"Northern residents begin peace walk over pollution from Myanmar mines", Thai PBS, 31 May 2026

About 600 residents from Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces began a “peace walk” pilgrimage today to highlight the hardships caused by toxic contamination of rivers linked to gold mining operations in Myanmar and to urge the government to seriously address the problem.

[...] the event was intended to gather feedback from people living along both sides of the Kok River about problems caused by toxic substances in the Kok, Sai, Ruak, Salween, Kra Buri and Mekong rivers.

[...] residents wanted the problem tackled at its root cause, requiring the Thai government to hold talks with Myanmar, China and rebel groups in Myanmar, all of which have stakes in the gold mining operations, most of them run by Chinese firms.