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2015
Three-year study to examine waterways
June 19, 2015 – A project to gather data on the country’s freshwater resources and the management of its river flows will take three years, workshop participants heard on June 16. U Bo Ni, director of the Watershed Management Division in the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Forestry, said the data collection would be carried out by local and foreign experts in collaboration with the ministry, concluding in 2018.
The initiative is part of the Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems in the Greater Mekong project and the data will be mainly collected along the Ayeyarwady and Thanlwin rivers.
The data will be used to hone the formation and implementation of a national policy on water resources management.
“We will develop a policy on water resources management and lay down procedures for carrying it out,” said U Bo Ni. The integrated management of all water resources in the country is the responsibility of the National Water Resources Committee, headed by Vice President U Nyan Tun.
Experts from the International Centre for Environmental Management, the International Centre for Water Resources Management, the Myanmar Institute for Integrated Development, and the Ecosystem Conservation and Community Development Initiative will collect the data, supported by funding from the Australian government.
“We don’t have a final figure for the budget, which will be calculated once the project details are finalised,” said U Bo Ni. “We are now conducting a basic needs survey that would help us to set policies and adopt laws and procedures that cover the whole country. The aim is to systematically manage freshwater resources in all the lakes and rivers across Myanmar.”
The Ayeyarwady River, the country’s main artery, is a global-level river that pumps more than 400 billion cubic metres a year through the country’s heartland, and is home to the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin.
The Thanlwin River, which flows down from China, supports a wide range of biodiversity, and is the second-longest river in Southeast Asia after the Mekong.
By Pyae Thet Phyo
Reference: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/15100-three-year-study-to-examine-waterways.html