Introduction: "This might refer to our relationship with the environment just as well as to that between a man and a woman. Our relationship with the environment requires careful attention for we must take care of it if we want it to reciprocate. Around the globe today, that relationship is being challenged. We are here in a wondrous and wonderful part of the world. This sketch of Asia?s major rivers flowing down from the Tibetan plateau illustrates just how central our location is, both geographically and in terms of the hundreds of millions of human lives and other biological phenomena impacted by the flow of these waters. The river of concern for me today is the Salween, in some locations called the Nu Jiang or the Thanlwin. Lately my focus has been on Myanmar (Burma) and its current struggles to emerge form a long period of difficult political and economic conditions. Many, dare I say all of us, desire to help this great country to achieve higher levels of prosperity and sustainable well-­being. One focal point for many has become the Salween..." .....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­25 July 2015