Cross-posted from https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43049861
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[Anuk Pitukthanin, Director of the Mekong Studies Centre] said the rare earth mining issue must be managed beyond local communities and treated as a regional concern.
Kanwee Suebsaeng, list MP for the Fair Party and deputy chair of the House committee [in Tahiland] said the House considered the Clean Air Bill yesterday, 25 September. One section deals with transboundary pollution. He asked the drafters how Thailand could bring civil action against foreign operators whose activities in neighbouring countries harm Thailand.
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Zung Ting from the Kachin environmental network reported that conditions in Myanmar’s Kachin State have worsened over the past decade, and even more since the 2021 coup.
Kachin holds vast resources amid high global demand for rare earths to feed clean energy supply chains and stockpiles in the United States, the European Union and Japan. Mining sites are located in Kachin, with China playing a major role in extracting ore and adding value.
He said China focuses on processing to add value at home, while avoiding mining on its own soil due to severe environmental harm. Chinese policy shifted to limit domestic rare earth mining by Chinese firms, pushing operations into several areas of Myanmar. Activity rose sharply after 2015, then increased again after the 2021 coup.
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The absence of control is alarming. Rare earth mining sites in Kachin have increased by more than 60 percent, with over 5,000 chemical ponds across about 400 mines. Similar mines and ponds have spread to Shan State. The impact falls heavily on local communities and indigenous peoples, with severe flooding every year. More countries are now moving into Myanmar to seek rare earth ores.
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Pollution from these rare earth mines is now affecting Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai and reaches the Mekong. He urged all parties to learn from the disaster in Kachin and prevent further cross-border pollution.
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Assoc Prof Dr Narumon Thabchumpon of the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, said political debates often get stuck on territorial limits. She proposed the no-harm principle. States must not cause serious harm to other states, and sovereignty comes with responsibility.
She urged ASEAN to table cross-border pollution from rare earth mining at the summit in November under the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. She also called for talks on environmental and health security under RBC frameworks. Local authorities should be strengthened, with early warning systems and buffer zones put in place.
