Landscape architecture undergraduates from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) travelled over 400-kilometers along the Thai-Myanmar Border from Chiang Mai to Mae Sot in Thailand. For its second year, this landscape planning studio course is focusing on a set of controversial and long-delayed development projects along the border, including dams on the Salween and Yuam rivers, a coal mine concession in Chiang Mai province, and the planned large-scale water diversion tunnel from the Salween to Chao Phraya basins.
Students met with several environmental and human rights groups, including The Border Consortium (TBC), Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN), Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), ecologists from the Forest Restoration Research Unit (FORRU) and sociologists from the Center for Ethnic Studies and Development (CESD) of Chiang Mai University, and indigenous community groups in the Yuam and Ngao river basins. The students and their instructor Ashley Scott Kelly thank these organizations for helping make our visit a productive learning experience.
Posted by: Ashley Scott Kelly (Design for Conservation)