The Nexus of Political Conflict and Environmental Crisis in Myanmar

About the event:

Myanmar (Burma) is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia and is now facing a challenge in simultaneously addressing two existential threats. Dealing with a climate crisis is an urgent need for Myanmar to survive on the one hand as the world’s second most vulnerable country to climate change while ending the prolonged and widespread civil war is a must on the other to prevent Myanmar from collapsing further. Given the current socio-political circumstances, it seems like an impossible job. However, Mr. Win would like to share his views on how environmental issues and political conflicts in Myanmar are interrelated, why it is essential to address both, and in which way this could be doable by reflecting on his thirty years of experience in environmental politics in Myanmar. He also believes that such intellectual brainstorming would be useful and relevant to other failed states like Myanmar for leaving no one behind in pursuing sustainable development goals and global climate actions.

About the speaker:

As a Burmese environmental activist, development practitioner, and policy advocate for climate security & justice, Mr. Win pioneered establishing a local NGO under the military iron grip in Myanmar to create a political space of participatory democracy and defend the resource rights of the local poor and ethnic minorities. He raised more than 17 million US $ of project funds to develop and manage participatory projects for community-led natural resource management and sustainable livelihoods of local people. At the national level, he assisted in developing policies and strategies related to Rural Development, Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Environmental Assessment. This helped allocate over 300 million US $ equivalent government grants reaching 10,000 villages nationwide (20% coverage of entire rural villages). Through civil society networking, Mr. Win played a pivotal role as a civil society leader not only in mobilizing environmental campaigns for collective voices over unsustainable investment projects (Hydropower dams, Coal-fired Power Plants, Mineral Extraction, and Commercial Agriculture Plantation) but also held government agencies (State Owned Enterprises) accountable for misappropriation of 9 billion US $ natural resource revenue by enforcing the implementation process of Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Myanmar. He left Myanmar when the military staged a coup in 2021 and worked as a Visiting Research Fellow in the Earth Science Department at Oxford University, UK, until March 2024. He is now a visiting scholar at Sigur Center for Asia Studies at Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University, researching environmental federalism and climate justice.

Host or Publisher Sigur Center for Asian Studies at GW