Myanmar

Myanmar's coastal areas of Tanintharyi, Ayeyawaddy and Rakhine are abundant with coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass beds, mud flats, estuaries and sand dunes, playing an important role in environmental diversity and the sectors of agriculture, forestry, fishing and tourism. However, part of the mangroves are being damaged by locals, who clear the areas for prawn breeding, fishing, mining, waste disposal and oil spilling, while the…

The bus ride to Hakha, a city in Myanmar's northern Chin State, begins with a prayer for a safe journey. It's just after dawn on a drizzly gray Monday in the provincial border city of Kale. I was supposed to leave the day before, but although Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist nation, Chin is a Christian state, so no buses depart on Sunday. Eleven of…

According to the 2016 Climate Risk Index, Myanmar is the second most vulnerable country in the world to the effects of climate change. The intensity and regularity with which cyclones make landfall have increased with every year, with the delta region affected by tropical storms and the dry zone impacted by debilitating droughts. Researchers at the Center for Climate System Research at Columbia University, in…

Mangroves protect coastlines in the face of storms and rising sea levels, absorb carbon from the atmosphere, and boost fish stocks, experts say. Yet Myanmar has lost more than 1 million hectares (about 2.5 million acres) of mangroves since 1980, said Arne Fjortoft, founder and secretary-general of Worldview International Foundation (WIF), which has worked with two local universities to restore mangroves in the Southeast Asian…

Myanmar’s conflict-ridden areas are not only populated with soldiers and rebels, they are also home to indigenous communities which aim to protect the forests of their ancestors. This is the case of the villagers starring in The Kheshorter: Indigenous Karen’s Community Forest, a documentary screened on August 9 at the Orchid Hotel, in Yangon. The 26-minute film is a look into the indigenous Karen people’s…

An estimated 13.5 million people, or a quarter of Myanmar's population, live in houses built with materials that can deteriorate rapidly such as bamboo, wood and leaves, a report by the government and the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) showed. Some 3.8 million new or improved homes need to be built to address the problem, said the report, which is based on census data. "Without durable…

The risks of coal Despite coal’s reputation for contributing to global warming, TTCL intends to employ ‘high energy, low emissions’ (HELE) technology to mitigate the adverse environmental effects resulting from coal burning. As previously reported, this ‘clean coal’ technology has attracted interest from a host of countries, including Australia, India and China. HELE technology is still under-researched. For instance, the best methods of dealing with…

Energy demand is set to double this century, with the world’s population reaching 11 billion, up from 7.5 billion today. As the world changes, so will the energy system that powers it, driven by the need to reduce carbon emissions and – crucially for Asia – tackle air pollution that blights so many lives. In Myanmar, for example, the majority of households still use basic…

The agreement was adopted as part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2015. It also seeks to prevent global temperatures from rising above two degrees Celsius beyond pre-industrial levels. A message from President Htin Kyaw to parliament outlined the benefits of ratifying the agreement, saying ratification will allow Myanmar to receive financial and technological aid and opportunities for capacity building from…

YANGON -- Myanmar and Norway have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in development of fishery sector, Myanmar News Agency reported Friday. The MoU was signed in Nay Pyi Taw Thursday during the current visit of Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende to Myanmar. Under the Fish for Development Program, it will allow increased implementation of managing information related to fishery sector, ocean research,…

President U Htin Kyaw disclosed this at a ceremony celebrating the World Environment Day in Nay Pyi Taw on Monday.The President encouraged Myanmar people to appreciate and help preserve the beauty of the country, one of the most ecologically diverse countries in Asia, urging people to take forward the call of the theme of the World Environment Day to connect with the nature.Myanmar is home…

Since the inception of the Initiative in Myanmar, partners have participated in a range of REDD+ Himalaya activities including a training on “financial procedures and disbursement mechanism” giving them insight into how to manage and administer the Initiative’s financial resources. In order to contribute to the establishment of a national forest monitoring system, a remote sensing workshop was conducted to build the capacities of relevant…

May Moe Wah, operations manager of WWF Myanmar, told a news conference yesterday that celebrities, diplomats, environmental organisations and volunteers would gather at the historic Shwedagon Pagoda to light 10,000 lamps from 8.30 to 9.30pm. “We have received approval from Yangon Region Govern-ment, concerned ministries, the Shwedagon Pagoda’s board of trustees, and concerned administrative offices to celebrate the campaign in public,” she said…

This workshop is intended to promote the idea of film makers at the Festival. 15 students from Yangon Film School and 10 independent filmmakers attend a workshop for about environmental issues. Assistant , Cultural Department Goethe Institute , Teresa Knoferl : "So our hope from film festival and also in today workshop that we do get like high quality documentary about climate change in Myanmar…

Since Myanmar’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) law was passed, international NGOs have started to train concerned citizens in participating in environmental discourse. Pollution and social impacts of development, such as resettlement and the rights of indigenous peoples, remain the main complaints of affected groups. Myanmar sent a delegation of 15 members to Marrakech in December for the COP22, the second meeting of its kind. Myanmar…

The study projected changes in climate for the township, with a resolution of 25km. Projections include the increase in temperatures by as much as 2.3°C in 2050, with up to 17 more hot days per year. Rainfall is also projected to change, with possibly more rain (up to 23%) but in a shorter rainy season. Strong winds and cyclones are also expected to increase…

Vice President Henry Van Thio, chair of the National Natural Disaster Management Committee, reported the expenditure at the November 1 meeting of the committee, but without providing details of how much money was to be spent on what kind of relief and rehabilitation, by which departments. Daw Le’ Le’ Aye, director of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief, and Resettlement, told The Myanmar Times yesterday…

It was a historic day for climate diplomacy. On November 4, the Paris Agreement on climate change came into force, marking the first time that governments have agreed legally binding limits to global temperature rises. But 2016 will also be remembered for another world-changing event: On September 28, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii announced that global carbon dioxide levels had passed the 400 parts…