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Deforestation in Myanmar

Myanmar is a country that is truly blessed with abundance of land area, forest resources,
rivers, lakes, minerals and its unique biodiversity. Estimates show that, 70% of the South
East Asian nation was covered with forests after it gained independence from the British in
1948 (Wang and Myint 2018:1). Which implies up to that point in time, Myanmar was
contributing plenty of fresh oxygen to itself as well as neighboring countries. Fast forward to
1990, only 56% of total land area was covered with forests and further ahead to year 2000,
the figure dropped to 52.1%. Experts predict that at this rate, Myanmar could lose all of its
forests by 2035 (Wang and Myint 2018:1). This trend is a major concern not only for the
people of this country but also for those in neighboring ones.

Deforestation in Myanmar occurs due to direct and indirect drivers which we look at below.
Direct drivers as the name implies refer to activities that are conducted by humans which
lead directly to deforestation (Kissinger, Herold and De Sy 2012:5).
Mass clearance of forest areas for agricultural expansion, rice, corn, pulses and beans,
aquaculture, rubber and oil palm production are the most significant contributors.
Mining activities come second in the spot due to its associated infrastructure such as roads
and settlements that need to be developed at the cost of forest area.
Hydropower development activities rank third since they require river diversions as well as
facility developments akin to mining activities (Enters 2017:13).

Indirect drivers are complex interplay of social, political, economic, cultural and technological
functions that trigger the direct drivers to cause deforestation (Kissinger, Herold and De Sy
2012:5). Legal overharvesting and illegal harvesting of timber due to high consumer
demand in Myanmar as well as neighboring countries such as China, Thailand and Vietnam
set an example. China is one of the biggest importers of illegal timber, fuelwood and
charcoal from Myanmar via land routes. Corruption among the authorities make efforts to
bring transparency and accountability to the forestry almost inefficacious (Enters 2017:iv).

Deforestation leads to climate change since losing trees mean we are losing greenhouse
gas absorbers. As more greenhouse gases enter our atmosphere, the warmer the earth
gets. We also lose great sources of fresh oxygen as more and more trees get chopped
down every day without being replenished. Loss of habitat for millions of species as well as
forest soils drying up due to overexposure to the sun after losing protection from shade-
providing trees only make matters worse (National Geographic n.d.).
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Excessive mining of minerals and its side effects in Kachin

Mineral rich Kachin state located in the north of Myanmar is a magnet to the notorious
Myanmar army as well as their nemesis KIA (Kachin Independent Army), a local ethnic
armed group. The two sides do not see eye to eye except that their eyes are fixed on jade,
a precious mineral which can be sold for millions of dollars per kg in foreign markets such as
China (Sjöström 2018:4).

As a result, local inhabitants have suffered tremendously due to the loss of their land and
livelihoods amid the tension between the army and KIA. The once beautiful and biodiverse
landscape of Kachin resembles a lunar landscape from an alien planet today. What used to
be home to lush green forests, farm land, tigers, mountains, fruits, beans and other types of
crops is now home to slopes of debris all dust and brown in color resulting from
unprecedented rates and scale of mining activities conducted by heavy machinery and
explosives brought in by Myanmar army (Sjöström 2018:45).

Research done by Swedwatch, a non-profit research organization on issues related to

human rights and environment, show that heavy mining has led to an increase in erosion,
road accidents due to being run over by dump trucks, irregular water flows in the rivers due
to upstream dumping of mining waste which lead to floods and water shortages, pollution of
water, river redirections, creation of slopes of mining waste which resemble mountains that
lead to landslides, and loss of wildlife due to land clearance activities. Residents report that
loud explosions scare wildlife every now and then driving them away from their natural
habitats. There has also been an increase in temperature attributable to deforestation
driven by mining. Apart from the environmental damage, there is also a socio-economic
turbulence that jade mining has created. One local woman reports that, there are no jobs for
women except to work as a maid or in a brothel (Sjöström 2018:46). Government officials
and policemen take advantage of them by abusing them as they wish. Moreover, trafficking
of women for sexual exploitation is also common. HIV and AIDS cases are extremely high
in this region as a result. Drug abuse cases among teenagers and adults happen at an
alarming rate due to easy accessibility of heroin even in schools for just a few dollars
(Sjöström 2018:47).


