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Description: "Context, crisis, impacts and needs The people of Myanmar continue to pay a high price for two years of political instability, sparked by the 1 February 2021 military takeover of the democratically elected National League For Democracy (NLD) Government. The takeover unleashed an unprecedented political, socioeconomic, and humanitarian crisis on top of the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, sending the country into a dangerous spiral of conflict and poverty. The political situation has prompted an escalation in fighting across the country, characterized by violations of iInternational Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL), including aerial bombardment, burning of homes, and other indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas by the military, as well as use of land mines and other explosive ordnance (EO), and recruitment of minors by multiple armed actors. This has resulted in significant displacement, human suffering, asset depletion, rising food insecurity and reversal of many of the development gains made in recent years. Almost half the country is estimated to be living in poverty as a result of both the political situation and legacy impacts from the pandemic. The spate of violence, including attacks and clashes, across Myanmar throughout 2022 had a severe impact on the physical and mental well-being of millions of people. Displacement surged to record levels in 2022. Nearly 1.2 million people have fled their homes since 1 February 2021, bringing the total number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Myanmar to a staggering 1.5 million as of 26 December 2022, with no signs that displacement is slowing down heading into 2023. On top of this, the rapid depreciation of the Myanmar Kyat, inflation, movement restrictions and active fighting are causing a reduction in food production and are pushing the price of food beyond the reach of many families. Despite the immense needs and commitment of international and national organizations, humanitarian assistance and access to affected people remained heavily restricted in 2022, essentially increasing reliance on local networks of responders in conflict areas. Administrative barriers for travelauthorizations (TAs), incidents of detention and arrest of humanitarian actors, intimidation and harassment, and frequent security checkpoints all constrained humanitarian access to people in need in 2022. Restrictions on telecommunications and internet networks further hindered timely and safe humanitarian access and assistance to people in need. Evolution of needs 2022-2023 With no respite from conflict or political and economic turbulence in sight, 2023 will be another year of dire struggle for the people of Myanmar. A total of 17.6 million people are expected to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2023, up from 14.4 million last year and 1 million people before the military takeover. A third of those in need are children. 2023 is expected to witness continued political instability, ongoing or escalating armed conflict, persistent displacement, slow or stagnant economic growth, as well as continued interruptions and poor access to basic services. Continued or increased intensity and frequency of armed conflict will result in more communities being displaced: an additional 1.4 million people are projected to flee their homes in 2023, taking the total displaced population to 2.7 million. Protection risks, especially in hard-to-reach conflict areas, are expected to continue, including increased EO threats, forced recruitment, human trafficking, and human rights violations. Agricultural disruptions due to conflict and displacement, EO-contaminated land, and high input prices will have a serious impact on the national economy and food availability in the country. The number of people experiencing food insecurity will rise to 15.2 million people in 2023, up from 13.2 million in 2022. Scope of analysis Given the dramatic deterioration in the situation over the course of 2021 and 2022, the anticipated depth of needs in new areas, and the overall deterioration of the food security and livelihoods situation country- wide, the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) has continued using the broader, national analysis of the humanitarian situation and needs in Myanmar in2023. The 2023 numbers reflect the unprecedented scale and humanitarian consequences of the current crisis, especially for women and children and other vulnerable groups. The methodology and scope of analysis frame the situation in Myanmar as a whole- of-country, complex and multi-dimensional crisis, where there are grave protection concerns and risks, and food insecurity is deepening, requiring scaled-up humanitarian, nexus and development interventions to stop people slipping into more severe need, including acute malnutrition. Population groups The HCT will continue to deploy a vulnerability-sensitive approach in 2023 covering displaced, returned, stateless and crisis-affected people where they have humanitarian needs. The approach covers those who are more directly “shock-affected,” such as displaced populations, returned, resettled, or integrated IDPs, and non-displaced stateless people. A broader group of “other crisis-affected people with humanitarian needs” includes those affected by natural disasters; IDP host communities; people living in high conflict areas with restricted access to basic services to support their own survival; people with severe protection needs (employing negative coping mechanisms; victims of trafficking, exploitation and the most vulnerable migrants with humanitarian needs; EO victims; people with