Climate change adaptation project kicks off in Myanmar's dry zone

A press release from the UNDP: More than a quarter of a million people in Myanmar will benefit from a project that will equip farmers with timely resources, knowledge and tools and enable them to have good harvests despite changing weather patterns, says  the UN Development Programme’s  Nicholas Rosellini.

The USD$7.9 million, four-year project, “Addressing Climate Change Risk on Water Resources and Food Security in the Dry Zone of Myanmar,” was launched in Mandalay today by the Chief Minister of the Mandalay Region, H.E U Ye Myint and the Union Minister for Environmental Conservation and Forestry, H. E U Win Tun, the UNDP Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Nicholas Rosellini.

The project will be conducted in central, lowland Myanmar. Over the past 150 years, environmental degradation, compounded by global warming, has transformed this land into one of the most climate-sensitive and resource-depleted regions in Myanmar, now known as the Dry Zone. The Dry Zone is home to 34% of the country’s total population. Water scarcity, resulting from longer and more severe droughts is the biggest threat to livelihood here. A majority of the households spend most of their time and effort fetching water for drinking and other uses, depriving them of income generating opportunities.

Through the project, small scale water management infrastructure such as canals, community ponds, and water pumps and tube wells will be put in place to ensure a continuous supply of freshwater during the dry season in 280 villages. Five thousand hectares of watershed area will be rehabilitated to improve erosion control. The project also aims to provide timely and accurate climate risk information that would enable farmers to better plan crop planting during the dry season....

Jump-starting development In Myanmar before aging of population

Scoop (New Zealand): Myanmar faces a crucial few years to come to ignite economic growth and embark on a higher, more sustainable and more equitable development trajectory. The challenge is even more important as the country’s population will start ageing in 2017, says the Multi-dimensional Review of Myanmar: Initial Assessment which was launched by the OECD and UNESCAP in Yangon today at an event supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

“Myanmar is at a crossroad: it has to capitalise on its numerous assets and seize the momentum for development. The demographic dividend needs to be reaped now and the potential of the economy lifted by productivity-enhancing reforms ", said OECD Development Centre Director Mario Pezzini. “Otherwise, Myanmar risks getting old before the incomes and living standards of its people can significantly improve.”, added M Pezzini.

Recent economic growth in Myanmar has been relatively low for its level of income. The OECD’s medium-term growth forecasts indicate that without structural change the economy can grow at an average of 6.3% over 2013-17, somewhat below the government’s 7.7% target for 2013-2015.

The report finds that Myanmar needs to build up institutional and social capital, as these are the key constraints preventing the country from reaping the benefits of its abundant natural resources, relatively well-trained labour force, favourable geographic location and rich cultural heritage. These assets could form the foundation of a multi-pronged development strategy. Improved institutional capital – the legal and regulatory frameworks as well as the country’s institutions and bodies – will be vital if the country is to meet its development targets....

After Cyclone Mahasen, Myanmar camps face monsoon threat

The Times of India via AFP: Myanmar's victims of sectarian strife were spared the full force of Cyclone Mahasen, but many are now returning to flimsy tents in flood-prone camps with the monsoon just weeks away.

Myanmar's Rakhine state is pockmarked with makeshift settlements for up to 140,000 people -- mainly Rohingya Muslims -- displaced by sectarian unrest last year that claimed about 200 lives and saw whole villages razed.

Many were evacuated last week ahead of Cyclone Mahasen, which later veered into neighbouring Bangladesh. But most have now returned, according to Kirsten Mildren of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"They are actually no better off than where they were last week before the storm," she said, adding the cyclone was simply a "dress rehearsal" for the rainy season -- set to hit in a few weeks.

Many of the camps consist of little more than ramshackle bivouacs of bamboo and tarpaulin flung up in soggy paddy fields.  Sanitation is a key concern. Rain last week left standing water in many of the camps and Mildren said water-born diseases such as cholera were a particular fear...

Cyclone Mahasen on May 13, 2013

Myanmar's fish farms suffer amid early heat wave

Myat Nyein Aye in the Myanmar Times:   Unseasonable early heat and freshwater parasites that thrive in hotter water temperatures are devastating fish farms throughout Myanmar, an official from the Myanmar Fish Farmer Association said. “Starting on February 9, the temperature shot up unexpectedly, so many farmers’ fish pools dried up and the fish died as a result of lack of oxygen. Also, deadly parasites tend to grow in fish farms when the temperature increases,” U Soe Tint, the Association’s vice chairman, told The Myanmar Times on February 21.

While fish farmers normally wait to harvest their fish until monsoon season from June until October, they are harvesting their fish now in fear that they will die from the heat or parasites.

The most common parasite affecting fish farms is dactylogyrus, a flatworm known to inhabit fish gills, the Association said. The parasite is temperature dependent: Hotter water temperatures increase the parasite’s life cycle from only a few days to five or six months. Anti-parasitic medicine can be bought from China or Thailand and costs about K250,000 (about US$290).

