China Speeds Ahead with Myitsone Dam Despite Civil War in Northern Burma

Seven hundred Chinese laborers are working day and night shearing off hilltops, laying tunnels, and building embankments at the Myitsone, the source of Burma’s Irrawaddy River, in a race to complete the country’s largest dam on schedule despite ongoing […]

World’s Largest Tiger Reserve Open for Oil Drilling?

News late last week of a new contract for oil drilling in Burma’s Hugawng Valley seems to be incorrect. However, the valley, home of the world’s largest tiger reserve, is open for oil exploration […]

Burma Presents Tiger Plan in Russia Amid Massive Destruction in World’s Largest Tiger Reserve

As the 13 nations with tiger populations prepare to attend the first ever Global Tiger Summit, the world’s largest tiger reserve in northern Burma’s remote Hugawng Valley is under threat from massive mono-crop plantations being established by Htay Myint, one of Burma’s most powerful tycoons […]

Tyrants, Tycoons and Tigers

A bitter land struggle is unfolding in northern Burma’s remote Hugawng Valley. Farmers that have been living for generations in the valley are defying one of the country’s most powerful tycoons as his company establishes massive mono-crop plantations in what happens to be the world’s largest tiger reserve […]

Top Burmese tycoon ravaging world’s largest tiger reserve

A report released today reveals how Htay Myint, one of Burma’s most powerful tycoons, is establishing massive mono-crop plantations in the world’s largest Tiger Reserve in northern Burma’s remote Hugawng Valley.

Htay Myint’s Yuzana Company, a Burmese conglomerate with close ties to the ruling military, was granted 200,000 acres in the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve in 2006 to establish sugar cane and tapioca plantations. The report Tyrants, Tycoons and Tigers by the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) details how fleets of bulldozers and backhoes have been razing forests and destroying animal corridors, leaving only the conservation signboards standing […]

Open Letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao Calling to Stop Myitsone Dam

Dear President Hu,

On behalf of the communities suffering from the Myitsone Dam project in Kachin State, we appeal to you to immediately halt the forced relocation and destruction of the villages of those opposed to this project by China’s state-owned China Power Investment Corporation […]

China silent to appeals from across the globe to halt dam on Irrawaddy River

Ignoring its stated commitments to social responsibility in foreign investment projects, the Chinese government has failed to reply to numerous public appeals from affected peoples and petitions submitted by overseas Kachin to Chinese embassies in five countries to stop the Irrawaddy-Myitsone dam project in Kachin State, Burma. Open letters from Kachin State leaders and affected […]

Sixty Villages to be Relocated for Hydropower Project

The Burmese military junta authorities are gearing up to relocate about 60 villages from the site of hydropower projects at the confluence of May Kha and May Likha Rivers, an environment group said.

The Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) said that the Asia World Company is constructing houses for villagers to be relocated from the project sites. Villagers have been told to move to this new place soon […]

Resisting the Flood

An update on open local resistance to the seven dams that China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) is building on the Irrawaddy, N’mai and Mali rivers in Burma’s northern Kachin State. The booklet describes the construction activity at the Chibwe dam site and the imminent forced relocation of 15,000 villagers for the construction of the Irrawaddy […]