multiple vulnerabilities); non-displaced people in moderate or severe food insecurity or those who are facing malnutrition, people affected by other severe shocks who are unable to support their own survival. In a bid to more accurately reflect and plan for the scale of displacement and IDP needs, the HCT has projected likely displacement through until the end of 2023. While actual displacement as of 26 December 2022 stands at 1.5 million, the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) has anticipated that displacement will continue to grow at a similar rate as 2022 during 2023, meaning there would be 2.7 million people displaced and in need by year’s end. The Needs Monitoring and Analysis Working Group (NMA WG) used a combination of data to develop this common displacement planning figure including looking at movement trends, 2023 scenarios and assumptions,expert opinion, and a severity scale analysis on displacement drivers, trends, and the presence of armed groups. A similar planning figure has been projected for returns (512,000 people) and for those likely to need humanitarian assistance as a result of natural disasters in 2023 (50,000 people). This disaster impact figure was developed based on an analysis of historical trends which vary significantly from year-to- year, despite Myanmar being one of the most disaster- prone countries in the world. This HNO applies protection, gender, age, disability, mental health, and accountability lenses to its analysis with sex and age disaggregated data used throughout, where it is available. Humanitarian conditions, severity, and people in need The number of people estimated to have humanitarian needs was calculated using the globally-endorsed Joint Intersectoral Analysis Framework (JIAF) approach, which looks holistically at the needs facing people in Myanmar and measures the severity of these needs. This severity analysis shows that the spread of the crisis is such that the entire population of 56 million people is now facing some level of need. Two thirds (67 per cent) are in stress, a quarter (23 per cent) are in severe need and almost one tenth (8 per cent) are facing extreme needs. In 2023, a much higher proportion of the population has been identified as being in these more serious needs categories compared to 2022, which is the result of the cumulative impact of expanding conflict, economic instability, negative coping strategies and unmet needs since the military takeover. Two nationwide datasets were available and heavily relied on to inform this evidence-based analysis, providing a higher level of confidence in results than 2022 due to improved ability to verify and triangulate data. The first was a Multi-Sector Needs Analysis (MSNA) conducted across Myanmar for the first time using a hybrid approach with in person and remote data collection. The second was the latest round fo the joint Food Security and Livelihood Assessment by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), conducted between August and September 2022 in 14 regions and states. Together, these nationwide datasets were used to determine the severity of need and intersectoral vulnerability calculations, as well as forming the basis for much of the sectoral needs analyses. The Food Security and Livelihood Assessment, conducted in 2021 and also in April 2022, allows for comparisons of the food security situation over time, while the MSNA allows for a multi-sectoral understanding of needs across population groups..."
Source/publisher: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (New York) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
2023-01-15
Date of entry/update: 2023-01-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 6.74 MB (Original version) - 119 pages
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Description: "Land governance has become attached to environmental agendas in a number of ways. The best recognised of these is the cordoning off of forest land for conservation in national parks and other protected areas. In many parts of the Mekong Region, this has become an issue where conservation zones have been declared in areas previously settled, criminalising the largely ethnic minority farmers who find themselves living in such areas. More recently, "green grabbing" has become an issue as environmentally-inspired programs such as REDD+ assign recoverable value in forest carbon and hence give new incentives to acquire rights to forest land that is part of the livelihood domain of smallholders. Other environment-related issues include the pressures places on lowlands - especially delta areas - by climate change, the damage done to soils by industrial agriculture, and the environmental externalities of modern practices that impact on nearby smallholders.....Key trends and dynamics: Environmental protections in the Mekong region are frequently threatened by commodity markets. Most directly, an interest in timber products can lead to illegal deforestation, such as in a multimillion dollar smuggling industry in luxury rosewood to China (Environmental Investigation Agency 2014; Global Witness 2015; Singh 2013), and wood from around Indochina that is processed in 2 Vietnam to feed demand for cheap furniture in Europe and the US (Environmental Investigation Agency 2011; Environmental Investigation Agency and Telepak 2008). Commodification and associated crop booms place more indirect pressure on forests, such as in the expansion of rubber in the 2000s due to high prices, and the rise of tissue-culture banana in northern Myanmar since 2015 (Hayward et al. 2020). For example, in Lao PDR an estimated 14.43% of natural forest was converted to plantation forest between 2010-2017 (Wang et al. 2019). In Cambodia, nearly