Preparing for Myanmar's environment-friendly reform

Abstract

Abstract Recently, President U. Thein Sein of Myanmar addressed a “second wave of reforms”. Myanmar is opening up to the outside world after decades of seclusion. It is a resource-rich country, remaining a strong attraction to capitals around the world. Now, Myanmar's first priority is to pay close attention to social and economic development. But it is also a global biodiversity hotspot. Myanmar's local environment, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development are encountering many threats, such as construction of large dams, large-scale gas and oil extraction, illegal wildlife trade, and deforestation. How to develop economy and at the same time suppress the environmental degradation especially preserve imperiled biodiversity will be a major challenge to Myanmar. This article attempts to answer this question according to actionable policies and measures mentioned in the context. Preparing for Myanmar's environment-friendly reform, Myanmar should improve its own economic capabilities, make scientific policies and improve management capacity in the first place. To make the on-going reform environment-friendly and stable, Myanmar also need aid package from the international community. Infrastructure construction should consider environmental issues, and industrial policies should aim at environment-friendly direction. It is quite necessary for Myanmar to establish a ministerial level environment agency that specially deals with environment and development issues, and invest more funds to carry out and enforce their environmental policies. In addition, the establishment of a special research center, think tank, and training facility within the country can be of great help in dealing with Myanmar's environmental issues. A series of policies and plans drafted in the early times for a system of protected areas could be revived and systematically implemented with effectiveness by means of more administrative support and enough human resources and budget allocation being provided.