“Fish farmers who did not use medicine for parasites face higher losses. I used the medicine after suffering about K300,000 (about US$350) in losses when my fish died,” U Soe Tint said, who has a fish farm in Yangon Region’s Twantay township...

Meeting reviews Mekong projects

Vietnam News: Foreign ministers from Lower Mekong nations and the US convened for their fifth meeting yesterday in Phnom Penh to review the implementation of programmes on the environment, education, health and infrastructure.

This year's meeting saw the first presence of Myanmar as an official Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) partner nation, together with Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam. At the meeting, the ministers agreed to add a new pillar of agriculture and food security chaired by Myanmar, to establish the pillar "connectivity" on the basis of broadening the co-operation content in infrastructure, and strengthen co-operation with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) while broadening programmes on water.

The environment and water pillar, formerly known as the environment pillar, will be chaired by Viet Nam. The meeting agreed to strengthen co-ordination among LMI countries through a co-ordination network. They also decided to establish an LMI working group of experts and outstanding figures.

The ministers also ratified a LMI concept paper and a plan of action to implement the LMI during 2011-15, while releasing a statement on gender equality and female empowerment. A LMI working group for gender was also formed.

At the meeting, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced an LMI programme to 2020, pledging a US$50 million assistance package for LMI activities over the next three years, as well as committing $2 million for the fisheries programme and $1 million for a MRC research programme on the impacts of hydroelectric dams on the main flow of the Mekong River.

On the same day, the Friends of Lower Mekong (FLM) Ministerial Meeting also took place in Phnom Penh, bringing together foreign ministers and high-ranking officials from the LMI countries as well as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the European Union, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, among others....

The Mekong River in Laos, shot by Allie Caulfield, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Public submissions called for Myanmar's climate change draft report

Aye Sapay Phyu in the Myanmar Times: The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology is inviting public submissions on the first draft of a UN-backed climate change adaptation report, a spokesperson said earlier this month. The department began will accept submissions on the Preparation for National Adaptation Programs of Action (NAPA) on climate change until March 12, said project coordinator U Aung Win.

The draft report presents priority projects to address the need for adapting to the adverse effects of climate change in terms of agriculture, forestry, biodiversity, coastal zone, energy, transport, industry, public health and water resources. The proposed projects include reforestation, improved weather forecasting equipment and a reassessment of the country’s dams and reservoirs.

“The public review and suggestions on the draft will support the main theme of the project, which is to present the projects that need to be prioritised [for Myanmar] to adapt to climate change. This is the reason why we have invited the public to participate in reviewing the draft,” he said.

...“It also considered rural public assessments on climate change, variability, impacts and adaptation … collected in Nyaungshwe [in Shan State], Kyaukpadaung [in Mandalay Region] and Bogale [in Ayeyarwady Region] in July and August 2011, and national strategies on climate change,” he said....

The Irrawaddy River photographed from a commercial Bangkok-bound flight from Europe. The river flows slowly and reaches widely into the surrounding landscape. Shot by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

With development beckoning Myanmar, national water policy needed

Aye Sapay Phyu the Myanmar Times: A national water policy should be drafted before it is too late to sustain and develop the country’s water resources, a retired deputy director general of the Irrigation Department said last month.

“Myanmar has abundant water resources but it has plans to develop [its economy] and also the challenge of climate change. In this context, problems can happen with water resources so it is not too early to lay down a national water policy,” U Zaw Win said at a paper-reading session at the Myanmar Engineering Society on January 13.

He said expansion of agriculture, urban and industrial uses for land would place greater strain on water resources and possibly harm water quality. The largest consumer of water is the agriculture sector, with irrigated farmland increasing from 4.7 million acres (1.9 million hectares) in 2000-01 to 5.7 million acres (2.3 million hectares) at the end of the 2008-09 financial year.

Domestic and industrial water needs have also increased, while demand for hydropower generation is likely to grow in future. “Water is already a scarce resource but will become even scarcer in the future. Another important aspect is water quality. Improvements to existing strategies are needed to raise awareness of the importance of [conducting environmental impact assessments]. Development in urban areas also needs to be sustainable, and water plays an important role in that.”

U Zaw Win said planning and implementation of water-related projects involved a number of issues, such as environmental sustainability, dam safety, forest degradation and water quality deterioration....

Inle Lake in Myanmar, shot by Maurice Marcellin, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

More than 1,000 die in Southeast Asia floods

Terra Daily via AFP: At least one thousand people have died in massive floods across Southeast Asia in recent months, according to an AFP tally on Thursday, and millions of homes and livelihoods have been destroyed.

The death toll in Thailand -- grappling with its worst floods in half a century -- has reached 533, the government said, and the slowly advancing waters are now threatening the heart of Bangkok, a city of 12 million people.

In neighbouring Cambodia, the most severe floods in over a decade have killed 248 people, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest flood report.

Vietnam's government has reported at least 100 deaths, including many children, in southern and central parts of the country.