half of the concessions given out from 2000-2012 were forested in 2000, and there have been higher rates of deforestation within concession areas than in other areas (Davis et al. 2015). Some ELCs encroach into protected forest areas and wildlife sanctuaries (Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association 2014). In Thailand, Zheng et al. (Zeng, Gower, and Wood 2018) identify forest loss in the northern province of Nan due to increases in maize production. There are other knock-on effects from timber extraction. The combination of deforestation and intensified agriculture, particularly monocropping, contributes to soil and landscape degradation (Lestrelin 2010). The shift to industrialised farming stresses freshwater ecosystems, threatening their ability to provide for agriculture and food security (Johnston et al. 2010; Thomas et al. 2012). A further linkage ties deforestation with concerns over the impacts of climate change. In particular, the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters impact upon farmer strategies. An example is found in the aftermath of the 2011 floods in Thailand, and the resulting shift in crop choices (Panichvejsunti et al. 2018). Environmental disasters can also create new precarities in land tenure. Following the 2004 tsunami, there has been significant dispossession of land for indigenous communities in the south of Thailand (Neef et al. 2018). The industrialised use of water in the region is having a profound impact upon supported ecosystems, including communities living in proximity to water sources or courses. Nowhere is this more apparent to see than in the plight of the Mekong, no longer a free-flowing but a humanmanaged river due to the extensive number of hydropower projects interrupting its route from China to Vietnam, with plans afoot for numerous further projects. Each venture has considerable environmental costs, both individually and cumulatively, with communities forcibly displaced to make way for new dams. A further threat to water provisions sees large-scale infrastructure projects on wetlands surrounding cities that provide a vital filtering service to waste-water. Contentious examples are the construction of Suvarnabhumi International Airport on the Cobra Swamp on the outskirts of Bangkok, and projects on That Luang Marsh in Vientiane. Meanwhile, a number of lakes in and around Phnom Penh have been filled in to create land for commercial developments. In the context of urbanisation processes, a lack of coordinated land use planning is creating a platform for precarity against environment disasters. Beringer and Kaewsuk (Beringer and Kaewsuk 2018) show how infrastructure development is increasing the risk of flooding risks in Khon Kaen city, northern Thailand. Climate-change mitigation policies in Myanmar, combined with resource investment through concessions and other large-scale land acquisitions, are creating overlapping disputes on land. In Myanmar, this exacerbates rather than alleviates tensions within the peace process (Woods 2015). Work and Thuon (Work and Thuon 2017) note how in Prey Lang, Cambodia, industrial tree plantations qualify as forest restoration, and local communities are unable to access areas of land around ELCs that have been mapped as protection zones. A key strategy to identify and address drivers of deforestation and degradation, and incorporate them into climate change mitigation, has been the UN-backed REDD program in its various iterations (Broadhead and Izquierdo 2010). There are concerns that REDD projects are re-centralising forest management as opposed to promoting decentralised governance that can more easily strengthen local resource tenure security (Baird 2014). Claims on forest carbon are reorienting power relations and property rights in forest areas, potentially creating new fields for dispute (Mahanty et al. 2013). Such programs are also seen to justify and help promote commercial farming. For example, the promotion of rubber plantations by the Vietnamese government is aligned with REDD+ and Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) programmes (To Xuan Phuc and Tran Huu Nghi 2014b). However, Work (Work 2015) shows how REDD carbon-capture programs in Cambodia are being restricted due to a monopoly on the timber trade by domestic elites. Rather than compound tenure issues, there is evidence that for REDD schemes to be successful, they first need to directly address potential areas of dispute, otherwise deforestation may continue. Bourgoin and Castella (Bourgoin and Castella 2011) provide an example of such a process in the use of participatory land use planning as part of a REDD project in northern Lao PDR. Approaching the topic from a different angle, the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) recognise that strong support for the tenure of vulnerable and marginalised people can also help protect them from the impacts of climate change, including climate-induced displacement (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2012)..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Mekong Land Research Forum
2021-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " Scientists have found what is believed to be three new species of amphibians and five new species of plants in a China-Myanmar joint biodiversity survey. Fourteen researchers collected more than 3,300 specimens of plants and animals in the field survey in the Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary in the Sagaing Region of northern Myanmar between November and December last year, the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said Wednesday. China and Myanmar have jointly conducted nine field biodiversity surveys in northern Myanmar since 2014..."
