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APCEL Report : Myanmar Back to : Index : ASEAN Project : Myanmar
The Union of Myanmar, formerly known as the Union of Burma, occupies a land area of 657,740 square kilometres on the north-western portion of the South East Asian mainland. It has a long coastline some 2,276 kilometres in length. The population is estimated at 46,821,943 (July 1997 estimate), with almost three-quarters of the people living in rural areas, particularly in the Ayeyarwaddy (Irrawady) River plains. Myanmar is relatively undeveloped, but is increasingly liberalising its economy after years of tight central planning. The economy is largely agricultural, with more than 40% of gross domestic product (GDP) generated from agriculture, fisheries and forestry. The principal crops are paddy rice, corn, oilseed and sugarcane. Myanmar is endowed with abundant natural resources. The logging of teak and other hardwood and the mining of precious gemstones contribute significantly to GDP. Other major economic activities include manufacturing, with an emphasis on heavy industrial production. The major exports include rice, timber and wood products (especially quality hardwood), petroleum and various minerals and precious gems. Energy production is an increasingly important activity and several foreign companies are engaged in oil exploration and hydroelectric projects. Despite its natural wealth, Myanmar remains a relatively undeveloped country, with a per capita GDP of US$1,120 (1996 estimate). Myanmar is administratively divided into 7 yin-mya (divisions) and 7 pyine-mya (states). The largest cities are the national capital Yangon (formerly Rangoon) and Mandalay. The divisions are generally more developed, and are populated mainly by the dominant Burmans. The seven states are located in the more remote and mountainous regions, and are named after and populated by each of the seven other major indigenous races in Myanmar. Myanmar is extremely rich in biological diversity, with extensive recorded species of plants and animals. Several large threatened mammals are found in Myanmar, including the elephant, gaur, wild ox and rhinoceros. Large areas of relatively undisturbed natural ecosystems remain but these are being steadily depleted through logging, shifting agriculture and human settlement. Recent economic reforms have expanded private sector investment, but this has also resulted in environmental problems such as urban pollution, soil degradation and the loss of biological diversity through forest depletion. Myanmar is governed by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), until recently known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). The country faces significant political isolation, primarily by the United States and its Western allies over the SLORC’s seizure of power after the 1988 elections and its non-recognition of the election results. The SPDC, and the SLORC before it, perform both legislative and administrative functions. The Prime Minister is both the Head of State and Head of Government, and is the Chairman of SPDC. He presides over the executive Cabinet, which is made up of the SPDC members. Each Division and State is governed by its own divisional or state Peace and Development Council (formerly Law and Order Restoration Council). Prior to 1989, no governmental agency existed to oversee environmental matters. In 1989, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) began to assume authority over domestic environmental protection issues, while the Cabinet retained responsibility for international environmental matters. In 1990, a new body known as the National Commission for Environmental Affairs (NCEA) was initiated by the MFA to act as a central management agency for environmental matters. This was a significant step in the integration of environmental considerations into Myanmar’s development plans. The NCEA’s main mission is to ensure sustainable use of environmental resources and to promote environmentally sound practices in industry and in other economic activities. It formulates broad policies on natural resource management, prepares environmental legislation (standards and regulations) for pollution control, monitoring and enforcement, promotes environmental awareness through public education and acts as liaison with international organisations and foreign governments in environmental matters. The NCEA has a Chairman, a Secretary and a Joint Secretary. All three persons are simultaneously senior officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), with the NCEA Chairman being the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Thus, there appear to be great potential for coordination of MFA and NCEA work, especially in relation to international environmental obligations and cooperation with international agencies. The NCEA has nineteen members, all of whom are heads of departments from various sectoral ministries. This theoretically ensures multi-agency representation from the other sectors of the economy. There are four sub-committees operating within the NCEA: the Committee on Conservation of Natural Resources; the Committee on Control of Pollution; the Committee on Research, Information and Education; and the Committee on International