At least 106 people died in flash floods caused by heavy storms in central Myanmar in late October, a government official in the military-dominated country told AFP at the time, on condition of anonymity...

Experts see green shoots in Myanmar's disaster preparation efforts

Than Htike Oo in the Myanmar Times: Cyclones, droughts, earthquakes, fires that destroy forests and homes, floods, landslides, storm surges and tsunamis: All pose a threat to lives and property in Myanmar, international disaster assistance professionals say.

Myanmar’s vulnerability to natural disaster was brought into sharp relief by Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which killed at least 138,000 people and caused more than US$4 billion worth of damage. But since then, experts say, progress has been made in preparing for disasters that should help increase the level of protection provided.

Much of the threat is caused or compounded by climate change, to which Myanmar has contributed very little. But according to the Climate Change Vulnerability Index, released by the global risks advisory firm Maplecroft, Myanmar ranks 10th globally in terms of the countries most vulnerable to extreme weather-related events thought to be caused by climate change.

According to the Hazard Profile of Myanmar, a book compiled by the government, Myanmar Engineering Society (MES), Myanmar Geosciences Society (MGS), Myanmar Information Management Unit and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), fire is the most devastating disaster, accounting for 70 percent of annual destruction. Flooding comes second at 11pc, affecting two million people each year.

Mr Bishow Parajuli, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, told The Myanmar Times in a recent interview that Myanmar was better prepared for cyclones now that the government, the UN and NGOs were working together more closely on disaster risk reduction….

Changing climate hurts Myanmar

Aye Sapay Phyu and Sann Oo in the Myanmar Times: Myanmar has suffered more than almost any other country in the world from the harmful effects of climate change, according to a report issued as world leaders meet for the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

A survey issued by the NGO Germanwatch on December 8 placed Myanmar second on a list of countries badly affected by extreme weather events during the period 1990-2008. For the year 2008 alone, Myanmar featured in the top three worst-hit countries, together with Yemen and Vietnam, AFP reported. Bangladesh, Yemen, the Philippines and Honduras also suffered greatly during the period in question.

“While Vietnam and the Philippines are relatively regularly affected through storms and flooding, as can be seen in the Climate Risk Index editions 2006, 2007 and 2008, the high figures for Myanmar and Yemen are exceptional,” the report said.

The study takes into account a range of factors, including the total number of deaths from storms, floods and other weather extremes, deaths per 100,000, losses in absolute US dollar terms, and losses as a percentage of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

…Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar in May 2008, was the most devastating storm in the country’s history, causing the death of 85,000 people, with a further 54,000 people missing, the loss of K3.3547 trillion in the public sector and K8.3800 trillion in the private sector, according to official Myanmar government figures....

Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, hitting Myanmar. Shot by Mohd Nor Azmil Abdul Rahman, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License

Japan pledges over 500 billion yen in aid to Mekong states over 3 years

MCOT English News (from Thai News Agency): Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Friday that Japan will provide over 500 billion yen in official development assistance to five Mekong countries in Southeast Asia over the next three years. Hatoyama made the commitment at the first summit meeting involving the leaders of Japan and the five Mekong-region countries -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam -- that began in Tokyo the same day, a Japanese official said.

The two-day meeting through Saturday commenced against the backdrop of Japan's continuing aid efforts in the Mekong River region amid China's growing presence there. During the day's meeting, Hatoyama pledged to boost Japan's support for the Mekong countries to help the region's stability and development.

''The new government of Japan intends to proactively contribute more than ever to stability and development in the Mekong region through our strengthened assistance,'' Hatoyama said in his opening remarks. ''Japan will steadily play its role as a bridge for common prosperity in the future.'' Stability and development, he said, would help to narrow disparities within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to which the Mekong countries belong, and promote the regional bloc's integration.

''In that sense,'' the Japanese prime minister said, the Mekong countries form ''an important region that holds the key to realizing my vision of an East Asian community.'' The leaders of the Mekong countries thanked Japan for its commitment to the region's development, saying that greater cooperation between the countries would contribute to the successful establishment of an ASEAN Economic Community, which is planned to be set up by 2015….

Sunset on the Mekong River in Laos, shot by Gorgo, Wikimedia Commons

Cyclone in Myanmar kills at least 10,000

UPI: The death toll from the cyclone that slashed through Myanmar has soared to more than 10,000 people, the Southeast Asian nation's government said Monday. The government also said thousands more were injured and missing in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which slogged through Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta packing dangerous rains and winds of more than 130 miles per hour, Radio New Zealand reported Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win said the government would accept international assistance, and aid shipments were being prepared. The United Nations says Myanmar's military government agreed to allow U.N. aid agencies to operate in the country formerly known as Burma to help survivors. "The U.N. will begin preparing assistance now to be delivered and transported to Myanmar as quickly as possible," said Paul Risley of the World Food Program....

Map of Myanmar from the CIA World Factbook, Wikimedia Commons