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
2020-01-01
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-02
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Description: "Just last month leopards were declared extinct in Laos. They have disappeared from Vietnam and are likely to go extinct in Cambodia. Tigers also have vanished from Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Other cat species are not faring much better, falling victim to poachers’ snares and developers’ roads, often ending up in illegal wildlife trade markets in the notorious Golden Triangle where Laos, Thailand and Myanmar meet. However, within the Greater Mekong Region, there is one area that is something of a haven for cat species – a landscape the size of Cambodia straddling Thailand and Myanmar with a name that is something of a mouthful – Dawna Tenasserim. Here in the mountains and jungles of a not widely known landscape, one-fifth of the world’s cat species are hanging on while the world outside (and inside at times) does everything it can to ensure their demise. Some of the stars of this show are familiar, such as tigers and leopards, celebrated far and wide in poetry, literature and Disney films. The others are not so well known, such as Asiatic golden cats, marbled cats, clouded leopards, jungle cats and leopard cats. That’s seven of the 36 known cat species. And it’s quite possible that the highly elusive fishing cat lives in this landscape, bringing the number to eight..."
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Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-01-15
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Dredging, Biodiversity, Dams, Fishing, Golden Triangle, Mekong River, China
Topic: Dredging, Biodiversity, Dams, Fishing, Golden Triangle, Mekong River, China
Description: "97 kilometres of rocks in Thai waters stand between Beijing and dominance over the Mekong, a mighty river that feeds millions as it threads south from the Tibetan plateau through five countries before emptying into the South China Sea. China has long wanted to dredge the riverbed in northern Thailand to open passage for massive cargo ships – and potentially military vessels. Ultimately, a link could be carved from Yunnan province thousands of kilometres south through the Mekong countries – Myanmar, Lao, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. There, the river emerges into the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and the centrepiece of Beijing's trade and security strategy for its Asian neighbourhood. Under the tagline "Shared River, Shared Future" China insists it seeks only the sustainable development of the river and to split the spoils of a trade and energy boom with its Mekong neighbours and their market of 240 million people. But squeezed for value by the dams lacing China's portion of the river – and further downstream –the Mekong is already changing. Fish stocks have collapsed say Thai fisherman, and nutrient-rich land in the Vietnamese delta is sinking as the sediment flow shrinks..."
Source/publisher: "The ASEAN Post" (Malaysia)
2020-01-13
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-13
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Description: "A team of scientists from China and Myanmar recently finished a joint field biodiversity survey in northern Myanmar, making new discoveries including potentially six new plant species and three new amphibian species along with capturing rare footage of endangered wild animals. During the survey, the team comprising of researchers from the Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS-SEABRI) and the Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation of Myanmar, collected more than 3,300 specimens of plants and animals during the month-long project in the Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary in Myanmar's Sagaing Region. The team captured footage of Bengal tigers for the first time since the joint scientific endeavor began five years ago. The scientists also took pictures of large predators like black bears and sun bears, as well as large-and medium-sized mammals including Asian elephants, red deer, and Indian bisons..."
Source/publisher: "China Global Television Network (CGTN)" (China)
2020-01-04
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-05
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Description: "Environment ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are due to meet in Cambodia next week to discuss transboundary haze pollution and other environment-related issues, a Cambodian spokesman said on Saturday. They will gather at the 15th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment (15th AMME) and related meetings, scheduled for Oct. 7-10 in northwest Siem Reap province, said Environment Ministry Secretary of State and Spokesman Neth Pheaktra. "During the meeting, the ASEAN environment ministers will discuss a wide range of issues of regional cooperation on the environment including climate change, environmentally sustainable city, biodiversity conservation, coastal and marine environment, environmental education, water resource management, chemical and hazardous waste management, transboundary haze pollution control and eco-schools," he told Xinhua. The spokesman said the biennial meeting is expected to adopt three key documents - the draft ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change, the draft ASEAN Strategic Plan on the Environment, and the request to designate five national parks in Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam as ASEAN Heritage Parks..."