Cooperation. Each of these sub-committees is chaired by a Director-General or the Head of a relevant government department. The operational functions of the NCEA are conducted and coordinated by a secretariat called the NCEA Office, which was established in 1992. This is headed by a Director, who liaises directly with the NCEA Chairman, Secretary and Joint Secretary. In its first few years of operation, the NCEA has already had significant impact upon the environmental protection movement in Myanmar. Most importantly, it has played a key role in formulating the National Environment Policy (NEP) 1994, which is Myanmar’s principal policy document on environmental protection. The NCEA has also assisted the sectoral ministries in drafting legislation and instruments with potential impact upon the environment, e.g, the Forest Law 1992, the Wildlife and Wild Plants Law 1994 and the Forest Policy and Forestry Action Plan 1995. The NCEA continues to be involved in numerous environmental and natural resource management projects. The important sectoral agencies in the area
of environmental protection are the Ministry of Forestry and the Department
of Occupational Health in the Ministry of Health. The latter is working
with the NCEA on proposed air pollution control projects, particularly
in relation to factories and urban vehicular pollution. The Ministry of
Forestry has also been active, particularly after Myanmar became a signatory
to the 1992 Convention on Biological and the 1992 Framework Convention
for Climate Change. The Forest Law was enacted
in 1992 and the Ministry of Forestry was subsequently tasked with drawing
up long-term exploitation and management plans for the forestry sector.
The following is a list of administrative competence in Myanmar:
The environmental NGO movement is not as active or vociferous as in other regional countries. Most local NGOs in Myanmar consist of volunteer groups - for instance, some retired personnel from the Ministry of Forestry have formed the Forest Resources Environment and Development Association (FREDA), which is active in small projects for forestry conservation funded by international NGOs. There exists another similar local NGO dealing with wetlands. However, these local NGOs do not presently conduct joint activities with the NCEA. The only other significant agencies/bodies are the international organisations, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which has provided the NCEA with training and office equipment under a 1992 project for the strengthening of the NCEA. Other organisations include ESCAP (general environmental issues), UNICEF (water and sanitation facilities and children’s issues), UNEP (general project funding) and the Ozone Convention Secretariat (funding for regional projects such as ALGAS (Asian Least-Cost Green House Gas Abatement Strategy)). The hierarchy of legislation in Myanmar is as follows:
The environmental management effort in Myanmar is currently sectoral in nature. However, efforts have been taken since 1995 to formulate the Myanmar Agenda 21, a policy document which provides an integrated framework of programmes and actions aimed at securing the aims of sustainable development. Sectoral government agencies were afforded the opportunity to present their views for inclusion in the document. The final draft of the document was completed in 1997, and was presented at the June 1997 United Nations General Assembly Session on Agenda 21. The Myanmar Agenda 21 is divided into 4 Parts and 19 Chapters and encompasses a broad range of sectors and issues. Building on the National Environment Policy, the agenda takes into consideration the programme guidelines found in the global Agenda 21 and is aimed at strengthening and promoting systematic environmental management in the country. Most importantly, the Myanmar Agenda 21 makes recommendations for the drafting and promulgation of a framework law which can further promote the integration of environmental and developmental concerns in the decision-making processes of the country. Despite the creation of the NCEA and its coordinating mandate, decision-making in Myanmar still lacks the incorporation of the environmental dimensions necessary for sustainable development. Environmental protection efforts are conducted almost exclusively on a sectoral basis, with ministries and departments acting pursuant to their respective competences and budgetary allowances. Even though the NCEA has been tasked with overall coordination of environmental issues, inadequate budgetary and manpower resources within the NCEA Office form a big impediment to effective performance. Thus, for major environmental issues of national importance, the NCEA has had to report directly to the Cabinet. Given the wealth of natural resources in Myanmar and the increasing complexities of environmental issues, effective environmental management appears to be far beyond the NCEA’s present capabilities. The NCEA clearly needs officials and staff who concentrate fully on environmental issues. While it was useful for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) officials to guide the operations of the NCEA at its inception, it is difficult for these officials to continue holding dual portfolios and accord sufficient importance to environmental