BANGKOK, Thailand, December 17 – Activist groups in Thailand and Myanmar have called on China to consult countries downstream before building 13 large dams on the Salween River.
The dams, planned for the upper part of the river in China’s Yunnan province, would severely damage the ecosystem and livelihood of people in Thailand and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, who depend on the 1,700 mile-long river for fishing and farming, the groups said.
According to the Bangkok Post, the groups handed a protest letter to the Chinese embassy in Bangkok earlier this week.
The Salween, called Nu Jiang by the Chinese, originates high in the Tibetan mountains. It flows through Yunnan into Myanmar and forms part of Thailand’s northern border with Myanmar before emptying into the Andaman Sea. It is Southeast Asia’s second longest river after the Mekong.
“China is going to exploit the Salween, which is the last free-flowing international river in the region, like they already did to the Mekong river,” said Chainarong Sretthachau, director of the Southeast Asia Rivers Network.
