"Water is life. If we don't protect the Tanintharyi River, the lives and livelihood of local villagers who depend on the river will be destroyed", a local villager from the Tanintharyi River basin says in the introduction to the film. "We must prevent the destruction of the river for the sake of future generations. We gather here to show our disagreement with gold mining in the Tanintharyi River", he explains. The video documents a joint Buddhist-Christian prayer service organized by local people from the Tanintharyi River basin to show their opposition to the mechanized gold mining operations recently started by the Shwe Tun Pauk Company in the Tanintharyi River in Myanmar. More than 200 villagers – representing 60 villages – travelled by boat to join the prayer service from distances as far as 160km downstream. The group also inspected the mining operation, and asked to see paperwork proving that the Shwe Tun Pauk Company had legal permission to conduct gold mining in the Tanintharyi River. The villagers did not receive satisfactory answers from the on-site labourers, and demanded a public meeting with the head of the Shwe Tun Pauk company. A public meeting with the head of the Shwe Tun Pauk company was held on 8 January 2016.
Video documentation from the meeting is available at:
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The Save Our River, Save Our Life film is available in English at:
Burmese version is available at: YR2mD__jTU4">