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
2019-10-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "People took to the street in Yangon on September 22 to participate in the Global Climate Strike Myanmar. The activity was led by youth organizations and students numbering about 200 or more people. They marched from new Bogyoke Market to Sule Pagoda, and then gathered outside Mahabandoola Park. Activists from Myanmar joined the movement since the global climate strike movement began on May 24. Strike for Climate Myanmar has made three basic demands. Firstly, they have urged the government to officially recognize emergency situations related to climate and to take the required action. Secondly, they have called for a stop to all projects that can harm the natural environment and climate as soon as possible. And, thirdly, they called for environmental justice for all in Myanmar society. Strike for Climate Myanmar says the situation of the natural environment is bad in developing countries like Myanmar, so they think they should urge relevant authorities to establish suitable policies for natural disaster management and to implement those policies, and that’s why they organized the activity..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" (Myanmar)
2019-09-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Last month, the number of wildfires in the Amazon tripled compared with the previous year. Wildfires are still burning in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, which is often referred to as the "green lungs" of the planet. The fires have prompted a warning from some scientists that escalating deforestation could eventually turn the rainforest into a dry savanna. Despite a ban on fires for land-clearing, the Amazon is burning at a rate not seen in almost a decade. Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman reports from Chapada dos Guimaraes in the state of Mato Grosso..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2019-09-21
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Asian elephants at the Yangon Zoological Garden in Yangon, Myanmar. The World Elephant Day is marked on Aug. 12 every year, to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants. An Asian elephant at the Yangon Zoological Garden in Yangon, Myanmar. The World Elephant Day is marked on Aug. 12 every year, to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.Tourists view an Asian elephant at the Yangon Zoological Garden in Yangon, Myanmar, Aug. 12, 2019, the World Elephant Day. The World Elephant Day is marked on Aug. 12 every year, to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.A girl feeds an Asian elephant at the Yangon Zoological Garden in Yangon, Myanmar, Aug. 12, 2019, the World Elephant Day. The World Elephant Day is marked on Aug. 12 every year, to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Global Times" via Xinhua
2019-08-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-15
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Topic: A major British government-backed initiative has helped over 70,000 people and protected hundreds of elephants in Myanmar, supporting local livelihoods, ecosystem function and the country’s rich biodiversity.
Topic: A major British government-backed initiative has helped over 70,000 people and protected hundreds of elephants in Myanmar, supporting local livelihoods, ecosystem function and the country’s rich biodiversity.
Description: "As a result of increased deforestation, wild Asian elephant numbers in Myanmar have dwindled from 10,000 in the 1960s to under an estimate of 2000 by 2004. Myanmar still has the largest tract of intact elephant habitat in Asia and could support a larger number of wild elephants than the current estimated population. With Myanmar’s human population projected to increase, elephants in the nature are being pressured for loss of habitat. A programme from Elephant Family, an NGO protecting Asian elephants from extinction, and partners aim to work by educating school children and also having a scheme to inform local communities about land management. Elephants are known as “keystone species” for their crucial role in the ecosystem to maintain the biodiversity in which they live. The Asian elephant’s habitat ranges across 13 countries in Asia, but it is an endangered species with less than 40,000 remaining worldwide, which is less than one-tenth of the African elephant population. According to government statistics, during the eight-year period from 2010 to 2018, a total of 227 elephants died across the country, of which 124 were killed by poachers..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2019-08-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar’s rainforests and at least nine globally-threatened species face significant risks in Tanintharyi Region if the Dawei-Htee Khee road project continues without a comprehensive biodiversity protection plan, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Description: "The WWF released a report, “Nature in Peril: The risk of forests and wildlife from the Dawei-Htee Khee road” on Thursday. Construction began on the 138-kilometre, two-lane Htee Khee road to link the Dawei Special Economic Zone with Thailand in 2018. It runs through the vast forests of the Dawna Tenasserim Landscape, which spans the mountains on the Thai-Myanmar border. The DTL is one of the most intact natural landscapes in the entire Greater Mekong region and a stronghold for tigers, elephants, and other endangered wildlife. This forest ecosystem provides freshwater for the area and is critical for mitigating climate change. It is home to 168 species of mammal, 568 species of bird, and thousands of reptile, amphibian, insect, fish and plant species, the WWF said. “The road would bring economic growth to Tanintharyi. However, we are not looking at the cost to forest and wildlife. Just as people need roads, nature needs wild highways allowing species to move,” said Nick Cox, conservation director of WWF-Myanmar. Needing wild highways is one of several issues ignored by the project, he added. Following the Dawei SEZ Memorandum of Intent signed by Myanmar, Thailand and Japan in 2015, Italian-Thailand Development (ITD) signed an agreement with the government to build the two-lane road. In May 2018, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation approved the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) with some comments. However, the assessment is inadequate in mitigating any impact on biodiversity because it fails to address key challenges, such as the loss of habitat connectivity for threatened species, and an increase in deforestation and illegal hunting, the WWF said. For example, the impact on forests and wildlife identified in the assessment include increases in vehicle pollution, vehicle-wildlife accidents, and deterioration of habitat, but it lacks a comprehensive assessment of the impact of increased traffic and vehicle speeds on wildlife..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Myanmar Times
