This article is a feature article dedicated to World Wetlands Day 2019. We prefer to write about the wetlands in Yangon, additionally, which can be created into public spaces without losing its essence. Therefore, the interview talk from Raphael Monnier gave valuable input for showing the importanc...
Conserving biodiversity in the Chindwin River Basin in Myanmar
How is the issue of biodiversity conservation perceived in Myanmar in terms of economic development, livelihoods and policy? Where are the policy gaps? Source: sei.org Given Myanmar's rapid economic development in recent years, the Chindwin Basin faces unplanned and unmanaged changes occurrin...
Piloting river basin management in the Bago Sub-basin, experiences and recommendations
The aim of the IWRM project has been to pilot the development of a coordinated River Basin Management Plan. The report presents the procedures applied and the experiences gained as part of this pilot in the Bago River Sub-basin during the period2015 - 2018. The report explains the basic principles f...
Sprouting Mangroves Restore Hopes in Coastal Myanmar
SHWE THAUNG YAN, Myanmar, Jan 4 2019 (IPS) - Htay Aung is having a moment. The 63-year-old retired professor of Marine Science sits at the foot of a Buddha statue atop a hill on Shwe Thaung Yan sub township, in Myanmar's Ayeyerwady region, almost in meditation. Below him, a vast thicket of mangrove ...
Outcomes from the Greater Mekong Forum on Water, Food, and Energy
21 Dec 18 - Source: Australian Water Partnership - The Greater Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy was held in Yangon, Myanmar, on 4-6 December. The theme of this year's Forum was 'Economic Development and the Rivers of the Greater Mekong', focusing on ways in which economic, environmental and so...
Stockholm Environmental Institute’s partnership with key Myanmar water agency to boost environmental research
SEI's partnership with Myanmar's Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems (DWIR) and Myanmar Environment Institute (MEI) will strengthen research, capacity building and policy linkages on critical environmental issues in Myanmar. SEI has signed an agreement with Myanmar's Dir...
Neglecting Myanmar’s biodiversity means cost and conflict for businesses
23 Nov 18 - Source: Myanmar TImes - Myanmar's private sector needs to identify the impact of their businesses on biodiversity and ecosystems early on to avoid cost and conflict, a recent report states. Yangon-based Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) recently published a briefing pap...
Some 89 river terns researched in 2018
03 May 18 - Some 89 river terns, one of the endangered species, were researched in 2018. According to the IUCN Red List, some 101 river terns and 29 nests were recorded in 2017 along Chindwin River and Ayeyawady River. In 2018, the number of river terns increased remarkably. Some 89 river terns, 23...
Conservationists sound alarm over pollution, abuse of wetlands
Source: The Myanmar Times Date: 23 February 2018 Conservationists have expressed grave concern over the deterioration of the country's wetlands mainly due to pollution, converting them to farmland and climate change. Daw Thiri Dae We Aung, programme manager of the Biodiversity and Nature Conservati...
Volunteers clean Botahtaung Jetty to protect river ecosystem
Source: The Myanmar Times Date: 26 February 2018 The Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) led a clean-up of Botahtaung Jetty on Friday to protect the Yangon River ecosystem. The primary aim of the project was to create public awareness about river sustainability as Yangon port and rivers become...
The Value of the Ayeyarwady River: Update on WWF ‘River in the Economy’ Project.
Photo- @WWFMyanmar (Twitter) Introduction Recently, I met Hannah Baleta from WWF Myanmar. She kindly explained about her work in Myanmar, in particular the current project, 'River in the Economy' along the length of the Ayeyarwady River. Hannah has readily built up her local knowledge and exp...
Drones to aid mangrove rehabilitation
Source: The Myanmar Times Date: 8 February, 2018 Worldview International Foundation is testing a project aimed at speeding up the rehabilitation of mangrove forests in Yangon Region using drones to replant the shrubs, which only thrive on saline or brackish water along coasts, a senior executive of...
Wetlands status sought for all of Mottama
Source: The Myanmar Times Date: 9 February, 2018 One year after part of the Mottama Gulf was declared a wetland site of international importance under UNESCO's Ramsar Convention, the Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA) is trying to get the entire gulf included under the designa...
Forest Department plans to regenerate 200 acres of mangrove wetlands
Source: The Myanmar Times Date: 19 January, 2018 The Forest Department is planning to revive 200 acres of depleted mangrove forests over 1500 acres of abandoned prawn-breeding wetlands in the Ayeyarwady Delta region, said Forest Department Director Nyi Nyi Kyaw. The project, called Integrated Planni...
Pyu Lake residents seek to protect their natural treasure
11 Dec 18 - Source: Myanmar Times - U Kan Oo was roused from his sleep in the early morning of December by what at first sounded like a loud cries coming from his roof. But a few seconds after he gathered his bearings, he realised that it was that season of the year again when birds escaping t...