Climate change and the Myanmar economy
Individual Documents
Description:
"The Myanmar Air Force has ordered several FTC-2000G midrange fighter jets from China, a major arms supplier to the Southeast Asian nation.
The Irrawaddy has learned that a group of approximately eight Air Force pilots, eight technicians and at least two armaments officers traveled to China via Kunming in June.
China has strict COVID-19 regulations and the Myanmar personnel had to go through quarantine in Kunming. The pilots are known to fly the F-7 interceptor, A-5 bomber and K-8 W trainer and light attack jet for the Myanmar Air Force.
The new jet fighters will replace the Myanmar Air Force’s aging F-7s and A-5s. Once they are delivered they are expected to be based at Namsang airbase in Shan State, according to sources familiar with the purchase.
It is not yet known when the agreement was reached between Beijing and Naypyitaw. The purchase of Chinese jet fighters may have begun in 2020, but delivery and pilot training were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and China’s strict policy on containing the disease.
The FTC-2000G is an advanced light multi-role trainer/combat aircraft designed and manufactured by Guizhou Aviation Industry Corporation (GAIC) under the supervision of Chinese state-owned aerospace and defense firm Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).
It is the export variant of the Guizhou JL-9 trainer/combat aircraft, which is in service with the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
The two-seat jet fighter has training capabilities with attack and fighting capabilities in combat.
It can be used to perform pilot flight training, aerial surveillance, patrol missions, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, close-in air support and air escort missions.
In April 2020, news emerged in Cambodia and in China’s Global Times that China planned to sell the aircraft to an undisclosed Southeast Asian country. It did not say how many units were to be sold, stating only that the deal was signed in January 2020 and that deliveries would start in early 2021 and be completed after two years.
The cost of the jet fighter is around US$8.5 million.
The reports identified Cambodia and Myanmar as potential buyers, as both countries are closely aligned with China, both militarily and politically.
Well-known middleman
The sources stated that Gateways Hong Kong Ltd. was involved in brokering the deal. A key arms broker, Gateways Hong Kong Ltd is also involved in buying spare parts for F-7 and A-5 aircraft.
Dr. Naing Htut Aung, a major arms supplier to Myanmar’s military, was also a key weapons dealer for the previous regime led by dictator Senior General Than Shwe.
Registered as a director of the Yangon-based International Gateways Group of Companies Ltd., Dr. Naing Htut Aung has had strong ties with successive military leaders, including current Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, sources told The Irrawaddy.
He is a key procurer of weapons, spare parts and upgrades for the Navy and Air Force and is an agent for major state-owned Chinese arms producers, said Justice for Myanmar (JFM), an activist group that monitors the military’s businesses, citing a private-sector source with military connections.
He was a middleman in the Air Force’s procurement of 16 JF-17 Thunder fighter jets from Pakistan in 2015, and was also a key figure in a joint venture between the Directorate of Myanmar Defense Industries and China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation to produce the K-8 jet trainer and light attack aircraft in Myanmar.
His businesses, Gateways International Holding Company and International Gateways Group of Companies, were registered at the same address as Myanmar Consultancy until late 2020..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2022-10-18
Date of entry/update:
2022-10-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Climate change and the Myanmar economy, Military History
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Description:
"Finnish technology giant Wärtsilä Corporation has won bids for two tenders from the illegitimate military-controlled Electric Power Generation Enterprise (EPGE), for the construction and operation of two hybrid gas and solar power plants in Myingyan and Magway.
The tender was announced by EPGE in December 2021, with a February 2022 deadline. EPGE is based in Naypyidaw, under the Ministry of Electricity and Energy.
Wärtsilä won both tenders as part of a consortium with the Chinese corporation Dongfang Electric International Corporation and Myanmar Chemical and Machinery (MCM).
MCM is a major arms dealer that is also involved in the production of weapons in Myanmar, in partnership with the Directorate of Defence Industries.
