A Brief Introduction of Myanmar

| Share |

Home >
Our Actions >
Ambassador report

10
Comments

ambassador Report View
A Brief Introduction of Myanmar
by \| 12-03-2017 02:33 0
As the very first report as a regional ambassador, I would like to start with an introduction of my home country, Myanmar, and its environment. Myanmar is well-known for two prominent features. The first one is the Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the largest pagodas in the world, and the second one would be Daw Aung San Su Kyi, a famous politician who has received the Noble Peace Prize. I mentioned these two figures so that you would be able to get a clearer idea of which country I'm talking about. Myanmar has a tropical climate with three distinct seasons, regarded as the hot season, the rainy season and the cold season. It has a vast tract of timber forests and huge natural resources. Teak is one of the export materials that provide a large amount of foreign currencies for our economy. The jade that comes from us is also famous among the global market. Our country has four main rivers and the most important one is the Ayeyarwaddy river, known as the life-blood of the Myanmar people. Being an agricultural country, the Ayeyarwaddy delta is vital for our farmers and fishers. There are mountain ranges, four of which are Rakhine Yoma, Shan Yoma, Thanintharyi Yoma, and Bago Yoma. The central part of the country is a dry zone. Now after we have got a brief overall of the geography of the country, let's move on to the country's environmental status. In the past decades, our country was well-known for the natural resources we had, including natural gas, crude oil, timber, and gems. Crude oil became scarce after the colonial era ended. And within the recent decades, the military junta and the cronies have deprived a large proportion of the resources by exploiting and selling them to foreign countries. The statistics highlight the fact that deforestation is a major environmental issue for our country. In 1948, after gaining independence, forests covered 70% of the total land area. And in 2014, the percentage decreased to 48% which is particularly striking. There is still very little protection for these valuable forests but it has also been noted that the deforestation rate is decreasing gradually. Because of being unable to protect these forests and many other issues, Myanmar has been ranked as 2nd most vulnerable country to the effects of climate change according to the 2016 Climate Risk Index. The rainy season has been becoming shorter and the dry season has been becoming longer. The highest average temperature is 37°C which is surprisingly very high. This has caused damages in the agricultural sector and the health of citizens and has raised a great concern. There are many other environmental issues left to be mentioned. Even though these problems exist, there is lack of environmental awareness among the people. And because of our growing economy, the environment is prone to suffer more. Plus, the government has not taken any action for environemental protection. I have volunteered at the American Centre iNature Environemental Club since 2015 and is now the current Vice President of the club. Our main purpose is to provide environemntal awareness especially to youths by letting them join in our projects for the environment and let them know what they can do to help this. I have joined this network as an ambassador to point out the environmental status of our country, get to share some knowledge and get to know others who feel the same with me about protecting the environment. This is the end of my report and please look forward to reading my next reports. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts and experience about Myanmar.

Dormant user

10 Comments

Rohan Kapur says :
Congrats on your well structured First Report. Welcome to the family. Deforestation must be reversed by planting 10 trees for each one cut.
Posted 16-03-2017 18:18

Prayash Pathak (Chalise) says :
Firstly congratulation for your selection and hope that you will have a good term. Thanks for sharing so much about Myanmar. Good to know a lot of such stuffs.
Posted 16-03-2017 02:30

says :
Great report, I learnt a lot in a short amount of time. Kudos!
Posted 15-03-2017 04:55

Edwin Mwashinga says :
This is a very rich report. Thank you so much
Posted 13-03-2017 05:46

says :
Thank you for this information!!

Posted 13-03-2017 00:31

says :
Hi Kaung! Welcome to Ambassador group and glad to read your first report!
First of all, thanks for detailed introduction on Myanmar! I learned a lot about current status in Myanmar.
I've also heard about deforestation issue in Myanmar before, and there should be some measures to stop or slow down..! And I totally agree with what you said, people awareness is the most important stage to start!
Thanks for your article again!
Posted 12-03-2017 18:16

says :
Sure, I will gladly make sure to cover about it next time.
Posted 12-03-2017 18:07

says :
Kaung, thank you for the report. As you said, this is a brief introduction, but highly instructive. Reading your report, the deforestation in Myanmar seems to be at stake. Why don't you tell us more about the deforestation in Myanmar next time? You can write how it started, when it started, what the situation is like in the moment, is there any government's act on the issue.
Posted 12-03-2017 13:27