• Burmese
Friday, July 11, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
20 °c
Falkenstein
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

Mining, Plantations Affect Livelihoods of Kachin Villagers, NGO Says

Lawi Weng by Lawi Weng
May 28, 2013
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0 0
A A
Mining

Small-scale gold miners pump water from a tributary of the Irrawaddy River in Kachin State. (Photo: People’s Foundation for Development)

4.7k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

RANGOON—Unregulated gold mining, agro-industrial farming and hydropower development in Kachin State is affecting thousands of villagers, who are suffering from environmental destruction and a loss of farmland, a Kachin rights group warned.

Mungchying Rawt Jat (People’s Foundation for Development), a NGO based in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina, launched a report in Rangoon on Monday that documented ten cases in which local villagers lost their land and livelihoods to large-scale investment projects and rampant gold mining.

The group said that in recent years about 3,500 people had been forcibly evicted to make way for the suspended Myistone hydropower dam and for for the Yuzana Corporation’s massive cassava and sugarcane plantations in the remote Hukaung (also Hukawng) Valley.

RelatedPosts

Mekong River Body Detects Heavy Metal Contamination

Mekong River Body Detects Heavy Metal Contamination

July 7, 2025
550
Toxic Thailand Rivers Pinned on Myanmar Mines

Toxic Thailand Rivers Pinned on Myanmar Mines

June 11, 2025
775
From Smog to Arsenic: Myanmar’s Toxic Trail Reaches Thailand

From Smog to Arsenic: Myanmar’s Toxic Trail Reaches Thailand

April 25, 2025
1.6k

Since 2006, Yuzana, with the cooperation of local authorities, has been granted 81,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of land in the region. Much of it was reportedly confiscated from hundreds of Kachin families, while the firm allegedly also cleared large parts of a tiger reserve in the valley.

Htay Myint, the owner of Yuzana Company, is one of Burma’s most powerful tycoons as well as an MP from the ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Pollution caused by Yuzana’s cassava-processing plants and the chemical run-off from the rampant small-scale gold mining in the valley has also affected the health of local communities and their animals, according to the NGO.

“They processed cassava at their factory and the remaining waste they threw into the river, which is located near to the factory. We found that the water turned black and fish in the river died,” the report quoted a villager, who claimed that locals got skin ailments after bathing in the polluted water.

“We are worried about the effect on the population… and on our livelihoods,” the villager told the Mungchying Rawt Jat (People’s Foundation for Development). The NGO also claimed that 74 farm animals in the Hukaung Valley had died after drinking polluted water.

Ja Hkawn, an activist who helped draft the report, said local authorities and parliamentarians from Kachin State were turning a blind eye to such social and environmental impacts. “We found there were MPs involved these businesses. It is better to talk at Parliament in Naypyidaw in order to stop this project,” she said.

The massive Myitsone dam, which is being funded by China Power Investment Co. (CPI) and the Burmese firm Asia World Company, was suspended by President Thein Sein in 2011.

Prior to this decision, about 2,600 people were forcibly evicted to make way for the project, which would dam the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River and flood 766 square kilometers of farmland and forest. In recent years, the villagers were relocated to two sites, Aung Myin Tha and Mali Yan, where CPI constructed homes and community buildings for them.

Mungchying Rawt Jat said living conditions at the sites were poor and during a press conference in Rangoon on Monday some evicted villagers complained about life at the newly created communities.

“We can’t find work there, and we could not grow food or vegetables to earn money as the area is very rocky,” said La Seng, who was resettled at Aung Myin. “We are on edge of crisis. We do not have enough food and no job.”

Your Thoughts …
Tags: Health
Lawi Weng

Lawi Weng

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

Myanmar’s Youth Flee—and They Aren’t Looking Back
Commentary

Myanmar’s Youth Flee—and They Aren’t Looking Back

by Aung Zaw
February 23, 2024
8.4k

In Thailand and farther afield, they join the wealthy and the educated who have already put down roots and invested...

Read moreDetails
Rare Earth Mining Taking Heavy Toll in Myanmar’s Kachin, Groups Say
Burma

Rare Earth Mining Taking Heavy Toll in Myanmar’s Kachin, Groups Say

by Hein Htoo Zan
May 27, 2024
5.3k

Amid heavy global demand for rare earths, local activists’ concerns about the impacts on the environment and local communities are...

Read moreDetails
Life Without Power Spells Daily Misery for Yangon’s Residents
Burma

Life Without Power Spells Daily Misery for Yangon’s Residents

by Nyein Nyein
January 29, 2025
5k

Lack of electricity affects every aspect of Yangon residents’ daily lives, from work to sleep, and now even hotter weather...

Read moreDetails
‘Everyone Sits Outside’: Parks Offer Heatwave Relief in Myanmar’s Largest City
Burma

‘Everyone Sits Outside’: Parks Offer Heatwave Relief in Myanmar’s Largest City

by AFP
April 29, 2024
4.4k

Amid searing temperatures, and without power for hours a day due to post-coup energy disruptions, Yangon residents are taking refuge...

Read moreDetails
With Motorbikes Banned, Yangon Delivery Riders Struggle in Heatwave
Burma

With Motorbikes Banned, Yangon Delivery Riders Struggle in Heatwave

by AFP
May 2, 2024
3.7k

A previous junta outlawed motorbikes for ‘security reasons’, so delivery workers rely on pedal power—a daunting prospect amid the current...

Read moreDetails
Junta Watch: New Honors to Flatter Foreign Allies; Playing the Blame Game (Again); and More
Junta Watch

Junta Watch: New Honors to Flatter Foreign Allies; Playing the Blame Game (Again); and More

by The Irrawaddy
March 23, 2024
2.7k

Also this week, the regime orchestrated Rohingya protests, lost the builder of its capital, and praised Putin after not-so-free election. 

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
China CNPC Nearing Completion of Key Burma Oil Storage Facility

China CNPC Nearing Completion of Key Burma Oil Storage Facility

Parties Upbeat as Day One of Kachin Peace Talks Closes

Parties Upbeat as Day One of Kachin Peace Talks Closes

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

2 days ago
966
‘Reforms Are Not Optional’: Prominent Activist Urges NUG to Act Before It’s Too Late

‘Reforms Are Not Optional’: Prominent Activist Urges NUG to Act Before It’s Too Late

2 days ago
964

Most Read

  • Chinese Investment Reshapes Myanmar’s N. Shan as MNDAA Consolidates Power

    Chinese Investment Reshapes Myanmar’s N. Shan as MNDAA Consolidates Power

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Deploying Conscripts in Major Push to Reclaim Lost Territory

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Junta Bombing of Resistance-Held Areas in Mandalay, Karenni Kills Seven Civilians

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Two Prominent Myanmar Ex-Political Prisoners Die Hours Apart in Yangon

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Chin Resistance Tensions Boil Over as CNA Seizes Rival’s Myanmar HQ

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.