On March 25, 2022, MCM was sanctioned by Canada, the UK and US. In its sanctions announcement, the UK government described MCM as “a key source of weapons and commercial support for the junta” and MCM Managing Director, Aung Hlaing Oo, as “an associate of Commander-in-Chief and coup leader, Min Aung Hlaing”
Within the tender, MCM is represented by its Singapore subsidiary MCM Pacific Pte. Ltd. and a Myanmar subsidiary, MCM Energy Ptd. Ltd.
Days after the sanctions announcement, MCM Energy changed its name to Malikha Energy, which may be an attempt to circumvent sanctions.
Aung Hlaing Oo left the company in December 2021, after JFM published an investigation on his involvement in the arms trade.
Malikha Energy continues to use the MCM Group email as its registered contact.
Aung Hlaing Oo remains director and controlling shareholder of the Singapore company.
Following the imposition of sanctions on MCM, a spokesperson from Wärtsilä Corporation told Justice For Myanmar, “we have ceased with immediate effect all business activity or partnership involving MCM and its affiliates. In line with the rest of the international community, Wärtsilä remains committed to the reliable and affordable development of electrification of Myanmar. In this respect, we will maintain our engagement with EPGE provided that EPGE remains free from sanctions as it is today.”
Wärtsilä refused to explain how they were able to remove MCM from the consortium for the Myingyan and Magway power projects. The corporation also refused to respond to questions regarding human rights due diligence in Myanmar, and whether they had sought advice from the Finnish government regarding their participation in junta tenders.
Since its illegal attempted coup, the junta has targeted Myingyan and Magway with indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling, and troops have committed mass killings and rape.
Wärtsilä Corporation is listed on the Finnish stock exchange, Nasdaq Helsinki. Its biggest shareholder is Sweden’s Wallenberg family.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “Wärtsilä is seeking profits from the junta that carries out atrocity crimes with total impunity.
The Myanmar junta is a terrorist organisation that is using the electricity supply as a strategic tool in its attempt to take full control over the country.
Power cuts have been imposed as a collective punishment and masses of people continue their defiance against the military by refusing to pay their electricity bills.
While Wärtsilä has responded to the sanctioning of their partner MCM by ending their business relationship, we remain concerned that they are not disclosing how they have cut out their sanctioned business partner, immediately after winning two tenders with them.
The fact that Wärtsilä entered into a business partnership with a major Myanmar military arms dealer in the first place raises serious concerns about their human rights due diligence.
We call on Wärtsilä to be transparent, fulfil their human rights responsibilities, follow the guidance of the National Unity Government and withdraw from the Myingyan and Magwe power projects, without providing a windfall to MCM or the junta.”..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-04-20
Date of entry/update:
2022-04-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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164.33 KB 116.14 KB
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Sub-title:
When Hurricane Irma hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, Carlos Melendez couldn’t contact the staffers or customers of his San Juan-based technology firm, Wovenware.
Description:
"Melendez learned a lesson that would help his business during the next storm, that disaster preparedness includes being able to communicate with people when the emergency is over. He quickly signed up with an online messaging service – and got to use it two weeks later when Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico.
“The amount of damage was a situation we had never had before here on the island,” Melendez says. But because he was now able to communicate with employees, he could determine how they were, arrange to meet with those able to get to the office and let customers know Wovenware was working despite the widespread devastation and lack of power and resources.
Small businesses in the United States have already contended this summer with earthquakes in Southern California and Hurricane Barry in the Gulf Coast and Midwest, and the most intense portions of the Atlantic hurricane and Western wildfire seasons are still ahead. But many owners don’t prepare for potentially devastating natural disasters, leaving them to learn during a crisis what they should have done differently. And even companies that do plan can be unprepared for the unique circumstances of a particular disaster – no owner in New Orleans could have predicted they’d be unable to operate for months, even years, after Hurricane Katrina turned the city and some of its suburbs into a ghost town in 2005..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times"
Date of publication:
2019-08-26
Date of entry/update:
2019-08-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"Myanmar’s natural assets
– including its forests, soils
and coastal waters and the
biodiversity they embody –
makes up its natural capital,
providing critical benefits
to the Myanmar people,
helping to protect them
against natural hazards and
ensuring reliable sources
of clean water for drinking and irrigation
as well as opportunities for ecotourism.
