Promoting locally inclusive wetlands conservation – experience from Myanmar

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) examines the state of wetland conservation in Myanmar, highlighting a significant loss of wetland area in the Upper Chindwin River basin. It argues that government-led initiatives have often been tokenistic and recommends a shift toward community-led management frameworks to ensure biodiversity targets and livelihood security.

• Between 2000 and 2020, the Upper Chindwin River basin experienced a 25% loss in wetland area, impacting a key biodiversity area.
• Myanmar's wetlands are degrading rapidly, with the country accounting for 12% of global coastal wetland loss and experiencing the highest annual decline (0.7%), including a loss of approximately 475 km2 of peatland between 1999 and 2019.
• As of 2020, wetlands in Myanmar covered over 80,000 km2, but the majority are human-made, with rice paddy fields making up 61% of the total extent; natural wetlands (both coastal and inland) account for only 37%.
• Government-led wetland management has been limited primarily to Ramsar sites—specifically Moeyungyi, Meinmahla Kyun, Indawgyi, and the Gulf of Mottama—and has often been tokenistic, lacking the decentralization of power and local decision-making authority necessary to prevent wetland area reduction.
• An SEI initiative in the Hkamti region of the Upper Chindwin basin demonstrated that community leadership and the establishment of village working committees can foster local ownership and sustainable resource management.
• The SEI project in the Upper Chindwin basin achieved success by providing capacity building for alternative livelihoods—such as organic farming, sustainable aquaculture, and pig farming—and establishing locally managed financial mechanisms to reduce direct dependence on wetlands.
• The authors recommend establishing a community-led wetlands management framework that integrates traditional knowledge into decision-making and aligns with national policies like the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) and the National Adaptation Plan (NAP).

APA

Saluja, R., Prasad, S., Maung, W., & Piman, T. (2025). Promoting locally inclusive wetlands conservation – experience from Myanmar. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/locally-inclusive-wetlands-myanmar-sei2025-028.pdf

Chicago

Saluja, Ridhi, Satish Prasad, Win Maung, and Thanapon Piman. Promoting locally inclusive wetlands conservation – experience from Myanmar. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2025. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/locally-inclusive-wetlands-myanmar-sei2025-028.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Saluja |first1=Ridhi |last2=Prasad |first2=Satish |last3=Maung |first3=Win |last4=Piman |first4=Thanapon |title=Promoting locally inclusive wetlands conservation – experience from Myanmar |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=May 2025 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/locally-inclusive-wetlands-myanmar-sei2025-028.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{saluja2025promoting, author = {Saluja, Ridhi and Prasad, Satish and Maung, Win and Piman, Thanapon}, title = {{Promoting locally inclusive wetlands conservation – experience from Myanmar}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2025}, month = may, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/locally-inclusive-wetlands-myanmar-sei2025-028.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }