Letpadaung Mine Protests
In the final months of 2012, the Myanmar parliament approvedthe Letpadaung mine project and has been looking into the expansion of thecopper mine. The deposit has 1.478billion tons of copper and the project could be beneficial to the Myanmareconomy. The expansion of the mine would affect more than 26 villages in the surroundingarea.
However, in the months that followed, a large population ofactivistshas protested the expansion of the mine due to both the social andeconomic consequences of such expansion.
In regards to the people living there, the expansion of theproject would mean losing their land: homes, farmland, schools, monasteries, (etc),which would result in the displacement of many people. In the same way, mining chemicals havebeen bad for the farmland as well as for the community, and have contaminateddrinking water and crops, causing health problems to the people livingnearby.
It is important for the Myanmar parliament to now askwhether or not the expansion of the Letpadaung project is worth both the shortand long term interests of the people, the economy, and the environment.