2019-07-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: VOLUME 1: RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PEOPLE LIVING AND WORKING IN THE BASIN
Description: "The Ayeyarwady is at the heart of many activities in Myanmar. In each of its sub basins, a unique set of needs and risks is associated with the river. As part of the WWF-funded Ayeyarwady River in the Economy Project, a series of workshops were held in each of these sub basins (upper, Chindwin, middle, lower and delta) to identify the goods and services provided by the river, but also to identify how these demands are putting the river at risk, and ultimately the sectors themselves, which depend on a healthy Ayeyarwady. 30 participants attended each workshop. They represented a diversity of backgrounds; academia, government, private sector and civil society. They identified the goods and services provided to their sub basins that depend on their stretch of river. These include provisioning services such as water for irrIgation, regulating services such as flood recession ponds for fish spawning, supporting services such as safe habitats for biodiversity, and cultural services for tourism, as well as spiritual sites along the basin. They were also asked to identify how these sectors providing goods and services are impacting upon the river system, creating risks for the stretch of river in their region. The top risks identified in each sub-basin are shown in the following figure. These include flooding, mining, bank erosion, pollution, sedimentation, navigation challenges, river morphology changes, and fish species degradation. In addition to the individual risks identified within each localized sub-basin, there are also interlinked risks from up to downstream. For instance, increased mining or deforestation in the upper catchment may shift the sediment dynamics downstream, causing bank erosion or sedimentation. As the Ayeyarwady flows through the country, hydropower dams trap sediment and may reduce the valuable ecosystem services provided to flood recession agriculture in its lower stretches. Because of this sedimentation the river widens and becomes more shallow, causing significant challenges for boats navigating the waters. The use of pesticides and fertilizers upstream also causes pollution for those using the river downstream. These are just a few of the ways that risks are transported geographically throughout the entire river basin. It is of paramount importance that economic development plans taking place, especially in the upper reaches of the Ayeyarwady and its tributaries, take into account their impacts on the users downstream. This includes not only water availability and quality, but also the timing of flows and sediment dynamics. For instance, the flooding risks identified by stakeholders in the lower basin may be due to a sediment deficit in the upper reaches. This in turn limits the flow of sediment to the delta, contributing to its sinking. The lack of sediment may be due to a number of factors including regulation of flows from dams, the trapping of actual sediment from dams or perhaps the extraction of sediment for the construction sector. Individually these impacts may be small, but cumulatively they may result in a vulnerable delta, the home of the majority of Myanmar’s population, infrastructure, and fish and rice production..."
Source/publisher: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
2018-05-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.97 MB
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Description: "2017 has been a year of considerable progress in the Dawna Tenasserim Landscape (DTL). This report highlights WWF’s successes on the Myanmar side of the landscape, and demonstrates how donor support is helping us to setup and develop projects that are and will continue to contribute to the overall goals for this vast and ecologically rich landscape. Across the board, WWF is working to show the significance of the DTL and to protect it. Biodiversity surveys have shown that key species including tiger and Asian elephant roam the DTL’s critical corridors, demonstrating to partners this landscape’s biodiversity values. Four Wildlife Protection Units (WPUs) have been established to enhance the protection of these animals and the areas in which they live. Together with partner organisations, a project collaboration has been established, leading to the development of a land use and management plan for the Tanintharyi Landscape Corridor which will secure its vital long-term protection. As funding for the landscape programme has also increased, WWF has now secured crucial support for the protection and effective management of the proposed Tanintharyi National Park. WWF’s signing of an MoU with the Karen National Union exemplifies the strong partnerships that are being developed in the DTL, and our growing credibility has enabled us to secure funding to begin rubber-focussed conservation work. The DTL is an inherently transboundary landscape, straddling the Myanmar-Thailand border. Critical corridors enable the free movement of key populations of terrestrial species. For example, where Thailand has lost its forested corridor connecting Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex (KKFC) to the Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM), connectivity between these two significant forested areas is preserved by the Tanintharyi Landscape Corridor on Myanmar’s side of the DTL. Species moving between the two forest complexes have no choice but to move back and forth over the border. This is a critical moment for progress in this spectacular landscape. Though we are at an early stage of engagement, funding has enabled us to embrace this key time frame, initiating and scaling up engagement whilst allowing us the flexibility to move on opportunities and deliver concrete support to local partners..."