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Solid Waste Pollution in Yangon and Mandalay

Two metropolitan cities of Myanmar namely Yangon and Mandalay with 7 million and 1.2
million inhabitants respectively are facing a major issue with solid waste dumps (Huismann,
Breukelman and Keesman 2017:11). Myanmar’s 57 million population generate an
estimated 20,000 tons of solid waste daily with Yangon and Mandalay contributing a good
part to that figure (Huismann, Breukelman and Keesman 2017:5). Waste dumps in the two
cities comprise mainly of organic waste and plastic materials such as plastic bags, bottles,
containers and other forms of one time use objects. Textiles, metals, paper and other forms
of waste make up the remaining portion of the dump composition (Huismann, Breukelman
and Keesman 2017:14).

Increase in solid waste can be attributed to 4 major causes which is quite common in other
developing countries as well. They are namely growth in population, increase in industrial
manufacturing, urbanization and modernization (Alam and Ahmad 2013:165). As people
earn more, demand for food and other essentials increase leading to a higher manufacturing
output. Plastic materials are still the most popular form of packaging materials used in the
end product. Shoppers in grocery stores and super markets still use plastic bags as it is the
most convenient in terms of availability and affordability.

However, rampant littering and dumping of waste by the general public is wreaking havoc on
the environment. Drain systems get blocked due to accumulation of solid waste leading to
flooding during the monsoon season. Sewer system blockages lead to cholera outbreaks.
Waste dumps in water surface lead to contamination of water which affects irrigation
processes and drinking water (Huismann, Breukelman and Keesman 2017:10). Waste in
pools create a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes which carry diseases such as malaria
and dengue. Food waste in open dumps provide the ultimate land of freedom for rats which
spread diseases. Strong wind carries dust and filth from those open dumps and those
particles get inhaled by people both young and old leading to deteriorating health conditions
(Ejaz, Akhtar, Nisar and Naeem 2017:385). Discarded plastic bags create an ugly sight for
passersby. Poisonous chemicals leaking out and leachate from dumps create fatal health
effects for the general public. Plastics in river slowly get carried into ocean affecting marine
life. To make matters worse, the mediocre waste management job done by City
Development Committees in Yangon alone show that approximately one million tons of
waste each year never leave the streets and it keeps accumulating (Huismann, Breukelman
and Keesman 2017:10).
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Bibliography

Alam, P., and Ahmade, K. (2013) ‘Impact of Solid Waste on Health and The Environment’.
International Journal of Sustainable Development and Green Economics (IJSDGE) [online] 2, 165-
168. available from
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306150450_Impact_of_Solid_Waste_on_Health_and_The
_Environment>[20 August 2018]

Ejaz, N., Akhtar, N., Hashmi, N., and Naeem Ali, U. (2010) ‘Environmental impacts of improper solid
waste management in developing countries: A case study of Rawalpindi City’. WIT Transactions on
Ecology and the Environment 142, 379-387. DOI: 10.2495/SW100351

Enters, T. (2017) ‘Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Myanmar’. UNDP [online]
available from <http://www.myanmar-redd.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Myanmar-Drivers-Report-
final_Eng-Version.pdf>[20 August 2018]

Huismann, H., Breukelman, H., and Keesman, B. (2017) ‘Scoping Mission on Integrated Solid Waste
Management (ISWM) to Myanmar’. Netherlands Enterprise Agency [online] available from
<https://www.rvo.nl/sites/default/files/2017/06/myanmar-waste-scoping-mission-report.pdf>
[20 August 2018]

Kissinger, G., M. Herold., and V. De Sy. (2012) ‘Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation: A
Synthesis Report for REDD+ Policymakers’. Lexeme Consulting, Vancouver Canada

National Geographic (n.d.) Deforestation Facts, Information and Effects [online] available from
<https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation>[20 August 2018]

Sjöström, T. (2018) ‘Overlooked and Undermined: Communities affected by jade mining in Myanmar
and the responsibilities of companies providing machinery’. Swedwatch [online] available from
<http://www.swedwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/91_Myanmar_FINAL_uppslag_180618.pdf>
[20 August 2018]

Wang, C., and Myint, S. (2016) ‘Environmental Concerns of Deforestation in Myanmar 2001-2010’.
Remote Sensing [online]. Available from <www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/8/9/728/pdf>
[20 August 2018]
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Deforestation in Myanmar

