FAO in Myanmar

Green Ecology in Myanmar: Efforts to Mitigate the Threat of Climate Change

29/08/2019

Climate change is a global challenge and its impacts are reducing the capacity of natural resources. Myanmar is highly vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather conditions ranking among the top three countries most affected by weather related events. This has significant negative impact on agricultural production which potentially leads to food insecurity. In this context, under the umbrella of Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan, the Government of Myanmar is prioritizing Climate Change Resilience as well as the Land Governance and sustainable management of resource-based industries.

Realizing the global and national challenges, FAO sets Climate Change Resilience and Sustainable Natural Resource Management as top priorities in FAO Myanmar Country Programming Framework. FAO has been working closely with the Government of Myanmar in mitigating the looming threats of climate change and in promoting risk sensitive development within agriculture.

Funded by Global Environment Facility, the “Sustainable Cropland and Forest Management in Priority Agro-Ecosystems of Myanmar” project has been implemented by FAO since 2016 in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MoALI) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MoNREC). Through this project, FAO is contributing in building the capacity of farming and forestry stakeholders to mitigate climate change and improve land condition by adopting Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and Sustainable Land Management (SLM) policies and practices.

With this regard, the project has supported the establishment and operationalization of a National CSA Center at Yezin Agriculture University. The CSA Center acts as a knowledge repository and catalyst as well as the focal point to coordinate the development, monitoring and promotion of CSA knowledge/best practices.

As part of CSA Center activities, a national-level workshop on “Green Ecology in Myanmar” was jointly organized by YAU and FAO in Nay Pyi Taw on 29 August 2019. More than 170 participants representing officials from MoALI and MoNREC, donors, development partners, FAO and other stakeholder organizations attended the workshop. Dr Aung Thu, H.E. Union Minister of MoALI, FAO Representative in Myanmar and the Rector of YAU made opening remarks highlighting impact of climate change globally and in Myanmar, efforts made so far to mitigate the impacts of climate change and the objectives and importance of the workshop. A total of 14 papers related to CSA/SLM/SFM concepts, water-saving and irrigation techniques, agroforestry and agroecology were presented and the participants discussed the opportunities, challenges and way forward related to these techniques/approaches in Myanmar context.