06/06/2026
OPEN LETTER ON WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY
5 June 2026
Subject: Calling on the United Nations to recognize that river basin communities in this region are becoming “Sacrifice Zones” of the global energy transition and to urgently take action for environmental justice and human rights
To: The Secretary-General of the United Nations
On the occasion of World Environment Day, we, People’s Network for the Protection of the Kok, Sai, Ruak, Mekong, Salween, and Kraburi Rivers, wish to raise our voices from border communities that are bearing the environmental, health, and livelihood security costs so that the world may move toward clean energy in a just manner.
Amid the global energy transition, some communities are being pushed to become “sacrifice zones” of the green economy. While people in major cities and industrialized countries benefit from batteries, electric vehicles, and clean energy technologies, border communities are instead confronted with heavy metal contamination in rivers, food chains, and the environment, which affects their health, ways of life, and the future generations.
Since the publication of water quality and sediment testing results in 2025, heavy metal contamination has been detected in the Kok, Sai, Ruak, Mekong, and Salween Rivers, as well as other river basins linked to mining sites in upstream areas. These impacts are not limited to water quality alone, but also affect sediments, aquatic animals, food crops, and the daily exposure of local people to toxic substances. Uncertainty regarding the safety of water and food has become a reality that communities must face every day.
This crisis is, in essence, a transboundary contamination problem because many of those affected are located in one country, while the sources of contamination are located in another country, or in areas where the state is unable to effectively control and enforce the law. As a result, affected people must rely on international cooperation, which is often delayed and unable to keep pace with the damage that has already occurred.
We do not reject the necessity of the transition to clean energy. However, such a transition must be just and leave no one behind. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions should not come at the cost of the loss of water resources, health, and the fundamental rights of border communities. Shifting the burden of contamination onto those with the least bargaining power cannot be called a just transition.
Moreover, people living in the upstream areas of Myanmar near mining activities face an even more severe situation. In the context of conflict and weak governance, they have little opportunity to access environmental monitoring, healthcare, remedies, or even safe spaces in which to raise their voices and demand justice.
This reality of multiple intersecting injustices – including environmental injustice, whereby border communities bear the burden of pollution on behalf of downstream consumers and actors at the end of the supply chain power, as many affected people are unable to access justice mechanisms or effective grievance mechanisms – requires urgent recognition and action.
For these reasons, we call upon the United Nations to:
1.Recognize and place the issue of “Transboundary Sacrifice Zones” on the agenda as a priority issue of environmental justice and human rights.
2. Support regional listening and fact-finding processes concerning the impacts of mining for the energy transition in the Mekong Basin.
3.Encourage states, companies, and mineral purchasers in clean energy supply chains to comply with international environmental and human rights standards, while ensuring transparent mineral traceability systems.
4. Use the framework of the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as the basis for monitoring, investigation, and accountability of those responsible.
5.Strengthen humanitarian, health, environmental, and human rights protection for communities affected in conflict-affected areas.
6. Affirm that a just energy transition must leave no one behind and must not shift the burdens of the green economy onto the most vulnerable communities.
We do not reject the urgent necessity of the transition to renewable energy. However, we cannot accept a transition that requires some communities to lose their rivers, food, health, and the future of their children in exchange for sustainability in another part of the world. If the world needs renewable energy, then the world must also take responsibility for the impacts arising from the extraction of minerals used to produce that energy.
On this World Environment Day, we call upon the United Nations, Member States, businesses, and the international community to recognize that the energy transition cannot be considered a genuine success if any community is left to bear the environmental, health, and human rights costs alone. We sincerely hope that the United Nations will use its leadership and influence to advance a just transition to a low-carbon future that respects human rights and leaves no one behind, so that World Environment Day may truly reflect hope, shared responsibility, and justice for all.
We respectfully submit this letter for your consideration.
Yours sincerely,
People’s Network for the Protection of the Kok, Sai, Ruak, Mekong, Salween, and Kraburi Rivers