Despite the fact that deforestation activities are running out of control in Myanmar, there is still
hope. Since the election of democracy leader Aung Sann Suu Kyi in 2015, she has taken bold
steps to preserve forests by banning logging operations including teak and other hardwoods
throughout the nation. However, illegal loggers still continue to be active and go under the
radar. Another major issue is that of dealing with corruption at Ministerial level. It has been
known that John Swe Ba, managing director at Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environmental Conservation commands a monopoly on the legal timber sector. Since he
subcontracts logging to multiple companies, it allows him to erase traces to himself. One
argument he gives though is that there could be thousands of job losses if logging is actively
halted. This is true to some extent as Myanmar is not prepared to cater these people to other
kinds of jobs since a large number of them are semi illiterate (Reuters 2016).

Perhaps Myanmar can learn from what Brazil did to reduce deforestation. Unlike Myanmar,
Brazil has a bigger forest area as of 2015 standing at 4.935 million km2, catering to more than
33% of the world’s rainforests (The World Bank 2016). Myanmar on the other hand has a forest
area of 290,000 km2, only 5% of what Brazil offers. However, statistics between the period of
1990 and 2015 show that, Brazil had lost almost 531,670 km2 of forest area mainly due to
deforestation activities (The World Bank 2016). In January 2003, when Marina Silva was
appointed as Environmental Minster, she embarked on a pursuit to reduce the rate of
deforestation in Amazon (Jackson 2015:1). This was no easy task due to the massive size of
Amazon, inaccessibility to the region by road and the internal forces against her in the ministry.
Brazil at that time was already under international and domestic pressure to deliver a sustainable
development strategy to reduce the rate of deforestation which was rampant due to logging not
too different from that of Myanmar’s, cattle ranching and agriculture. On the days that
followed, Silva with the help of then Brazil’s president Lula, managed to persuade the entire
cabinet to set the issue of deforestation as a formal priority for the Ministry of Environment.
This meant that, it was one of the presidential goals during Lula’s term (Jackson 2015:2).
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To battle deforestation, Silva and her team were given a difficult task of altering the mindset of
loggers, ranchers, farmers and some of the ill-informed society members in general whose long-
held mindsets were fixated on cutting down trees and selling them or conducting agricultural
activities to make a living (Jackson 2015:3). Silva along with the president had to coordinate with
up to nine state and hundreds of district governments to achieve their goals of eliminating
federal policy incentives for cutting trees, monitoring forests, law enforcements against offenders
and offering incentives to those who protect trees. As an example, in June 2003, to ensure that
stakeholders share a common understanding, Silva organized a meeting consisting of scientists
and civil society representatives to examine the factors of deforestation in Amazon. During her
tenure at the office, Silva coordinated regular meetings with stakeholders to review reports on
progress in each target area (Jackson 2015:5). The most important achievement resulting from
Silva and Lula’s hard work was uniting different ministries on the issue of tackling deforestation.
This was the first step that led to the proposal of short-, medium- and long-term solutions
towards the issue (Jackson 2015:6).

The short-term solution which was also known as the First Phase between 2004 to 2008
consisted of a range of improved processes. A more effective system of satellite imagery known
as DETER was launched to provide timely updates of deforestation every 15 days rather than
yearly (Jackson 2015:9). Better territorial management and land-use planning policies were
crafted to close loopholes. One such example would be, holders in possession of properties
larger than a square kilometer were to reregister their properties with proper documentations
within 120 days (Jackson 2015:8). Failure to do so would mean that the owners would not be
able to sell their lands or access rural credit for the property until they reregistered. This allowed
curbing of illegal occupation of public land and put the responsibility of preserving the land on
the rightful tenants. Expansion of the number of protected areas and enforcing laws were also
components of the first phase (Jackson 2015:6). Corruption among the law enforcement people
was also targeted and several high-ranking officers and business people were arrested over the
course (Jackson 2015:10). Much of the credit for battling corruption went to the federal police
who cooperated with Silva’s team. By 2007, deforestation had dropped to 59% from 2004 rates
due to the new policies (Jackson 2015:8).