Myanmar’s natural capital is also the
source of other tangible and intangible
benefits that support human well-being
and underpin economic development. To
secure those benefits, we need to understand which areas and ecosystems best
serve the people and infrastructure dependent upon them, as well as how these
benefits can be protected or enhanced in
the face of climate change.
The assessment presented in this report
shows where and how Myanmar’s natural
capital contributes to clean and reliable
drinking water sources, reduced risks
from floods inland and storms along the
coasts, and to maintaining the functioning of reservoirs and dams by preventing erosion. The results highlight areas
that provide high levels of ecosystem
services, where natural capital provides
the greatest benefits to people and infrastructure. This initial assessment has focused on identifying important ecosystem
service provisioning areas that benefit the
greatest number of people at a national
scale, emphasizing benefits to cities and
other large population centres. Benefits
to rural populations and to vulnerable
subgroups are critical as well, and they
should be considered in greater detail as
a next step.
In addition, many of these areas important for ecosystem services provision
coincide with areas important for biodiversity conservation. The effective management of these areas of synergy can help
guarantee benefits to Myanmar’s people,
infrastructure and wildlife not just now,
but for decades to come.
Securing natural capital is especially
important in the face of climate change. As rainfall becomes increasingly
variable and extreme events like heavy
storms and droughts more frequent and
intense, the role of forests in protecting
rivers and streams from sediment will
become more central in maintaining the
quality of drinking water and improving
the functioning of reservoirs and dams.
The value of other ecosystem services
will also become more apparent. Importantly, although climate change might
make these services more valuable, the
locations of hotspots areas important
for ecosystem service provision are not
expected to change over the next several
decades for the services assessed here, so
that protecting these areas would provide
long-term benefits. While conservation
of existing natural capital alone cannot
eliminate the impacts of climate change,
protecting and enhancing natural capital
benefits is a critical component of climate
change adaptation.
Incorporating natural capital information
into planning and development processes
can ensure that its benefits are put to
work in the service of the people and for
the prosperity of the economy. Natural
capital assessments can support planning and development across and within
key sectors, including energy, transport,
agriculture, and health, while strengthening climate resilience and promoting
adaptation planning. The natural capital
assessment provided here can support
development and management decisions
that launch Myanmar on a more sustainable and inclusive path toward economic
development..."
Source/publisher:
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Date of publication:
2016-06-03
Date of entry/update:
2019-07-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
The forests of Burma/Myanmar - general, Biodiversity - Burma/Myanmar-related, Climate Change - Migration Burma/Myanmar, Sustainable/alternative development in and for Burma, Climate change and the Myanmar economy
Language:
Format :
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Size:
3.56 MB
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Description:
"This policy brief looks into climate risks to three
selected industries (agribusinesses, garment
industries, building businesses) in order to illustrate
potential impacts on and key vulnerabilities of
businesses in Myanmar, dominated by small and
medium enterprises.
Businesses and industries in Myanmar are already
facing enormous losses and damages associated
with climate change. In future, climate change will
likely cause huge production losses and physical
damages to farmers, agro-processing firms, retailers
and other agribusinesses. The garment industry will
face unreliable electricity supply, disruptions in all
transport modes, physical damages to assets, and
declining health and well-being of migrant workers.
Building industries and businesses will be challenged
by more frequent disruption of operations, as well
as losses associated with long-term consequences
of climate change on supply of materials, health of
workers, quality of construction works and market
demand.
•
To enhance the resilience of businesses and
industries, Myanmar should: enforce environmental
laws, regulations and safety standards legislation;
mainstream climate change considerations into
sectoral policies, labour health and safety standards,
and social protection programmes; and develop
tailored information services, stimulate research,
raise awareness, support capacity-building of
businesses, and improve early warning systems.
Public institutions should work with the private
sector to safeguard a resilient future of the nation and
communities, including by engaging private sector
actors in adaptation planning and implementation,
and promoting public-private partnerships..."
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Climate Change Alliance
Date of publication:
2017-12-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-01-17
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
515.97 KB
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