Dangerous Mekong River pollution blamed on lawless mining in Myanmar

Khon, a Laotian fisherman who lives in a floating house made of plastic drums, scrap metal, and wood on the Mekong River, had a successful day today.

“I caught two catfish”, the 52-year-old tells Al Jazeera proudly, lifting his catch for inspection.

On this powerful river, Khon’s simple houseboat has everything he needs, including some nets, a fire to cook food on, and a few clothes to keep warm at night.

Fish is something Khon doesn’t always have.

“There are days when I catch nothing. He remarked, “It’s frustrating.”

“The dams cause the water levels to fluctuate constantly. And now they say the river is polluted, too. They dig in the mountains up there in Myanmar. or something similar. And all that toxic stuff ends up here”, he adds.

As it meanders through the heart of the Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar borderlands, Khon lives in Laos’ northwestern Bokeo province, on one of the most picturesque Mekong River meanders.

This remote area has long been renowned for its drug trafficking and production.

Now it is caught up in the global scramble for gold and rare earth minerals, crucial for the production of new technologies and used in everything from smartphones to electric cars.

According to Thailand’s Pollution Control Department, rivers in this region, including the Ruak, Sai, and Kok, which are all Mekong tributaries, have abnormal levels of arsenic, lead, nickel, and manganese.

Arsenic, in particular, has exceeded World Health Organization safety limits, prompting health warnings for riverside communities.

These tributaries directly feed the Mekong, and some of the river’s mainstream has been contaminated. The Mekong River Commission has since declared the situation “modely serious” because of the effects being observed in Laos.

“Recent official water quality testing clearly indicates that the Mekong River on the Thai-Lao border is contaminated with arsenic”, Pianporn Deetes, Southeast Asia campaigns director for the advocacy group International Rivers, told Al Jazeera.

If the mining continues, Pianporn said, “This is alarming and just the first chapter of the crisis.”

“Fishmen have just recently caught young, ill catfish.” This is a matter of regional public health, and it needs urgent action from governments”, she added.

In Myanmar’s Shan State, where dozens of unregulated mines have sprung up as the search for rare earth minerals gets more sophisticated, it is thought that the heavy metals are being contaminated upriver.

Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington and an expert on Southeast Asia, said at least a dozen, and possibly as many as 20, mines focused on gold and rare earth extraction have been established in southern Shan State over the past year alone.

The border region, which is controlled by two powerful ethnic armed groups, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), is now four years into a civil war.

Apart from maintaining Tachileik town, the region’s main border crossing between Thailand and Myanmar, the military government of Myanmar has “no real control,” according to Abuza.

Neither the RCSS nor the UWSA are “fighting the junta”, he said, explaining how both are busy enriching themselves from the chaos in the region and the rush to open mines.

“Mining has exploded in this vacuum, most likely with Chinese traders involved. Although the military retains control over the profits, Abuza said, they cannot issue permits or enforce environmental regulations.

‘ Alarming decline ‘

The Mekong River’s only health issue is mining-related pollution.

A growing number of hydropower dams have severely altered the river’s health for years, severely affecting its natural rhythm and ecology.

In the Mekong’s upper reaches, inside China, almost a dozen huge hydropower dams have been built, including the Xiaowan and Nuozhadu dams, which are said to be capable of holding back a huge amount of the river’s flow.

Further downstream, Laos has skewed hydropower’s economic viability.

At least 75 dams are currently operating on the Mekong’s tributaries, according to the Mekong Dam Monitor, which is hosted by the Stimson Centre think tank in Washington, DC, and two are directly on the mainstream river in Laos.

As a rule, hydropower is a cleaner alternative to coal.

Another type of environmental crisis is being caused by the Mekong dam’s rush.

The Mekong River basin once supported about 60 million people and managed up to 25% of the world’s freshwater fish catch, according to WWF and the Mekong River Commission.

Today, one in five fish species in the Mekong is at risk of extinction, and the river’s sediment and nutrient flows have been severely reduced, as documented in a 2023–2024 Mekong Dam Monitor report and research by International Rivers.

At the launch of a 2024 report titled The Mekong’s Forgotten Fishes, the WWF’s Asia Pacific Regional Director Lan Mercado remarked, “The alarming decline in fish populations in the Mekong is an urgent wake-up call for action to save these extraordinary – and extraordinarily important – species.

During a recent visit, the fish markets in Houayxay, the provincial capital, appeared largely unstocked.

At Kad Wang View, the town’s main market, the fish stalls were nearly deserted.

“Maybe this afternoon, or perhaps tomorrow,” said Mali, a 60-year-old vendor. Mali had circled her small stock of fish in front of her to make the display appear larger to potential customers.

At another market, Sydonemy, just outside Houayxay town, the story was the same. The fish stalls were bare.

“Some fish come, some don’t, and sometimes they don’t.” We just wait”, another vendor said.

The 53-year-old Vilasai, who is a member of a fishing family but currently works as a taxi driver, recalls that “there used to be giant fish here.”

The river now offers little for us. Even the water for irrigation – people are scared to use it. No one knows whether the environment is still clean, he told Al Jazeera, referring to the mine pollution in Myanmar.

‘ The river used to be predictable ‘

Upstream dams, especially those in China, have had significant downstream effects in northern Thailand and Laos, according to Ian G. Baird, professor of geography and Southeast Asian studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

According to Baird, “The ecosystem and the lives that depend on the river evolved to adapt to particular hydrological conditions.”

“But since the dams were built, those conditions have changed dramatically. He said that the rapid water level fluctuations of the dry season, which were once uncommon, now have a negative effect on both the river and the population.

The natural cycle of the river reverses, which is another significant factor.

“Now there is more water in the dry season and less during the rainy season. That lessens flooding and the annual flood pulse’s beneficial ecological effects, Baird said.

“To maximize energy output and profits, the dams hold water during the rainy season and release it during the dry season. But that also kills seasonally flooded forests and disrupts the river’s ecological function”, he said.

Bun Chan, 45, and his 40-year-old wife Nanna Kuhd reside on a floating home close to Houayxay. He fishes while his wife sells what he catches at the local market.

On a recent morning, he cast his net again and again – but for nothing.

As he raised his empty net, Bun Chan said, “Looks like I won’t catch anything today.”

“We didn’t sell them, but I caught a few the other day.” We’re keeping them in cages in the water, so at least we have something to eat if I don’t catch more”, he said.

Hom Phan has spent his entire life fishing in the Mekong.

He steers his wooden boat across the river, following a route he knows by instinct. The 67-year-old claims that the current is strong enough to dragged everything under in some of the river’s edges.

Only the chug of his small outboard engine and distant bird calls break the silence in his immediate vicinity.

“The river used to be predictable. We are currently unsure of whether it will rise or fall, Hom Phan said.

Fish are unable to locate their spawning grounds. They’re disappearing. If nothing is changed, we might as well, he said, citing Al Jazeera.

In Houayxay, Khon, the fisherman, rolls up his nets and prepares dinner in his floating home as evening rolls around.

As he waits for the fire to catch to cook a meal, he quietly contemplates the great river he lives on.

Khon was contemplating his next day of fishing with a smile on his face as he considered the dams in China, the pollution from the mines in neighboring Myanmar, and the growing difficulty in catching the catch he relies on to survive.

Source: Aljazeera