Myanmar

The Ayeyarwady State of the Basin Assessment (SOBA) is one of the major knowledge outputs of the Ayeyarwady Integrated River Basin Management (AIRBM) Project prepared by Hydro-Informatics Centre (HIC). SOBA aims to inform planning in the Ayeyarwady Basin by providing baseline information on the condition and trends in water and land resources as well as related ecosystem services and the livelihoods and economies of Myanmar that depend on these resources.

The Ayeyarwady State of the Basin Assessment (SOBA) is one of the major knowledge outputs of the Ayeyarwady Integrated River Basin Management (AIRBM) Project prepared by Hydro-Informatics Centre (HIC). SOBA aims to inform planning in the Ayeyarwady Basin by providing baseline information on the condition and trends in water and land resources as well as related ecosystem services and the livelihoods and economies of Myanmar that depend on these resources.

MYFC, a Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) funded project, aims to promote sustainable growth of aquaculture in Myanmar. By introducing low cost poly-culture combining small indigenous species of fish with mostly carps, the project intends to increase income, food and nutrition security for resource-poor households in the Ayeyarwady Delta and the central dry zone (CDZ). With a particular focus on women and children, and running over three years (2016-2018), MYFC will target four townships in each area.

The Myanmar Fishery Partnership (MFP) is a new initiative being established to assist the Myanmar government in strengthening effective collaboration for the sustainable development of Myanmar’s fisheries and aquaculture sector. Four policy briefs have been developed by the Myanmar Fisheries Partnership to help the government address the most challenging issues facing fisheries in Myanmar.

Myanmar’s offshore fish stocks have been depleted by up to 80% since 1979, exposing Myanmar’s people to significant economic, food security, nutrition and environmental risks. This ecosystem decline has been driven by out-dated and weak laws and policies and by inadequate management and institutional capacity. Investment in protecting and restoring fish stocks, ecosystems and habitats is required.

Myanmar’s inshore fisheries support the livelihoods of millions of Myanmar citizens living in coastal areas. However, in recent years, the capacity of these fisheries to support viable livelihoods and contribute significantly to local economies has come under threat. This policy brief sets out five priority areas that need immediate attention if coastal resources are to recover to more productive levels and if fisher communities are to continue to benefit from these resources.

The freshwater fisheries in Myanmar are economically significant and important to livelihoods and food security. Yet significant threats to the resource base and public demand call for the development of management initiatives, legal adjustments and a people-centered approach. This brief identifies a series of options and priorities that could help improving freshwater fisheries management towards a more sustainable and equitable exploitation of inland fish resources.

Fish is an extremely important component of the Myanmar diet, and demand is growing quickly as the country urbanizes and incomes rise. Aquaculture is ideally placed to meet this demand, while also raising farm incomes and creating employment. This brief identifies three sets of policy options that could help to unlock the full potential of aquaculture’s contributions to rural growth and national food supply.

The Managing Aquatic Agricultural Systems to Improve Nutrition and Livelihoods in Rural Myanmar (MYNutrition) project intends to adapt and scale up the successful innovative integrated aquaculture and fisheries/agriculture-nutrition linkages developed under the IFAD-funded Small Fish and Nutrition project in northeast and northwest rural Bangladesh in 2010-2013.