Water, Land and Ecosystems - Myanmar

Are landscape approaches possible under authoritarianism? multi-stakeholder governance and social transformation in Myanmar

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 12:11:28 +0000

TypeJournal Article

Subjects

Land Management

Languageen

Authors

Forsyth,T.
Springate-Baginski, O.

Landscape Approaches have been proposed as a transferable model of multi-stakeholder governance, yet assume conditions of ideal speech, trust, and transparency that seem untransferable to authoritarian regimes. This paper argues that building Landscape Approaches under authoritarian conditions cannot be based on a governance deficit model of awaiting idealized political conditions, but instead needs to pay attention to how local social and political structures influence what is deliberated, and by whom. The paper presents evidence from a multi stakeholder environmental intervention around Lake Indawgyi in Kachin State, Myanmar, to draw lessons for transferring Landscapes Approaches under conditions of political authoritarianism, sporadic violent conflict, and rapid socio-economic change. Using information gathered from village surveys and interviews with policy makers, the paper analyzes how multifunctionality, stakeholder engagement, and deliberation are achieved, and with whose influence. The paper argues that common principles of Landscapes Approaches need to acknowledge more how state-led agendas can influence agendas and participation in conservation; but also how the composition and interests of stakeholders are not fixed under socio-economic transformation. Focusing on local and contextual drivers of environmental change and political inequality are more useful for transferring Land scape Approaches to authoritarian regimes than adhering to optimistic principles, or testing associations between variables without reference to context. Indeed, the latter risks depoliticizing conflictual processes, and implicitly endorsing political inequalities. The 2021 military coup in Myanmar has added to these inequalities.

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Forsyth,T.; Springate-Baginski, O. 2021. Are landscape approaches possible under authoritarianism? multi-stakeholder governance and social transformation in Myanmar. Environmental science and policy. pp:124(2021)359-369

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Research Themes

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https://hdl.handle.net/10568/121011

Solutions

Landscape Restoration

Consumption patterns and diet gaps across regional Myanmar

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 12:40:10 +0000

TypeReport

Subjects

Agricultural production
Food systems

Languageen

Authors

Scott, J.M.
Mahrt, K.
Thilsted, S.H.

Transformation of Rural Landscapes for Sustainable and Nutritious Food Systems is a project that attempts to understand the geographic disparities in both diets and agricultural production systems in Myanmar. Its aim is to devise plausible approaches for environmentally sustainable nutrition-sensitive agriculture under existing conditions as well as possible climate-altered conditions in the future. The project analyzes secondary data at the state and regional level across Myanmar. This technical report presents the findings of a diet analysis based on the Integrated Household Living Conditions Assessment Survey (IHLCA) 2010. The aim of the nutrition component of the study is to understand current diet patterns in Myanmar to determine what makes up the typical local diet and identify what the diet gap is in each location.

Citation

Scott, J.M.; Mahrt, K.; Thilsted, S.H. 2021. Consumption patterns and diet gaps across regional Myanmar. Penang, Malaysia: WorldFish. Program Report: 2020-46 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12348/4835

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Open Access

Research Themes

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https://hdl.handle.net/10568/117259

Solutions

Productivity

Are water markets a viable proposition in the Lower Mekong Basin?

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 11:36:32 +0000

TypeBook Chapter

Languageen

Authors

Reardon-Smith, K.
McCartney, Matthew
Rebelo, Lisa-Maria

Water markets are a potential approach for reallocating and improving the efficiency of water use in river basins in which water resources are under stress as a consequence of demographic and economic pressures. However, establishing water markets is not easy and to be successful a wide range of context specific criteria, relating to the legal and institutional framework as well as political and economic conditions, must be met. We applied the Water Market Readiness Assessment framework proposed by Wheeler et al. (2017) to investigate whether adequate policy and governance arrangements were in place to enable water markets to effectively operate in the countries of the Lower Mekong River Basin. We identify a number of key gaps and conclude that more conventional regulatory approaches, along with integrated basin planning and management, will likely better serve the communities and environments of the region.

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Citation

Reardon-Smith, K.; McCartney, Matthew; Rebelo, Lisa-Maria. 2021. Are water markets a viable proposition in the Lower Mekong Basin? In Wheeler, S. A. (Ed.). Water markets: a global assessment. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. pp.91-111. [doi: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788976930.00015]

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https://hdl.handle.net/10568/115184

လက်စ ွဲစာအုပ် မြစ်ရေတင်စီြံကိန််းြျာ်းတ င် ရေအသံု်းချသူအသင််းြျာ်း ဖ ွဲွဲ့စည််းတည်ရ ာင်မခင််း မြန်ြာနိုင်ငံ

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 11:37:00 +0000

TypeManual

Authors

Silva, Sanjiv de
Schmitter, Petra S.
Thiha, Nyan
Suhardiman, Diana

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Citation

de Silva, Sanjiv; Schmitter, Petra; Thiha, Nyan; Suhardiman, Diana. 2021. A handbook for establishing water user associations in pump-based irrigation schemes in Myanmar. In Burmese. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 135p. (Also in English) [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2021.202]

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Open Access

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https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114245

Modeling seasonal water yield for landscape management: Applications in Peru and Myanmar

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 11:37:41 +0000

Regions

Latin America

TypeJournal Article

Languageen

Authors

Hamel, Perrine
Valencia, Jefferson
Schmitt, Rafael
Shrestha, Manish
Piman, Thanapon
Sharp, Richard P.
Francesconi, Wendy
Guswa, Andrew J.

