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Green November 32 (Damn the Mega Da



Subject: Green November 32 (Damn the Mega Dams)

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Green November 32
P.O. Box 58
Mae Hong Son 58000
Tel/fax: (053) 612-150

MEGA DAMS THREATEN VAST TRACTS OF FOREST
AND INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS

Dams planned for the Salween River and Thaung Yin River
(Moei) could destroy the remaining rain forests and the ancient
ethnic people's culture along the border of Burma and
Thailand.

Flooding and Siltation

The great majority of the flood zone of the planned dams is to
be in Burma, covering part of northern Kawthoolei (Karen
State), splitting Kayah (Karenni) State in two and stretching up
into the Shan State.  The flood waters will also inundate parts of
the Salawin Wildlife Sanctuary, the only part of Thailand that
will go under the waters.

With a high and low water level variation of 57 meters and a
dam wall height of 166 meters, the flood zone for the dam will
be vast.  It is reasonable to assume that over a thousand square
kilometers give or take a hundred depending on the exact
location of the dam, some of the richest riparian and forest land
in Karenni State will be submerged beneath more than 140
metres of water and wilt.  Along with the forests will be
sacrificed as well as the lands, homes and cultivations of the
already or soon to be displaced or annihilated indigenous Karen
and Karenni peoples.  In the flood zone and surrounding hills
live many different tribes, including some whom
anthropologists have hardly any knowledge of at all.

In addition to the hundreds of square kilometers of land
submerged at the high water level under what would be normal
conditions after the dam was built, low lying lands for many
kilometers upstream are likely to be subjected to worsening
periodic flooding as the massive silt load the Salween carries
settles as it comes to the stilled waters.

PROTECT OUR RAIN FORESTS

Forests maintain the natural cycles of the air, soil and water
upon which our lives depend.  They regulate our weather, they
help to produce soil from decayed organic matter.  Their roots
and leaf litter form a giant "sponge" from which rivers emerge. 
These sponges clothe pure water watersheds.  When trees are
removed from the hill and heavy rainfall thunders down the
slopes it carries top soil away with it.  The head-waters dry up
with the disappearance of the forest cover and below becomes a
bleached surface of shattered rock fragments.  A desert is
created.

The Burmese and Ethnic armies are selling off Burma's natural
resources at an alarming rate in order to gain the foreign
exchange needed to purchase new weapons and ammunition for
SLORC's war against its own people.

Although Burma recently had 80% of the world's remaining
teak forests, these forests may soon be eradicated as
deforestation by foreign companies is destroying over 1.2
million acres of trees each year.  The cut trees are transported
into Thailand, Singapore, China where they are processed and
then sold to countries around the world.  This deforestation is
not only destroying the environment of Burma but also
depriving the ethnic minorities who have lived in harmony with
these forests for many generations, the right to survival.



Green November 32 is dedicated to:

1.  preservation of the environment and education about
environmental issues
2.  protection of human rights and education about human
rights
3.  providing assistance tot he people who have been suffering
form disasters caused by environmental destruction and human
rights violations in Burma.

For more information and suggestions on how you can help,
contact Green November 32 
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