By the time the second phase from 2009 to 2011 kicked in, better educated environmental
analysts and inspectors were brought in and they were able to make better use of new satellite
imagery technology. Meanwhile, Minc replaced Silva as the Environment Minister who had
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resigned due to some frictions within the Ministry (Jackson 2015:13). Despite the change in
leadership, the focus on reducing deforestation remained stronger than ever. Minc’s tasks during
this period were to devise better economic incentives to activities that avoid deforestation and
working with state and local governments more closely. During this period, several short-term
jobs in public works and on infrastructure related projects were created to cater to those who
had lost their logging jobs due to curbing (Jackson 2015:14). The ministry went through another
change in leadership in 2012 and this time Teixeira replaced Minc and inherited the task with
even a stronger enthusiasm despite facing lobbyists pressuring the government to relax the strict
policies (Jackson 2015:16). The third phase from 2012 to 2015 had kicked into effect by then. It
was more focused on longer-term issues of sustainable development and creating jobs (Jackson
2015:7). Satellite imagery had improved by a margin and it was now able to take pictures at a
higher resolution. This allowed officers to spot multipoint deforestation activities (Jackson
2015:18). The team also started to release deforestation data to public to encourage transparency
and reduce corruption by creating public awareness (Jackson 2015:20).

There is a lot for Myanmar to learn from this; getting the right people on board, battling
corruption resolutely, working together in harmony at different levels, creating jobs, clarifying
land use policies and staying focused on a single goal despite the many changes in leadership are
some of the most visible lessons. The achievement of bringing down deforestation rates to 59%
within 3 years is just phenomenal for country as big as Brazil (Jackson 2015:12).
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Excessive mining of minerals and its side effects in Kachin

This entire tragedy is one of the biggest problems for the current civilian government to tackle
because of the involvement of military in mining activities. The army holds 25% of the seats in
parliament giving them the power to have a final say in amending constitutions (ABC News
2017). Back in 1990, Myanmar’s military pushed the Kachin Independent Army (KIA) out of
Hpakant as a crucial step to allow approved companies to heavily dig and extract jade. This also
drove small-scale miners who were mostly Kachin out of their jobs as they were simply no
match against their big competitors. It is reported that Jade production generated 31 billion
USD in 2014 alone. The military related companies sales figure stood at 180 million USD and
they were off-budget funds for the Commander-in-Chief (Sjöström 2018:34). The next in line,
we have KIA which also controls large parts of Kachin state and conducts mining to make their
own fortune. The third actor is the United Wa State Army (UWSA) which controls an area, the
size of Belgium, between Myanmar and Chinese border. This group is mainly funded by China
both in terms of arms and finance (Sjöström 2018:35). These three actors are the main
beneficiaries from jade mining and in the process, commits grave human rights violations. In
recent decades, Chinese companies with the help of Myanmar army has extracted large quantities
of jade, gold and other resources from Kachin state illegally (Sjöström 2018:38).

This industry is no doubt a huge generator of national income but there is a serious need for
regulation of mining activities. Now, this couldn’t possibly happen overnight due to human
greed and risk averse mentality of the beneficiaries. However, if regulated properly, all the three
actors alongside the civilian population could benefit as well. This would need a shift in the
mindset of all the actors in action. Instead of focusing on making fortune out of natural
resources alone, these parties should be focusing on human capital development in terms of
literacy and raising the living standards around Kachin state. South Korea, Japan, Singapore and
Switzerland with little or no natural resources are prime example to draw inspiration from
(Dapice 2016:4). The same iron fist rule by the military cannot continue forever and Aung Sann
Suu Kyi knows it well. People of Myanmar have a hunger to progress in education, career and in
terms of infrastructure, technology, healthcare etc. With neighboring countries progressing, the
military would one day or another realize that it is about time to shift the attention from natural
resources towards development of human capital.
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Ideally, the first step towards the peace process between these three parties would be to have a
fair mediator in between. Someone who could decide the best way to share the regulated wealth
among the three. This could be none other than the civilian elected government itself. Firstly,
the army has to comply with taxation laws and return the profits made via sales of Jade to the
Ministry of Finance and Mining. This would require a great investment of time and effort in
reengineering the mindset of the people who are involved with corrupt practices. The army
would then in return get a larger share of return from the Ministry in the form of military budget
(Dapice 2016:5). Another share of taxes would then go towards the Kachin state development
in the form of education, health and infrastructure budget. KIA would then be expected to
disarm and accept jobs in various infrastructure development projects in the form of
compensation. Wa, being the external party not belonging to Myanmar would be required to
apply for license to conduct mining activities, pay taxes and keep their share of fortune earned
(Dapice 2016:5). This is all very high level and thus, it requires input from academics and
economists to derive a plan to distribute wealth equally among all parties involved. According to
the current climate, wealth distribution via unofficial channel is higher than the legal channel
with a difference of almost 13 billion (Dapice 2016:13). This means the government itself is
losing out a lot of money from that figure on taxes not being collected.

