The Nu/Salween River is an international river covering China, Burma, and Thailand. It is the second longest river in southeast Asia and one of the last two undammed rivers remaining in China.
The Chinese government is planning on building a cascade of 13 dams on the Nu/Salween River.
From its origins on the Tibetan Plateau, the Nu/Salween River carves its way through the rugged mountain ranges east of the Himalayas. In Yunnan Province in southwest China, the Nu/Salween river, along with the Yangtze and the Mekong river, forms part of the Three Parallel Rivers World Heritage Site, one of the most bio-diversed regions of the world. The area is believed to support over 25% of the world and 50% of China's animal species.
It is also an area of rich cultural diversity, 13 of China's 56 ethnic minorities live in the region. If the dams are built, as many as 70,000 people will be force to relocate, many of them are farmers and herders who cannot speak Chinese and whose family have been living on the hillside by the Nu/Salween river for generations.
The rich biological and cultural diversity of the Nu/Salween River area are like nowhere else on earth. These massive hydroelectic development will drastically impact this special area, some damages will be irreversable.
Please express your concern to Zhou Wenshong, the Chinese Ambassador to the US today and ask him to pass the message to Chinease authorities to keep the Nu/Salween River free of dams forever for future generations.
Your Excellency,
We the undersigned are writing to express our deep concern over the Chinese government's plan to build massive dams on the Nu/Salween River.
The plan to build a cascade of 13 dams on the Nu/Salween River will drastically impacts one of the most biologically and culturally diversed regions in the world. This world heritage should be protected for future generations.
For the benefit of our planet and our future generations, as well as your country's image as a growing power in the world, we call upon the Chinese Government to reconsider the plan to develop such hydroelectric projects on the Nu/Salween River. Please pass our concern to the relevant authorities.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Respectfully yours,
