The United Nations Development Program awarded the prestigious Equator Prize to the Salween Peace Park for their landscape conservation works. The Salween Peace Park is a community-led initiative, empowers local Indigenous communities by revitalizing their traditional practices, asserting their rights, and managing their natural resources. The Equator Prize was established by the United Nations Development Program in 2002 and is…
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Saw Tha Boe, a Karen environmental activist who was sued and charged with defamation against the State by Hpa-An Township court says he will fight the case to prove he did not break the law. On March 6, local police went to arrest Saw Tha Boe, who works for Karen River Watch, by going to his house, but he was…
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Communities in rural Karen State don’t refer to climate change by name, but they have experienced its negative impacts and are responding. At the foot of Maw Law Ei Mountain, the highest peak in eastern Myanmar’s Karen State, increasing temperatures, drought and extreme weather events, such as flash-flooding, have become common. Members of the indigenous groups that make up the…
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Environmental right groups and civil society organizations across Burma gathered on a ship on the Irrawaddy River in Mandalay demanding an end to mega-dam projects to mark this years International Day of Action for Rivers, on March 14. The Burma Rivers Network, Save the Salween Network and civil society groups who want to stop the damming of Burma’s rivers and…
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Indigenous people from the Tanintharyi Region gathered on September 13 to campaign against the plan to build a dam in the eastern shore of Sar Ya Bwin Village under Tanintharyi Township in Myeik District. The campaign was based on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which was adopted on September 13, 2007. The campaign leader…
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Youth leaders of environmental conservation groups from the Asean region have decided to boost their advocacy for environmental conservation in Asean countries. The youth leaders of river watch groups from the Asean region attended the 2nd Regional River Watch Groups Forum at Thoo Moei Kee School in Phop Phra District of Tak Province in Thailand on August 1-3. “Our decision…
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Local residents of Lun Nya Village have demanded Chit Linn Myaing Company to withdraw the rock quarry project at the Lun Nya Mountain in Hpa-an Township, Karen State after the company has produced rocks from all permitted amount of suds even though the project duration is not over. The local residents made the demand to Col Saw Chit Thu from…
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Amid increasing quarrying projects that threaten to destroy the natural environment, residents have banded together to form a conservation network protecting mountains in Karen and Mon states. The Natural Mountain Conservation Network will work to conserve four mountains: Mi Kayin, Taung Kalay (Taung Kone) and Lun Nya mountains in Karen State and Min Lwin Mountain in Mon State, members said.…
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After inspecting a controversial rocky quarrying site in Karen State, a delegation of state-level officials plans to recommend the government suspend the deleterious activity and terminate existing licenses. Karen State’s Pa-O Affairs Minister Khun Myo Tint and state Hluttaw MP U Min Ko Khaing conducted a field visit to Taung Kalay Mountain in Hpa-an township at the end of last…
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Illegal sand dredging has continued unabated on an island in Hpa-an township, despite locals’ complaints that the activity is causing massive erosion. The dredging on Ta Yoke Hla Island was first noticed by the residents in July, and they reported to the local police at the start of August. But they say no action has been taken. “Their investigation is…
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