The previous reforms proposed by the writer is all on the optimistic side. Now on the other
side, if all else fails, pressure is to be put on machinery and equipment manufacturers to stop
them from selling their items to mining companies in Myanmar. This can be done via United
Nations through one of their Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights known as
Principle 19 which states that business enterprises that are linked to products or services which
impact human rights are required to seek prevention or mitigation measures (Sjöström 2018:56).
Companies such as Caterpillar, Komatsu, Volvo Group and Terex Trucks could be pressured
further into negotiating recall clauses with their business peers if their machinery and trucks are
being used to violate human rights. They could also include a clause whereby they could void
warranty if such actions are conducted (Sjöström 2018:58). This way of influencing the behavior
of other entities by the suppliers of machinery and trucks is also crucial in keeping themselves
clean from human rights violations. The main suppliers could also tap into independent experts
to inform them about how their machineries are being used. Currently, none of these companies
are taking any strong actions or whatsoever in preventing basic human rights violation in Kachin
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State despite their awareness of the issues surfacing through multimedia evidences of their
machineries in action (Sjöström 2018:77).

Despite all the suggestions made in the previous paragraphs, this could all be a very prolonged
and dragging process due to its complexity and multiple parties being involved in making a
fortune out of natural resources. There is nothing that can be done immediately to mitigate or
prevent human rights violations because the very mentality of the army generals who feel that
human lives in Kachin state matter less as compared to the profits made out of mining is deeply
ingrained in them for the past few decades. It could even take another generation of well-
educated people to come up and solve this problem for the betterment of the community and
environment.
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Solid Waste Management in Yangon and Mandalay

Myanmar’s problem with littering is mainly due to the lack of education among people on how
to properly discard solid waste. Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries had to deal with
similar problems and today, the nation is well praised by outsiders for its continuous effort in
managing and recycling waste. For example, as of 2010, it is reported that Japan recycles about
77% of its plastic waste (The Guardian 2011). Meanwhile, recycling is still a new concept in the
Burmese community in general. We now take a look at how Japan tackled this pressing issue of
waste management and what Myanmar can learn from the history.

Japan between 1945 and 1950 faced major public health problems such as plagues and other
forms of infectious diseases due to waste dumped into rivers and ocean as well as open dumps.
The strategy by municipalities to rely on human beings to drive carts that collected waste from
home to home was so ineffective that much of the waste got left behind. Transportation of
waste to dump sites was another issue since it required human intervention to load the waste
from carts on to trucks. This again contributed to waste left behind (Ministry of the
Environment 2014:4). The national and local governments started brainstorming better ideas to
develop more efficient and effective systems to deal with waste collection and transportation and
hence private companies were invited to propose solutions as well. The first bill of effectively
dealing with urban waste, the Public Cleansing Act, was proposed in 1954. The highlights were
such that in addition to the conventional waste collection systems, national and prefectural
governments were obliged to offer financial and technological assistance to municipalities in
collection and disposal of waste. The residents were to cooperate with municipalities (Ministry
of the Environment 2014:6).

By 1970s, Japan was witnessing a sharp increase in waste generation and this time it was not just
from the general public but also from the factories. Japan was going through rapid
industrialization during this period. Consumer demands for mass produced goods increased and
with that came super markets and convenience stores. Plastic production alone increased from
554,000 tons in the 60s to 5,128,000 tons in the 70s all just within a short span of 10-year period.
New diseases in the form of ‘Minamata’ and ‘Itai-Itai’ surfaced among the public due to toxic
waste dumped into rivers which ended up being transported into small fish and rice paddies
which eventually ended up as food. By then, the Japanese government revised the Public
Cleansing Act of 1950 and classified industrial waste in its own sub category. It was no longer to
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be mixed with municipality waste (Ministry of the Environment 2014:4). New entities that deal
with industrial waste were formed and the government started to regulate emission of toxic
materials such as Soot dust, Sulfur oxides and other hazardous chemicals by factories. Within
the next few years, the government of Japan invested more in waste management facilities from
3.6 million yen in 1970 to approximately 22 million yen in 1975. During this period,
architectural standards of landfill sites for general and industrial waste were revised and
finetuned. Different types of landfilling methods were devised such as closed, controlled and
open depending on the toxicity of waste (Ministry of the Environment 2014:4).