Source/publisher: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
2018-08-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
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Description: "Biodiversity and linked natural resources and ecosystem services in Myanmar provide the foundation for human development and well-being. Ecosystem health equates to human health and productive economic sectors and livelihoods. Maintenance and enhancement of ecosystem health is a prerequisite for sustainable, resilience and acceptable hydropower development. This chapter provides a national overview of the status and trends in biodiversity, identifying some of the main themes and issues, and the drivers of change which are shaping ecosystem health and their capacity to maintain ecosystem services. A summary of baseline biodiversity in the eight main river basins1 in Myanmar is presented. Important spatial layers used to define and describe high priority biodiversity areas are ecoregions, Keys Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), Protected Areas (PAs) and biodiversity corridors. The chapter assesses the status of ecoregions that fall within each basin and the distribution of KBAs and PAs. Ecoregions, KBAs and PAs for each basin are analysed and mapped to describe the distribution of biodiversity areas by basin and for 58 sub-basins. Also, maps and plots are presented to visualize key trends in forest degradation over the past 15 years as a foundation indicator for trends in biodiversity health overall - ie in species, habitats and genetic resources. For each basin, a line plot of cumulative forest loss was derived using data from Hansen et al., (2013)2 , where forest loss was determined for open forest (greater than 10% and less than or equal to 40% canopy cover), medium-closed canopy cover (more than 40% and less than or equal to 80% canopy cover), and intact forest (greater than 80% canopy cover). Maps and tables are supplemented with descriptions of the biodiversity status of each basin, along with drivers of change. Each basin biodiversity profile highlights key PAs that fall within basin boundaries, as a way drilling down so that overall trends are illustrated through location specific case examples. While this chapter is intended as a baseline of terrestrial biodiversity for later assessment of planned hydropower projects, it provides a baseline to inform biodiversity conservation and development planning across all sectors. Hydropower development could play a very important role in supporting the Government of Myanmar implement the Aichi targets on biodiversity conservation. The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity Conservation, held in October 2010, in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, adopted a revised and updated Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, for the 2011-2020 period. As Myanmar is a party to the Convention, this Plan provides an overarching framework on biodiversity management as a foundation for sustainable development and livelihoods and for community and ecosystem wellbeing. At this outset of this baseline assessment chapter on biodiversity it is important to keep a number of the Aichi Biodiversity targets in mind as a framework for analysis and assessment throughout the SEA. Relevant targets include: • Target 5: By 2020, the rate of loss of all natural habitats, including forests, is at least halved and where feasible brought close to zero, and degradation and fragmentation is significantly reduced. • Target 6: By 2020 all fish and invertebrate stocks and aquatic plants are managed and harvested sustainably, legally and applying ecosystem based approaches, so that overfishing is avoided, recovery plans and measures are in place for all depleted species, fisheries have no significant adverse impacts on threatened species and vulnerable ecosystems and the impacts of fisheries on stocks, species and ecosystems are within safe ecological limits..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: World Bank
2019-06-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 4.03 MB
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Description: "I have often said that Myanmar is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change on the planet. Numerous natural disasters befall the country every year, which stand to be exacerbated by a warming planet. Myanmar’s infrastructure to deal with these impacts is extremely limited, leaving millions of lives and livelihoods exposed to serious danger. My visit to both Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon was to understand how we can support efforts in the current political environment. I discussed these issues with senior government representatives, including the State Counsellor, Aung Sang Suu Kyi and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Ohn Win. Business leaders and NGOs in Myanmar will play a critical role in tackling environmental issues, and so I also held talks with executives in Yangon and witnessed drone technology used by an NGO for mangrove replanting. Needless to say, the broader UN family is also hard at work across a number of priorities in Myanmar. I took the opportunity to be briefed by the UN country team on the current issues, and discussed how UN Environment can play a strategic role in building confidence in the UN with the Myanmar government and population..."
