01
2016
Myanmar’s rivers provide a critical source of water for navigation and irrigation as well as food production and livelihoods for millions of people. These rivers are also a big part of the country’s plans for development and reducing poverty by harnessing hydropower for electricity and also for generating taxes. Hydropower can be part of a sustainable energy future if designed and operated in a manner that avoids or minimizes impacts on people and their environment.
In the recent past, dams in Myanmar have been built with little or no understanding of how they will affect the river systems, environment and people’s livelihoods. Myanmar Institute for Integrated Development (MIID) recently supported a project that led to a report written by The Nature Conservancy, WWF and the University of Manchester called, “Improving Hydropower Outcomes through System-Scale Planning: An Example from Myanmar.” The research was funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).
To support this project, MIID served as the local partner, advising on Myanmar’s political and economic context, identifying sources of information on dams and rivers and building awareness of the research among key ministry personnel and parliamentarians. The group held stakeholder workshops, presenting the concepts and findings of the scientists, including the participation of five government ministries in Naypyidaw.
The report demonstrates a framework in which planning at the river-basin scale, rather than project-by-project, can help a government identify development pathways that have potential to deliver broader benefits to people and lower impacts on the environment. The report examines this planning approach for hydropower development on a sub-basin of the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar, the Myitnge River.
Read the report here.
Related projects: Healthy Rivers, Participatory River Management.