Citation

Hamel, P.; Valencia, J.; Schmitt, R.; Shrestha, M.; Piman, T.; Sharp, RP.; Francesconi, W.; Guswa, AJ. (2020) Modeling seasonal water yield for landscape management: Applications in Peru and Myanmar. Journal of Environmental Management 270:110792 13 p. ISSN: 0301-4797

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Limited Access

Research Themes

Restoring Degraded Landscapes

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108444

Fish for whom?: Integrating the management of social complexities into technical investments for inclusive, multi-functional irrigation

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 11:37:09 +0000

TypeJournal Article

Languageen

Authors

Duncan, N.
Silva, Sanjiv de
Conallin, J.
Freed, S.
Akester, M.
Baumgartner, L.
McCartney, Matthew
Dubois, M.
Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali

Irrigation represents a long-standing water sector investment in South East Asia. However, despite the undeniable benefits of food production, an irrigation/rice-centric strategy is insufficient in a multi-dimensional conceptualisation of development. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) challenge us to re-think traditional ways of achieving food security. Central to this challenge is how we can retain multi-functionality within landscapes. We explore the often negatively correlated relationship between irrigation and inland fisheries through a literature review and interviews with key informants, focusing on examples from Myanmar and Cambodia. We found that whilst technical options exist for minimizing irrigation impacts on fisheries, there is a fundamental disconnect between the technical application of such ‘solutions’, and distribution of benefits to the marginal groups that SDGs 1, 2, 3 and more target. We found that insufficient recognition of the social contexts in which solutions are applied underpins this disconnect. This means that technical infrastructure design needs to be organised around the question, ‘Who do we want to benefit?’, if investments are to go beyond rice/fish production and deliver more on socially inclusive food security and livelihood opportunities. This paper is a call to extend the framing and financing of irrigation investments beyond technical parameters to include investing in the social processes that enable both multi-functionality and inclusive growth, to enhance the role of irrigation in adapting to a changing climate, while maintaining landscape integrity and multi-functionality so necessary for a sustainable future.

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Duncan, N.; de Silva, Sanjiv; Conallin, J.; Freed, S.; Akester, M.; Baumgartner, L.; McCartney, Matthew; Dubois, M.; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali. 2021. Fish for whom?: Integrating the management of social complexities into technical investments for inclusive, multi-functional irrigation. World Development Perspectives, 22:100318. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2021.100318]

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Open Access

Research Themes

Variability, Risks and Competing Uses

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https://hdl.handle.net/10568/113834

Maintaining diversity of integrated rice and fish production confers adaptability of food systems to global change

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 11:34:59 +0000

TypeJournal Article

Languageen

Authors

Freed, S.
Barman, B.
Dubois, M.
Flor, R. J.
Funge-Smith, S.
Gregory, R.
Hadi, B. A. R.
Halwart, M.
Haque, M.
Jagadish, S. V. K.
Joffre, Olivier M.
Karim, M.
Kura, Y.
McCartney, Matthew
Mondal, M.
Nguyen, V. K.
Sinclair, Fergus L.
Stuart, A. M.
Tezzo, X.
Yadav, S.
Cohen, P. J.

Rice and fish are preferred foods, critical for healthy and nutritious diets, and provide the foundations of local and national economies across Asia. Although transformations, or “revolutions,” in agriculture and aquaculture over the past half-century have primarily relied upon intensified monoculture to increase rice and fish production, agroecological approaches that support biodiversity and utilize natural processes are particularly relevant for achieving a transformation toward food systems with more inclusive, nutrition-sensitive, and ecologically sound outcomes. Rice and fish production are frequently integrated within the same physical, temporal, and social spaces, with substantial variation amongst the types of production practice and their extent. In Cambodia, rice field fisheries that strongly rely upon natural processes persist in up to 80% of rice farmland, whereas more input and infrastructure dependent rice-shrimp culture is expanding within the rice farmland of Vietnam. We demonstrate how a diverse suite of integrated production practices contribute to sustainable and nutrition-sensitive food systems policy, research, and practice. We first develop a typology of integrated production practices illustrating the nature and degree of: (a) fish stocking, (b) water management, (c) use of synthetic inputs, and (d) institutions that control access to fish. Second, we summarize recent research and innovations that have improved the performance of each type of practice. Third, we synthesize data on the prevalence, outcomes, and trajectories of these practices in four South and Southeast Asian countries that rely heavily on fish and rice for food and nutrition security. Focusing on changes since the food systems transformation brought about by the Green Revolution, we illustrate how integrated production practices continue to serve a variety of objectives to varying degrees: food and nutrition security, rural livelihood diversification and income improvement, and biodiversity conservation. Five shifts to support contemporary food system transformations [i.e., disaggregating (1) production practices and (2) objectives, (3) utilizing diverse metrics, (4) valuing emergent, place-based innovation, (5) building adaptive capacity] would accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 2, specifically through ensuring ecosystem maintenance, sustainable food production, and resilient agricultural practices with the capacity to adapt to global change.

