Pollution from rare earth mining in Myanmar is tainting rivers in Southeast Asia, threatening farmers, fishermen, and entire ecosystems downstream. One study found more than 2,400 mines across mainland Southeast Asia, many of them illegal and unregulated, and they could be releasing deadly chemicals into the waterways. - REUTERS
00:5648-year-old Sawak Kewadam, an artisanal fisherman from the riverside village of Ban Sob Kok, says he can barely catch fish from the river.
01:08If the Mekong River could speak, it would say it wants to cry.
01:12The water keeps rising and falling. There are no fish.
01:15The river would cry and so would we. We can't catch any fish. Where have they gone?
01:27I just cast my net across half the Mekong and didn't catch a single one.
01:32Before, there were always some. Now, where have they gone?
01:35A study by the U.S.-based Dimson Center found mines across mainland Southeast Asia, many illegal and unregulated, could be releasing deadly chemicals like cyanide and mercury into rivers.
01:48Brian Eiler is a senior fellow at the center.
01:50This story started with the impacts of only two rare earth mines on the Kok River system.
01:58Those rare earth mines were in Myanmar.
02:00Our research is showing that there are scores of tributaries of major rivers like the Mekong, the Sawin, the Irrawaddy, and rivers in Vietnam that are likely highly contaminated.
02:12And this story is not known.
02:14So the extensiveness in the scale is something that's striking to me.
02:17The emergence of new China-backed rare earth mines in eastern Myanmar initially set off concerns among researchers over the danger of downstream pollution along the Kok River.
02:27Tanapon Fernrat is from the Thailand Science Research and Innovation.
02:31The arsenic that appears in the water comes along with rare earth minerals.
02:35These rare earth elements are also associated with radioactive elements.
02:39Their concentrations rise and fall together.
02:41It has only been two years since the rise of rare earth and gold mining in Myanmar at a Kok River's source.
02:46If this continues, nature will no longer be able to resist it, and contamination levels will rise sharply.
02:51From Myanmar's mining sites, raw materials are shipped to China for processing.
02:56Beijing dominates global rare earth production and has used these minerals as leverage in its trade war with the U.S.
03:02In response to questions from Reuters, China's foreign ministry said it was not aware of the situation on river pollution.
03:08Meanwhile, Thailand has set up three new task forces to coordinate international cooperation, monitor health impacts, and secure alternative water sources for communities along affected rivers.
03:19Beijing has been organized in thections of various domain laws as well.
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