit dam. After preliminary land clearance for Kunlong dam in 2014, work has stalled.
What tertiary initiatives could have an effect on the Salween?
China’s plans to dam the Salween (the place it’s known as the Nujiang) have been changed by the institution of the Three River Supply Nationwide Park. In the meantime, in Thailand, hydropower initiatives on the river’s tributaries are altering its circulate. The Yuam River Diversion goals to divert its namesake main Salween tributary to irrigate the central plains of northern Thailand with 1,795 cubic meters of water yearly.
NGOs in Thailand and cross-border organisations just like the Salween Peace Park oppose the US$1.9 billion challenge, which cuts via 5 nationwide forest reserves and Mae Ngao Nationwide Park.
Though the Salween mainstream stays undammed, its tributaries face improvement. Dam initiatives on the Baluchang River have been ongoing since 1950, with three massive dams in Karenni State and one on the Teng River operational since 2009.
How may hydropower and different infrastructure initiatives harm the Salween River?
The Salween’s pure rhythm, dictated by annual snowmelt and monsoon rains, sustains a fragile steadiness essential for species. Hydropeaking from dams, whereby bursts of water are launched to extend energy at peak instances, dangers inundating nesting websites and disrupting habitats very important for numerous species.
New dam development may disrupt fisheries, hindering animal migration routes and creating standing water and exacerbating strain adjustments, injuring and disorientating marine life. This jeopardises shoreline fishers’ livelihoods, compounding issues posed by overfishing and air pollution. Dam development may additionally diminish sediment circulate very important for lower-reach ecosystems and agriculture, corresponding to with the Xayaburi dam on the Mekong.
Restricted analysis on the river’s decrease reaches obscures potential impacts from upstream developments. Not like the Mekong, the Salween lacks strong knowledge and cross-border cooperation mechanisms, just like the Mekong River Fee, complicating efforts to handle these threats successfully.
How has Myanmar’s army junta modified the Salween?
Following the coup, civil society has been severely restricted within the area, impeding cross-border cooperation efforts. This has doubtless exacerbated unlawful mining, sand mining and deforestation.
The Karen-led Salween Peace Park, a 567,000-hectare protected conservation space established in 2018, has since confronted airstrikes, violence and a rising migration disaster. Suspicion of overseas interference has resulted in funding cuts and endangered environmental staff.
Even earlier than the coup, dam development websites had been hotbeds of battle and human rights violations, with grassroots organisation Karen Human Rights Group citing situations of violence across the Hagyi web site between 2014 and 2018. Armed battle within the area, which has been troublesome to gauge for the reason that coup, has led to an estimated 2.6 million displaced individuals throughout Myanmar as of end-2023.
Dam development would flood villages, forcing individuals to resettle, contributing to migrant inflow throughout the Salween into Thailand, as individuals flee landmines and potential violence in Myanmar.
How are international locations exterior Myanmar influencing mainstream dams on the Salween?
Together with the Yuam River Diversion challenge, Thailand’s EGAT is concerned in creating the Weigyi, Hatgyi and Dagwin dams, with the aim of promoting and buying energy from them, whereas Chinese language firms have pursuits in initiatives together with Hatgyi, Ywathit, Tasang, Nong Pa and Kunlong.
Criticism has been directed at Thailand for energy buy agreements with dams in Laos and Cambodia, given its vitality surplus lately. As much as 90 per cent of energy generated by the Tasang dam is anticipated to be bought to Thailand and China.
China’s affect extends past vitality, with involvement in border conflicts, together with alongside the Salween. Regardless of the army junta’s tight grip on civil society, current developments, corresponding to Operation 1027 in October 2023, noticed the federal government pushed again from over 400 bases in northern Myanmar. A fragile ceasefire in Shan State in January 2024, brokered with Chinese language help, signifies China’s position in regional stability efforts.
This story was printed with permission from The Third Pole.
