"Myanmar urgently needs to increase its electricity generating capacity to meet ambitious economic development targets and accommodate rising power demands from new foreign and local investment projects. Yet harnessing Myanmar?s hydropower potential will be a perilous process, as seen in the controversies surrounding current planned dams along the Salween River as well as the geopolitically fraught and suspended Myitsone dam. Many of Myanmar?s rivers are suitable for hydroelectric dams, which currently contribute the base load to the country?s energy supply. At the same time, dam construction alters the natural environment and usually requires the controversial relocation of local populations. Moreover, with the country in the midst of a tentative national ceasefire process, dam sites have the potential to stir latent or resurrect suspended conflicts..."