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Freed, S.; Barman, B.; Dubois, M.; Flor, R. J.; Funge-Smith, S.; Gregory, R.; Hadi, B. A. R.; Halwart, M.; Haque, M.; Jagadish, S. V. K.; Joffre, O. M.; Karim, M.; Kura, Y.; McCartney, Matthew; Mondal, M.; Nguyen, V. K.; Sinclair, F.; Stuart, A. M.; Tezzo, X.; Yadav, S.; Cohen, P. J. 2020. Maintaining diversity of integrated rice and fish production confers adaptability of food systems to global change. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 4:576179. [doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2020.576179]

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Open Access

Research Themes

Variability, Risks and Competing Uses

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/10568/110124

WLE focal region brief: WLE greater Mekong

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 22:02:41 +0000

TypeBrief

Subjects

Ecosystems
Governance
Water Management
Water use

Languageen

Authors

CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems

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Citation

CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).2015.WLE focal region brief: WLE greater Mekong.Colombo, Sri Lanka:CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).2p.

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Open Access

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/10568/68828

Solutions

Integrating fish into irrigation infrastructure projects in Myanmar: rice-fish what if…?

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 22:02:41 +0000

TypeJournal Article

Languageen

Authors

Dubois, M.J.
Akester, M.
Leemans, K.
Teoh, S.J.
Stuart, A.
Thant, A.M.
San, S.S.
Shein, N.
Leh, Mansoor
Moet, Palal Moet
Radanielson, A.M.

With rapidly increasing investment in water control infrastructure (WCI) and a recently ratified agriculture development strategy that promotes integrated farming of high-value products such as fish, agricultural production, already fundamental to Myanmar’s economy, will be central to driving the countries’ socioeconomic transformation. Water planners and managers have a unique opportunity to design and manage WCI to incorporate fish and, in so doing, reduce conflicts and optimise the benefits to both people and the ecosystem services upon which they depend. Results from rice–fish culture experimental trials in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta are providing an evidence base for the importance of integrating fish into WCI, highlighting a range of both environmental and social benefits. By using less than 13% of paddy land area and through best management practices, existing rice productivity is sustained, alongside a 25% increase in economic returns for the same land area from fish. In addition, there are considerably more protein and micronutrients available from the fish produced in the system. Should these farming system innovations be adopted at scale, Myanmar stands to benefit from increased employment, incomes and nutritional value of farm plots (alongside associated reductions in pesticide pollution) and water use benefits.

Citation

Dubois, M. J.; Akester, M.; Leemans, K.; Teoh, S. J.; Stuart, A.; Thant, A. M.; San, S. S.; Shein, N.; Leh, Mansoor; Moet, Palal Moet; Radanielson, A. M. 2019. Integrating fish into irrigation infrastructure projects in Myanmar: rice-fish what if…? Marine and Freshwater Research, 70(9):1229-1240. doi: 10.1071/MF19182

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https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106814

Between interests and worldviews: the narrow path of the Mekong River Commission

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 22:02:41 +0000

TypeJournal Article

Languageen

Authors

Suhardiman, Diana
Giordano, Mark
Molle, Francois

Hydropower development is occurring at a rapid, though controversial, pace in the Mekong. We highlight the role of scientific assessment in shaping the Mekong hydropower debate, taking the strategic environmental assessment of the twelve planned mainstream dams as a case study. While environmental impact assessments are designed as science-based decision-making tools, they have often been criticized in practice as a political means to justify already made development decisions. In this case we demonstrate how the Mekong River Commission, operating in a constrained political environment, has instead used environmental impact assessment as a way of providing political space and opening the discussion on dams to a wider public. The main argument of this paper is that scientific assessment can be politically maneuvered to shape governance alliances at both national and transboundary levels, and to a certain extent democratize decision-making processes.

Citation

Suhardiman, Diana; Giordano, M.; Molle, Francois. 2014. Between interests and worldviews: the narrow path of the Mekong River Commission. Environment and Planning C-Government and Policy, 33(1), 199–217. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1068/c11191

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Research Themes

Variability, Risks and Competing Uses

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/10568/58421