Sample essay: Social Ecological Impact of Irrawaddy Hydropower Project

Social Ecological Impact of Irrawaddy Hydropower Project; should it be continued?

Starting from northernmost mountainous part of Burma, the two tributaries, May Kha and Malikha form the River Irrawaddy at the confluence near Myitkyina, a town in upper Burma near China. The Irrawaddy continues to flow through the middle plain until it finally enters into the Adman Sea at the Bay of Bengal. Along the way, it spans almost two-third of the country providing freshwater, arable land, nutritious freshwater species and a transportation passage. Hence, Irrawaddy is an indispensable part of Burma and becomes its lifeblood. Therefore, it is the duty of all Burmese people to safeguard Irrawaddy, the most important geographical feature of our country.

Recent news on the Irrawaddy said that since December 2009, construction works have been started by China Power Cooperation and the Asia World Co. Ltd. to build a very large dam with the size of Singapore near its confluence, Myitsone and at six other locations. It is a joint project between Burmese government and the Chinese government. The main objective of this project is to harness hydropower to quench the thirst of power-hungry China. It is estimated that about 3,600 to 6,000 megawatts of electricity will benefit energy needs in industries in Yunan, China. Construction works are still underway regardless of recommendations not to continue the dam project by the environmental and political activists and ethnic Kachin people. Recently, Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has also raised international awareness on the social and ecological impact of the dam projects by issuing a statement to review it before proceeding.

However, Burmese government defended that the dam project can provide 2,600 employment opportunities for the local Burmese. Thousand employment opportunities actually are still low compared to the high unemployment rate. Besides this benefit, the government claims that the country will benefit foreign capital from selling hydropower. However, there is no transparency on to whom and what sectors will the benefits go. Another claim by the government is that part of hydropower will also be available for local use although there is also no transparency on the quota. So far there has not been any public announcement of local availability. Another possible reason why the Burmese government let China to implement the dam project is to further improve the relationship with China. Burmese government needs better relationship and trade with China to counter western economic sanctions and to earn hard currency, and to have veto-holding China’s backup in UN not to be inquired for a crime against humanity. By making huge hydropower available for power-hungry China, Burmese government has played a complete trade-in game with its economically and politically powerful neighbours for mutual benefits. Therefore, the questions remain if the Burmese government really cares about the social and ecological impact of the dam project on the Burmese people and environment or if they are only simply implementing it for their own political interest.

However, such a controversial dam project has become a political and national cause for every ordinary Burmese citizen. That is why almost all Burmese both at home and abroad are reviewing the social and ecological impact of the dam project. Since the dam is quite large in size comparable to the size of Singapore, a large volume of water will be consumed for storage in the dam. This may somehow affect the navigation along the river. Recently, several small islands have been appearing along the river blocking and shifting navigation path. Once the dam is complete and large volume of water is stored, those islands may even become bigger and the river’s flow path may gradually shift. As a result, river bank will be eroded threatening lives on the river bank. Moreover, the gorges may become narrower and the flow past these gorges becomes very fast making navigation difficult and dangerous. Therefore, all these will affect water navigation in Burma since Irrawaddy is the largest water passage in the country.

This is not the only effect that the dam project brings. Another possible effect by the large dam size is that floodplain by the Irrawaddy will be smaller. This will reduce the sediments in the land degrading the soil quality. The lower soil quality would result in the decrease in agricultural product. Therefore, it can make life difficult for the farmers along the Irrawaddy plains. Besides these, a large body of sea water may sweep inland at the river mouth since the river downstream will also be affected. The salty water in the Irrawaddy Delta will also result in soil quality degradation which can result in lower economic growth by the farmers. All these are threatening the country’s economy since Burmese economy is mainly depending on agricultural exports.

Besides the effects on agriculture and navigation systems, the dam projects may also cause some water contamination in the river. According the local ethnic people, Chinese companies are not only building the dam but are also secretly digging gold in mines. There are also some reports that say that many gold mines along Irrawaddy river bank dispose the waste directly into the river. Therefore, the river will be contaminated by wastes from construction works and gold mines. This contamination may be harmful for both the people who rely on the river for drinking water and the freshwater species, which is a main food supply for most Burmese. Rare freshwater species such as Irrawaddy dolphins, which is one of the main tourist attractions in Burma, are no exception to this, hence resulting in lower tourism income. Therefore, river contamination can also lead to social and economic impacts on the people and economy.

Besides these serious effects of the dam project on agriculture, navigation and ecological systems, perhaps the most serious and direct impact is the forced mass dislocation of local residents for the dam site. According to the reports by environmental NGOs, 15,000 neighbouring Kachin natives and millions of people living downstream of the dam construction location will be affected because of inundation. This is one of the most serious human right abuses and has resulted in more intense public disbelief in the government. It has also created more tensions between Kachin ethnic army KIO and the government.

To sum up, it seems that the dam project brings more disadvantages than advantages to the people because of the government’s lack of responsibility and transparency. Therefore, Burmese government should be more transparent while both governments should be more responsible for the social and ecological lives. Both sides must be aware of all these impacts. Moreover, there should be a complete review of the project with a lot of negotiations with local people who suffered the direct consequences and consultation and dialogue with all the parties such as environmentalists and political oppositions if the dam project is really for the benefit of the people.