ERSM's blog

Last week, the students and staff of the EarthRights School Mekong visited Sop Moei village, an ethnic Karen community tucked away deep in the mountains of Mae Hong Son Province at the confluence of the Moei and Salween rivers on the Thai-Burma border. It took us several hours and three different modes of transportation (van, four wheel drive pick-up truck, and boat) to get there. The trip was worth it, despite rain, precarious roads, and mild carsickness: the village is in a gorgeous location and the community welcomed us with open arms.

The Salween is the longest undammed river in Asia, but it is currently being threatened by a proposed series of large dams in China and Burma. The first, the Hatgyi Dam, will be built just 30 kilometers upstream of Sop Moei and would put the village underwater, so our students had a lot to learn about river-based livelihoods and anti-dam advocacy from this community.

This trip was the first chance I've had to watch this group of students learn outside of the classroom, and they flourished. Whether sitting in the local church speaking with community leaders about their activities on the annual International Day of Rivers, hiking through the community forest with the local plant expert in the pouring monsoon rains, or talking late at night with our host sister, all the students seemed to have endless questions and ideas. I could sense they all felt inspired by the strength of the Sop Moei community members, who use their own local knowledge of the River and the forest to defend their livelihoods against proposed dams. Many of our students from the more politically repressive Mekong countries had never seen such a well-organized, united, and strong community, and they told me they were excited to apply these new techniques in their own countries. That's why these field experiences are so invaluable to our students: we can share many tools with them in the classroom, but seeing a well-organized community in action is the best way to learn new strategies and get inspired as a young grassroots leader.

In the past two months, students at the EarthRights School Mekong (ERSM) have been studying the impacts of large development projects, particularly dams, in the greater Mekong Region. Although funders of dams state that dams positively develop countries and reduce poverty, in reality, the result is often quite negative, particularly for rural and indigenous populations.

Large scale dams have been shown to flood villages, force people to resettle, and decreases food security by depleting fish species and flooding farmland. In addition, the energy that is generated from the dams often benefits only residents in larger cities.

The ERSM students have also learned that our dependency on non-renewable resources such as coal and oil is just as harmful. Fossil fuels have polluted our air and water, contributed to climate change, and cause respiratory illnesses.

One of two generators at the Mae Kham Pong plant So how can we get energy that is sustainable, clean, and renewable? This is where our recent trip to Mae Kham Pong comes in. Mae Kham Pong is a village one hour north of Chiang Mai, which has been operating a micro hydropower dam for the last 30 years. The micro hydropower dam was built after the villagers told the government that they wanted electricity for their homes and schools.  The Ministry of Alternative Power helped to partially fund the micro hydropower dam, to be built on the village stream. The villagers labored and built the dam themselves. It consists of a power/control house and two generators that produce a total of 40 kw. That provides enough energy to light each home and because of the dam’s small size, it has no negative impact on the environment.

“Mae Kham Pong is a skillful community. The village is a successful example of alternative energy with a micro-hydro dam and ecotourism. When I met with the villagers, I sensed the confidence in their village.” –Burmese Student

The following essay was written by "Karine," a Vietnamese student at the EarthRights School Mekong, following a class trip to Tha Ta Fang, a small village on the Thai side of the Salween River (map), on the Thai-Burma border. The Salween is the longest dam-free river in mainland Southeast Asia, but is threatened by a number of proposed dam projects.

There is a little girl in Tha Ta Fang village. Her name is Chokkobe. She is four years old, and her family was my host family during the 4 days I stayed in the village. Chokkobe is the cutest child I’ve ever met. She has a bright face with wide-open eyes. She loves to take photos and always ask to look at them after. She loves to play hide and seek with me. She can say “Hello, good night, and thank you” in English, and she says "good bye" with a kiss. Chokkobe wakes up early every morning and goes to school without crying. I can say that many children in Tha Ta Fang village really enjoy studying like Chokkobe.

ERSM students near the Salween River Fortunately, Chokkobe is luckier than most of her friends in the village because she’s got Thai citizenship. Her father has Thai citizenship, but her mother does not. Some people will ask me why I say “fortunately,” because having citizenship is her right as a human being? But many children in Tha Ta Fang village don’t have Thai citizenship. It means that they cannot go to secondary school or any other schools outside their villages. They cannot have support from the Thai government. Moreover, when it comes to adulthood, those children don’t have any choice for jobs or working as a labor or worker in big cities. Without citizenship, for some household there, means they have no solar panel for electricity, no chance for education, and no choice for work.

The EarthRights School Mekong (ERSM) brings together students from China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam to learn about the impacts of large-scale infrastructure and commercial development projects in the Mekong region and local struggles to address the negative effects of such projects. Before the 2010 ERSM students celebrated their graduation, they took a final field trip, where they visited three communities that have fought against destructive commercial development projects.

