Academic raises alarm on cross-border pollution

An academic has urged the government to engage Myanmar and its autonomous states to address mounting cross-border pollution affecting the Salween and Mekong rivers, warning that arsenic contamination threatens communities and ecosystems on both sides of the border.

- APINYA WIPATAYOTIN

Assoc Prof Surasak Boonrueang of the Natural Resources and Environmental Law Center, Thammasat University, said yesterday, recent laboratory tests showed arsenic levels in the Salween River far above safety levels, prompting the Sop Moei district chief in Mae Hong Son to ban residents from using the river water and consuming fish from it.

The contamination is believed to stem from mining operations in Myanmar's Karen and Shan states, where tin and rare-earth mining have long affected the Kok and Mekong basins.