Behind the Extraction: Why a Just Energy Transition Must Include Kachin State, Myanmar

Highlights

• Kachin State is one of the world's most significant sources of heavy rare earth ionic clay deposits, critical for high-performance permanent magnets and advanced technologies.
• Large-scale rare earth mining in Kachin has caused deforestation, river contamination, and threats to drinking water, agriculture, and Indigenous livelihoods amid ongoing armed conflict.
• Western nations racing to diversify supply chains away from China risk intensifying extraction pressures on conflict-affected, ecologically vital regions like Kachin.
• A just energy transition requires Indigenous community participation, transparent supply chains, environmental governance, and equitable benefit-sharing—not new sacrifice zones.
• Governments, mining companies, investors, and consumers all share responsibility for ensuring critical mineral supply chains are both secure and ethically grounded.

As the world accelerates toward a low-carbon economy, one fundamental question remains unanswered: Who bears the cost of the green energy transition?

Rare earth elements and other critical minerals have become indispensable to modern life. They power electric vehicles, wind turbines, advanced electronics, robotics, medical devices, semiconductors, and many of today's most sophisticated defense systems. As competition intensifies, the United States, European Union, Japan, Australia, Canada, India, and other nations increasingly view these minerals as strategic assets essential to economic security, technological leadership, and national defense. Yet behind this growing demand lies a difficult reality.

The Indigenous communities of Kachin State in northern Myanmar are paying an enormous environmental and human price for supplying some of the world's most valuable heavy rare earth elements. Bordering China, Kachin has emerged as one of the world's most strategically important sources of heavy rare earths used in high-performance permanent magnets and advanced technologies. According to Rare Earth Exchanges' assessment of known global heavy rare earth resources, this region represents one of the world's most significant sources of heavy rare earth-bearing ionic clay deposits. As geopolitical competition intensifies and Western nations seek to diversify supply chains away from China, the strategic importance of Kachin has only increased.

But the expansion of rare earth mining is unfolding within an extraordinarily complex landscape marked by armed conflict, weak governance, competing armed groups, and limited environmental oversight. The consequences for local communities have been profound. Large-scale mining has contributed to deforestation, soil degradation, and contamination of rivers and groundwater. Communities report impacts on drinking water, agriculture, fisheries, public health, and traditional livelihoods. The contradiction is striking.

Kachin is one of Southeast Asia's most ecologically important regions, home to exceptional biodiversity and numerous endangered species. Yet the minerals needed to support a global green energy transition are, in many cases, contributing to environmental degradation within one of Asia's most valuable ecosystems.

Global competition for critical minerals is increasingly shaped by geopolitical rivalry. China continues to dominate rare earth processing and magnet production, while the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada, and others invest heavily in building alternative supply chains.

Too often, however, discussions about mineral security focus on supply resilience while overlooking conditions at the point of extraction. Rising demand can place additional pressure on regions experiencing conflict, fragile governance, and limited environmental protections.

For Kachin, rare earth mining is not only an environmental issue—it is a human security issue. Environmental degradation directly affects water security, food systems, forest resources, livelihoods, public health, and the long-term resilience of Indigenous communities. Protecting ecosystems and safeguarding Indigenous rights should therefore be viewed not only as environmental priorities, but also as essential foundations for peace, stability, and sustainable development.

A truly just energy transition cannot separate climate action from environmental stewardship, human rights, and responsible resource development. Kachin's future should not be defined solely by global demand for critical minerals. A more sustainable path requires meaningful participation by Indigenous communities, stronger environmental governance, protection of land and cultural rights, biodiversity conservation, responsible investment, transparent supply chains, and equitable sharing of economic benefits. Governments, mining companies, downstream manufacturers, investors, and consumers all share responsibility for building supply chains that are both secure and ethical.

The global transition to clean energy is essential. But importantly, a genuinely sustainable future cannot be built by creating new sacrifice zones for the communities that supply the world's critical materials. The question is no longer whether the world needs a green energy transition.

The question is whether that transition will be just.

For the people of Kachin State—and for Indigenous communities affected by rare earth element and critical mineral development around the world—the answer depends on the choices governments, industries, investors, and consumers make today. The clean energy economy should not be built upon unsustainable extraction, environmental degradation, or the erosion of Indigenous rights. A truly green future must protect not only the climate, but also the people and ecosystems from which its essential materials are drawn.