The students visited Klong Dan and Ma Ta Phut and learned about the two communities' successful efforts to obtain investigations into project impacts. In Klong Dan, local residents fought the construction of an industrial waste water treatment plant that had commenced without local participation or environmental, social and economic impact assessments. The residents collected information and wrote a letter that prompted the Asian Development Bank to conduct its first-ever site inspection and, later, to halt funding for the project. Similarly, residents near the Ma Ta Phut industrial zone temporarily halted 76 projects in the zone after a Thai court ruled in their favor and found that developers had failed to undertake required health and environmental assessments.

As the community movement they want to safe their livelihood and environment. . . . The local people and the authority had different idealism and the local people dared to refuse the authority power as they mentioned the constitution and some protection environmental laws to support their rights. - Thai student

Students also visited Bornok-Hin Krud, located on the east coast of Thailand, where local people have been fighting the Thai government's plan to build a coal-fired power plant. In 2004, Charoen Watakson, a core leader of the villagers' protest, was murdered. The ERSM students visited his memorial and learned about the villagers' ongoing struggle.

The EarthRights School Mekong (ERSM) often takes students outside of the classroom and into the field to observe the negative impacts of development projects and to hear from local communities about their struggles to address those impacts. In one of their first field trips this year, the ERSM students visited the Mae Moh power plant and lignite mine. Owned and operated by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the facility is Southeast Asia's largest coal-fired power plant and is fed by an open-pit lignite mine covering 135 square kilometers.

Lignite mining causes severe environmental damage and heavily impacts surrounding communities. Pollution from the facilities at Mae Moh has displaced over 30,000 people, and many more have suffered from acute respiratory problems as a result of sulfur dioxide in the air. Toxic coal dust has worked its way into the rivers, reservoirs and ground water in the surrounding area, causing further health problems for residents and decimating the natural environment.

The Mae Moh lignite mine disfigures the surrounding landscape

The local communities, however, have been fighting for their rights for over a decade and have won significant legal battles against EGAT. The Mekong School students had a chance to meet with many of them to discuss their struggle and gain first-hand experience with grassroots activism.

Clearly, lignite mining caused pollution and the villagers must bear the consequences of the mining company – who has been getting so much profit regardless of pollution or abuse the human rights of the villagers. [. . .] [B]ecause of cadmium contamination, the community also cannot catch fish or use water for households and irrigation. – Student from Vietnam

The EarthRights School Mekong students recently returned from two months of field research. The students’ fieldwork provided an opportunity to test the skills they learned during their first four months of the school's intensive seven-month training program.

The EarthRights School Mekong brings together individuals from each of the six countries in the Mekong region: Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. This year's class includes thirteen students from a variety of backgrounds, with students specializing in human rights law, public health, engineering, children's rights, disaster relief, and environmental science. The students joined the school in June 2010.

The following excerpts are from the students' reflections on their first impressions of the school after completing orientation:

In my opinion this here is not only school to come for study to get knowledge and leave. It’s a big home, there are many cousins living together. Although someone may leave here, they’re always still connected.– Lao student

It is very important for us to meet each other to gain experiences, share issues and bring our voice to our governments and agencies that support projects around the Mekong region and impact marginalized communities.-Cambodian student

In conclusion, I strongly believe that, we, the Mekong school students in 2010, will support and cooperate in a big family to study hard, share together, and build a good relationship to protect our Mekong River.- Vietnamese student

Throughout the summer and fall, the Mekong School students received training on team building, gender awareness, conflict resolution, cross-cultural communication, research and data collection tools, interviewing skills and research ethics. They also participated in courses covering topics related to human rights and environmental protection in the Mekong region, including the impacts of large hydropower dams, the rights guaranteed to dam-affected communities, the Asian Development Bank's complaint mechanism and decision-making process, the negative impacts of mining and mechanisms to address them.

In June, we shared written first impressions from one new student at the EarthRights School Mekong. Below are additional first impressions from the rest of the class of 2010, in their own words.

The following post was written by Van, an ERSM student from Vietnam.

Sawadee Ka.

The recent Red T-shirt demonstration in Thailand did not change my love to Thailand, because I have so many awesome Thai friends. Since I arrived in Chiang Mai, I have never felt regret.  

My trip with two other Vietnamese and then with two Burmese students gave me the feeling that I have known someone in advance and it was good. The first talk with other students at the EarthRights School Mekong (ERSM) was not that easy. It is my personality that I am quite uncomfortable surrounded by many unknown people. But at ERSM, that feeling had gone within a day after many ice-breaking activities.

Icebreakers at ERSM Orientation

I am very impressed with the ERSM alumni. I think they are a very good advertising about the school and the kind of people this school recruits. I received a lot of help from Long. And Si Phoung, simply with her smile, she tells me that she is my friend and she offers many help that I don’t know how I could do without her.

I believe that every single one of the student this year is trying their best to make the environment in this school warm and nice. Even though I don’t speak Thai, I can communicate with our cooks Pi Nok and Pi Pan and also other students. That is great.