In the early 80s and 90s, the amount of waste continued to increase in numbers, varieties and
size as well. For example, combustible waste was now becoming part of general waste and it
couldn’t be incinerated due to toxicity of CFCs. Landfills were also becoming unsustainable
since Japan is not rich in land area (Ministry of the Environment 2014:8). Dioxins being released
by incineration plants was causing negative effects on public health and people started to oppose
the construction of new incineration facilities (Ministry of the Environment 2014:9). This led
the Japanese government to devise a more sustainable waste management plan and, in the year
of 2000, 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) also known as Basic Recycling Act was established. This
time, a new initiative was added into the equation of waste management in the form of effective
Recycling. The Japanese society was now shifting attention from mass production, mass
consumption, mass disposal to 3R and proper waste disposal (Ministry of the Environment
2014:10). The government used TV broadcasting, regular events and activities, national
conferences and advertisements to raise awareness of 3R among its citizens. The goal was to
encourage active waste reduction and recycling among the residents. Incentive systems such as
subsidies were also created to reward residents who sorted their waste into different categories
before passing them to waste collectors (Ministry of the Environment 2014:12).

Among the many and different recycling acts established by the Japanese governments, two most
ideally applicable ones to Yangon and Mandalay would be Containers and Packaging Recycling
Act of 1995 and Food Recycling Act of 2000. This is because, plastic and organic waste forms
major components in solid waste generated in these two cities (Huismann, Breukelman and
Keesman 2017:14).
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Figure 1. Flows of recycling costs, containers and packaging (Ministry of the Environment 2014:22)

The first act targets steel, aluminum and glass cans, carboard and other forms of paper related
packaging, plastic bottles and containers. The aim was to include consumers and manufacturers
in the act of recycling.

The workflow is such that, consumers are to sort containers and packaging materials into
different categories of waste in compliance with the existing standards. The sorted waste gets
passed onto the recycling operator who gets paid via Japan Containers and Packaging Recycling
Association. This association earns its fund from the obligatory recycling charges paid by both
the business operator and packaging material manufacturer. The outputs from the recycling
operator are once again reused by manufacturers. This multi entity approach has resulted in
approximately 93% recycling rate for both plastic bottles, containers and packaging (Ministry of
the Environment 2014:22). Notice however that, in this strategy, consumers are not required to
pay for recycling costs. Instead, they are simply required to sort the waste before passing onto
the next stage. One drawback however is that, the government would need to invest in raising
awareness among the public on how to sort the items according to standards.
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Figure 2. Food Recycling Act illustration (Ministry of the Environment 2014:24)

In Food Recycling act, the main idea is that food-related business operators are obliged to
recycle the food waste by passing the waste to “food waste recycling operators” whose job is to
turn these to stock feed and fertilizers which are then used by farmers to grow vegetation and
feed domestic animals. This cycle is then repeated. It was reported that food waste recycling
stood at 82% in 2010 which is considered as high in this industry (Ministry of the Environment
2014:24). The drawback to this approach again is the need to adhere to standards by both
business operators and recyclers.

Myanmar lacks such clear and concise acts and in current existing work flows, consumers are not
involved in any part of waste management. There is a serious need to raise awareness and
standards related to reducing waste and recycling among both the general public and
manufacturers. If done properly, it would create new jobs in the form of recycling operators and
raise living standards among the people as well as preserve the environment and public health.
As of 22nd August 2018, ministers of Myanmar and Japan have signed an agreement to help the
country deal with waste management (Myanmar Times 2018). This is indeed a positive step
moving forward in tackling waste.
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Reference:

ABC News (2017) ‘Myanmar: How the military still controls the country, not Aung Sann Suu Kyi’
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Ministry of the Environment (2014) ‘History and Current State of Waste Management in Japan’. Japan
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Sjöström, T. (2018) ‘Overlooked and Undermined: Communities affected by jade mining in Myanmar and
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