issues. MFA officials also tend to be sent overseas frequently, and this may affect the consistency of attention needed in environmental matters. In addition, the officials making up the sub-committees of the NCEA hold other full-time positions. While it is good that the members of these sub-committees are usually high level officials of different government departments (this encourages coordination of policies), their existing portfolios often do not allow them to devote sufficient resources to environmental issues. In short, full-time and long-term NCEA staff are needed to ensure comprehensive representation of environmental issues in Cabinet decisions, and provide for improved coordination amongst ministries. Budgetary constraints are a big problem - even though the Prime Minister’s Office manages the NCEA’s budget, it has insufficient knowledge of the NCEA’s work to fully understand its budgetary needs. As a Commission (as opposed to a full-fledged Ministry), the NCEA lacks the authority, powers and expertise needed to carry out its functions at optimal effectiveness. Generally, there is a severe lack of trained manpower and financial resources to perform legislative and enforcement functions such as enacting regulations, monitoring, testing in laboratories, prosecuting violators etc. Given these limitations, the strengthening of the institutional structure in Myanmar is necessary if the country is to achieve sustainable development. As with other developing countries, significant problems of coordination also exist as between the central authorities (namely the NCEA) and the divisional and state authorities. Enforcement in the divisions and states is conducted largely by the provincial offices/branches of the relevant sectoral Ministries, as well as the police and officials from the Law Office. These local agencies, however, usually come under the direct authority of the provincial governments. The lack of coordination between central and divisional/state governments is exacerbated by the geographical inaccessibility of some divisions and states, political insurgency in some states, as well as the severe lack of trained expertise, financial resources and environmental awareness in general. The laws which currently exist in Myanmar are generally too broad and inadequate to deal with complex environmental management issues. Detailed implementing legislation do not exist to deal with specific issues such as waste management, land use and biodiversity protection. In relation to pollution, Myanmar has no specific laws to govern air and water pollution. There is a general provision in Section 3 of the Public Health Law which empowers the Government to carry out measures relating to environmental health, such as garbage disposal, use of water for drinking and other purposes, radioactivity, protection of air from pollution, sanitation works and food and drug safety. However, detailed provisions do not exist to ensure more effective and comprehensive regulation of these matters.Air pollution from vehicles, for instance, is a growing problem due to the increasing number of vehicles and the old age of most of these. However, regulation exists only through an annual inspection of vehicles conducted upon renewal of licenses. No specific regulation exists for specific emission standards. As for air pollution from industries, many small cottage industries emit a great deal of foul smells, such as food preparation industries. Most of these small factories are in residential areas. These small enterprises are governed by the Cottage Industry Act administered by the Ministry of Industry, but this Act does not control air pollution and has no inspection mechanism. In addition, the main urban areas have no industrial zoning system in place. The only control of water pollution in the country is through guidelines issued in June 1994 by the Myanmar Investment Commission. These guidelines require that new projects, from both foreign and private investments, have waste water treatment plants or systems. In addition, some elements of the Pesticides Law provide for water pollution control, but only incidentally. River and lake pollution from sewage, industrial waste and solid waste disposal are serious problems, but are not regulated explicitly by any laws. Furthermore, the waterworks and sanitation facilities in the country are not of consistent quality. Nor are their operations coordinated by any one governmental agency. In Yangon and Mandalay, waterworks are managed by the Yangon and Mandalay City Development Committees respectively, while in wards and villages, the local municipal authorities are in charge of sanitation facilities. Generally, there is a serious shortage of adequate sanitation infrastructure like industrial waste treatment plants, incinerators and landfills for household wastes. Despite these problems, however, many of the Myanmar people practice recycling on their own. Only non-recyclable market and household waste is dumped. Economic and other instruments are not yet effective in Myanmar. Taxation will not be viable as the lack of enforcement will encourage tax evasion; on the other hand, techniques of command and control cannot be effectively enforced without sufficient trained manpower. Thus, in a developing country such as