Creator/author: Erik Solheim
Source/publisher: United Nations Environment Programme
2018-02-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Our food and agricultural systems depend in countless ways on the plants, animals and micro-organisms that comprise and surround them. Biodiversity, at every level from genetic, through species to ecosystem, underpins the capacity of farmers, livestock keepers, forest dwellers, fishers and fish farmers to produce food and a range of other goods and services in a vast variety of different biophysical and socio-economic environments. It increases resilience to shocks and stresses, provides opportunities to adapt production systems to emerging challenges and is a key resource in efforts to increase output in a sustainable way. It is vital to efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. Over the last two decades, FAO has prepared country-driven global assessments of the genetic resources of crop plants, livestock and forest trees. An assessment covering aquatic genetic resources will shortly be published. What has been missing to date has been an assessment of how biodiversity as a whole contributes to food and agriculture, including “associated biodiversity”, the myriad components of biodiversity that support food and agricultural production by providing services such as pollination, pest control, soil formation and maintenance, carbon sequestration, purification and regulation of water supplies, reduction of disasters threats, and the provision of habitat for other beneficial species. The urgency of closing knowledge gaps in this field is underlined by the mounting evidence that the world’s biodiversity is under severe threat and by the ever-growing challenges facing food and agriculture, including particularly those related to the impacts of climate change. The publication of The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture is therefore a significant and timely milestone. Like all the global assessments prepared under the auspices of FAO’s Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, a key characteristic of this report is its country-driven nature. Ninety-one countries prepared and submitted reports on the state of their biodiversity for food and agriculture and its management, focusing particularly on associated biodiversity and its role in the supply of supporting and regulating ecosystem services and on wild species that are sources of food. The reporting process provided an opportunity for countries to identify needs and priorities in terms of promoting the sustainable use and conservation of these resources, both at national level and internationally. Parts of the global report make sombre reading. It is deeply concerning that in so many production systems in so many countries biodiversity for food and agriculture and the ecosystem services it provides are reported to be in decline. The foundations of our food systems are being undermined, often, at least in part, because of the impact of management practices and land-use changes associated with food and agriculture. It is also abundantly clear that the state of knowledge of many components of biodiversity, including in particular invertebrates and micro-organisms, is very inadequate and that this contributes to their neglect. The good news is that many management practices and approaches that rely on the maintenance of abundant and diverse biological communities, or that can otherwise be considered biodiversity friendly, are attracting growing interest and in many cases are becoming more widely adopted. The importance of biodiversity and its roles in the food and agriculture sector is increasingly being acknowledged in international policy agendas. This recognition needs to be translated into action. Key tasks include addressing the drivers of biodiversity loss within the food and agriculture sector and beyond, strengthening in situ and ex situ conservation measures, and increasing the uptake of management practices that promote the contributions of biodiversity to sustainable production. Coordinated and collaborative action on the part of the international community is essential. This report will make a valuable contribution to these efforts and to raising awareness of the vital importance of biodiversity to food and agriculture...."
Creator/author: José Graziano da Silva
Source/publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
2019-05-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-05-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 12.82 MB
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Description: "TODAY MYANMAR - Biodiversity Conservation in Ayeyarwaddy River Valley..."
Creator/author: Nanda Han, Swam Lin Maung, May Nwe Aeint, Zaw Min Aung
Source/publisher: mitv
2018-03-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-05-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
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Description: "The Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) works directly with producer organizations to help them become stronger, amplify their potential and connect with each other. Since 2012, FFF has worked in 10 countries to directly strengthen almost 1,000 groups that range in size from local coffee growers’ organizations to international alliances. Its work, which also involves governments, helps to promote sustainable development through management of farm land and forests that produce food, livelihoods, medicine, construction materials and energy. It also helps producer groups find new markets and strengthen their members’ business capabilities. FFF is a partnership between FAO, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and AgriCord..."
Source/publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
2018-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2019-04-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This publication gives a brief overview of the regional consultation facilitated by ICIMOD and the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry, Myanmar, to improve collaboration between China, India, and Myanmar in the Brahmaputra-Salween Landscape. The paper gives highlights of the consultation and technical sessions held in December in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, and lists past efforts made for regional collaboration in the Brahmaputra-Salween Landscape. It also gives a brief account of updates on the landscape from China, India, and Myanmar and a regional synthesis of the pre-feasibility assessments prepared by each country. More detailed highlights from the pre-feasibility studies, which describe the landscape, the importance of the initiative, and steps taken to adopt the transboundary approach to ecosystem management in the area, as well as the result of the consultation – a draft programme framework for transboundary collaboration in the area – are appended as annexes."..... Keywords: Climate change; Adaptations; Biodiversity; Nature conservation; Landscape; Land cover; Protected areas; Himalayas; Regional cooperation..... Subjects: Biodiversity; Climate change; Natural resource management; Adaptation; Conservation; Mountain people; Cultures
Source/publisher: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
2012-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2014-06-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 858.43 KB
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