Episode #131: A Jaded Hellscape (Bonus Shorts)
“Our work involves a mix of in-depth investigations, compelling storytelling, and targeted advocacy, and we work in a range of countries around the world,” Mike Davis starts out, explaining his role as CEO of Global Witness, an international NGO. Their website says that they seek “justice for those disproportionately affected by the climate crisis: people in the global south, indigenous communities and communities of colour, women and younger generations.”
The subject of this podcast discussion are the two groundbreaking reports on Myanmar’s mining industry that Global Witness issued following the military coup. One is titled Jade and Conflict. “This vastly valuable gemstone is benefiting all the wrong people in Myanmar in terms of empowering generals, military companies, drug lords, various other types of armed groups,” Davis explains bluntly. “And none of the benefits are going to the people in the area, which then has turned into a kind of dystopian moonscape where entire mountains have been sliced to pieces, and rivers are diverted and blocked.”
As shared in our previous podcast interview with the Burmese photojournalist known as Moe, this has also led to exploited labor and an unknown number of deaths working in extremely hazardous environments, although Davis acknowledges that they will likely never know the exact toll. “It's very hard to quantify because there's very little transparency around this,” he acknowledges, pointing out that the likely tens of billions of dollars in revenue that jade brings is almost entirely from Chinese buyers, who greatly value this gemstone.
Davis explains how the mining now taking place in northern Myanmar represents a kind of perfect storm, first by its location in a lawless region of Kachin state, and second, by the world’s highest quality of jade right in the backyard of the country that most covets it, and third, in the trade’s control by a military regime long known for its corruption and violence. Davis explains the way it works: Burmese cronies, or even the families of the generals themselves, will establish a nominally Myanmar entity which is in fact just a façade for a Chinese company that oversees the entirety of the work for all intents and purposes, in spite of technically having no legal standing in Myanmar. Davis cites the example of General Min Aung Hlaing’s sons enjoying an exclusive monopoly on the sale of dynamite to the jade mines. These funds not only enrich their personal pockets, but also go into weapons purchases, which are then used against their own people.
“This isn't just about justice, and then being greedy,” Davis explains. “This is a huge threat, because if you want to stage a coup, shut down the country, wage war on your population, all this costs money.”
But the jade industry is not the only issue. Global Witness’ other report, Myanmar’s Poisoned Mountains, covers the mining of the rare earth metals dysprosium and terbium, which go into a variety of everyday electronics. “These two metals are actually very important indeed,” Davis notes, as they are essential in everything from electric cars to wind farms. “What we brought out in our report is how this corner of Kachin state and northern Myanmar controlled by a military junta-aligned warlord has become the main global source of supply for these materials. It's quite extraordinary!”
Davis’ team found that these rare earth metals had previously been mined in China, but that the environmental cost was so extreme that even the Chinese government realized it was no longer viable, with estimates of 5.6 billion dollars in damages that would take at least 100 years to rectify! So, he explains, “they outsourced this filthy mining operation to a place where there were reserves of dysprosium and terbium, but moreover, where there was an entirely lawless environment where they could essentially do what they want in terms of just ripping the landscape to pieces in pursuit of these materials. And that's what they've done in this area of Kachin State.”
The demand for these materials is only intended to increase, as ironically, they support the mission to seek alternatives to fossil fuels and locate more renewable energy sources. “That's something we which we absolutely support and advocate for,” Davis says, but with the caveat that it’s “obviously” vital that it be done in an equitable and environmentally conscious way. Towards these ends, Global Witness is hoping that their advocacy can encourage countries to ban the import of products which source from this region, as well as to lobby companies to refuse to acquire them. “The renewable transition wants to buy greener products but they also want to see the companies that supply them controlling their production supply chains in a way which is in line with the high ethical standards which they purport to purport to abide by,” he says.
And with the rampant logging also taking place in that same region, Davis paints the picture of a vast web of illegal operations that benefit only the very top elites, with local populations suffering and the overall environment being devastated in the process. It is a significant and extremely messy situation that adds a sense of increased gravity and immediacy to the already disastrous military coup.
“Keep paying attention to what's happening in Myanmar,” Davis says in closing, “and keep up the solidarity and support. Because it's hugely important! It feels like what's happened in Myanmar has kind of been for many audiences globally displaced and overtaken by other global calamities, but we need to keep up the attention.”