As global demand for rare earth minerals increases and the United States and China push and knock each other for control of these essential resources, another story is unfolding along the rivers of Southeast Asia.
In locations such as Myanmar, the competition to excavate rare earths has converted once-reliable water channels into contaminated, lethal watercourses. For the millions of families who drink, bathe in, and fish from these rivers daily, the world’s technological advancement is posing a very real danger not just to health but their very own existence.
The Mekong – where life begins and may be slipping away
The river isn’t just a resource for the thousands of people living along the Mekong. It’s a friend woven into every aspect of everyday life. It rambles through six nations, providing water for fields, nourishing families, and securing economies. Approximately 70 million people depend on it for their maintenance and income.
Its bounty travels far beyond Asia. “There’s not a major US supermarket that doesn’t have a product from the Mekong Delta,” notes Brian Eyler of the Stimson Center.
But the river’s familiar rhythms are being disrupted. Toxic runoff from thousands of unregulated mines upstream is seeping into its waters. The Mekong—once celebrated as one of the world’s cleanest major rivers—is inching toward a dangerous turning point.
Researchers have now mapped more than 2,400 mining sites across mainland Southeast Asia. Many sit directly on riverbanks or spill their waste into tributaries leading straight to the Mekong.
From gold and tin mines to rare earth extraction sites, the techniques vary—but the reliance on mercury, cyanide, and arsenic does not. These chemicals, when handled carelessly, don’t just pollute water. They settle into soil, crops, fish, and bodies.
Along Thailand’s Kok River, fear has settled in like unwelcome fog. After tests revealed arsenic and other toxins, villagers who once depended on the river now avoid the fish they grew up eating. Families who have no choice but to farm along the riverbanks wonder whether the food they grow might make them sick.
“No one will eat the fish now,” says researcher Regan Kwan. Daily routines—washing, cooking, harvesting—have all been thrown into doubt.
For many, there is no Plan B. These are subsistence communities where the river provides not only food but also dignity, stability, and cultural identity.
Virtually 80% of the mining mark emphasised in the study rests within Myanmar—a nation already splintered by scarcity, battles, and political chaos.
Since the 2021 military coup, rare earth mining has surged in Kachin and Shan states. Armed groups, military factions, and militias all carve out their own territories, opening mines with little regard for the environment or the people living downstream.
“It’s really almost a race to the bottom of who can mine the most,” Kwan says.
Once hauled out of the earth, these minerals often leave Myanmar for China, which dominates the global processing market. Chinese managers and technicians run many of the sites, reflecting the deep links between the two countries’ rare earth industries.
A global boom creating local ruin
The irony is painful: rare earth minerals are essential to clean energy technologies designed to reduce humanity’s impact on the planet. Yet their extraction—when unregulated—can destroy ecosystems and communities.
“We’re betting our future on it,” Eyler notes, but without safeguards, the cost may fall hardest on those least able to bear it.
Efforts by the United States to diversify its rare earth imports could, without strict oversight, encourage even more mining in fragile, poorly regulated regions.
Environmental groups and researchers are calling for immediate testing of major rivers, stricter oversight, and stronger protections for local communities. This isn’t just about pollution—it’s about justice.
“It’s unfair for this region to be the sacrifice zone for this global demand,” says Pai Deetes of the River and Rights Foundation.
As the world’s inhabitants embrace technologies and niftier devices, the question to ask is — Who pays the price for this advancement?