Myanmar, basic but innovative ways must be found to ensure pollution control. Such methods may include the development of legal instruments and public education involving the government, the public, and international agencies. With financial and technical resources from the international NGOs and active participation from the people, creative measures for compliance that do not strain the existing financial and manpower resources of the country will be most effective. Myanmar currently has no formal requirements for environmental impact assessments (EIA). EIAs are conducted, however, on an ad hoc basis for projects funded by international organisations and some foreign corporations. The Myanmar Agenda 21 recognises the need for EIA laws.Under the present scheme of things, the NCEA does not possess the authority to require the commissioning of EIAs. Legislation should thus be passed to confer the NCEA with the necessary legal authority to issue comprehensive guidelines and regulations on the size and types of projects requiring EIAs, to prescribe the format and content of EIA reports, to solicit the input of other concerned ministries as well as the citizenry, to review EIA reports, to coordinate the grant of operating licenses to industries, and to ensure compliance with EIA guarantees. In addition, training and manpower development are required to develop the NCEA’s expertise to manage the whole EIA process. Myanmar’s political isolation and relatively lower level of industrialisation have meant that it experiences fewer of the environmental problems so common in rapidly industrialising developing countries. However, significant natural resource issues exist, primarily in relation to the depletion of forest cover, loss of biological diversity, hunting of wildlife and erosion of fertile soil. To effectively redress these problems, as well as to tackle increasing industrial and urban pollution issues, a strong legislative and institutional framework must be established. To begin with, the NCEA can be strengthened in order to equip it with the necessary resources to effectively manage the environment. There is talk in Myanmar that the NCEA may eventually be upgraded into a full-fledged Ministry of the Environment. Whatever the case, an effective institutional set-up is needed to coordinate the environmental concerns which are currently left to sectoral ministries to handle. A stronger institutional structure than that which exists at present would guarantee greater political authority and long-term planning for integrating environmental considerations into decision-making, as well as secure greater manpower and financial resources from both local and foreign sources. More specifically, a bolstered NCEA (or a separate Ministry) should be able to promulgate and enforce the detailed implementing regulations which are so lacking in the regulatory structure today. A strengthened environmental institution (be it a reconstituted NCEA or a separate Ministry) may also need to be complemented by a framework law on environmental matters. This will ensure a more integrated approach to environmental decision-making, as well as secure greater coordination of the respective sectoral ministries. The framework law can provide effective consultation processes amongst different agencies, as well as between central and divisional/state authorities. In general, the disparate laws which currently exist may need to be updated, reviewed and consolidated into a framework law. Subsequently, there will be a need to look into legislating EIA laws and other implementing regulations to deal specifically with the various environmental issues like air and water pollution, logging, wildlife protection, etc. Equally important, adequate financial and trained manpower resources must be obtained, both from local as well as foreign sources, to establish an effective enforcement system. This is necessary to ensure proper monitoring, testing, prosecution and dispute settlement procedures.
As proclaimed through the Gazette in accordance with Notification No. 26/94 dated 5 December 1994, the National Environmental Policy of Myanmar is as follows:"To establish sound environment policies, utilisation of water, land, forests, mineral, marine resources and other natural resources in order to conserve the environment and prevent its degradation, the Government of the Union of Myanmar hereby adopts the following policy:The wealth of the nation is its people, its cultural heritage, its environment and its natural resources. The objective of Myanmar’s environmental policy is aimed at achieving harmony and balance between these through the integration of environmental considerations into the development process to enhance the quality of the life of all its citizens. Every nation has the sovereign right to utilise its natural resources in accordance with its environmental polices; but great care must be taken not to exceed its jurisdiction or infringe upon the interests of other nations. It is the responsibility of the State and every citizen to preserve its natural resources in the interests of present and future generations. Environmental protection should always be the primary objective in seeking development."Top of Page
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