Farmers cover garlic beds with straw in a field near the Kok River, where they irrigate the crops with groundwater instead of the Kok’s water, amid increased rare earth and gold mining at the river’s source in Myanmar, where unregulated operations may release toxic chemicals, according to the Stimson Center report, in Mae Ai district, in Chiang Mai province, north of Thailand, November 6, 2025. REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa