The Hugawng Valley in Burma, home to the world's largest tiger reserve, is being polluted by gold mines operating in the area that also threaten the livelihood of the local ethnic Kachin communities, according to a report released by the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG), a coalition of non-governmental organizations.

The report, titled Valley of Darkness: Gold mining and militarization in Burma�s Hugawng Valley, credits the government with reducing poaching, but points out that authorities allowed gold mining to prosper since 2002 by selling individual concessions to large-scale operations.

The Burmese government set up the reserve in 2001, which was funded by the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society, to increase the population of tigers and other endangered animals in the region. The KDNG report pointed out that three gold mines are polluting the rivers that flow through the valley and are a main source of water with harmful chemicals like mercury.

Alan Rabinowitz, the director of science and exploration for the Wildlife Conservation Society, said that petitions to ban gold mining in the reserve have met with limited success. However, he notes that planned sugarcane and tapioca plantations constitute a much larger threat than the gold mines. �Putting sugar cane plantations in a reserve is like throwing candy in a day-care centre,� he said. �Elephants love sugar cane and what you will get is major wildlife conflicts,� he added.