Project Profile Ayeyarwady Futures An initiative towards sustainable development in the Ayeyarwady River Basin ဧရာဝတီ ျမစ္ဝွမ္း in Myanmar Geographical focus: Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River Basin, Myanmar Project name: Ayeyarwady Futures: An initiative towards sustainable development in the Ayeyarwady River Basin Partners: Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in collaboration with Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems (DWIR) and other organizations from Myanmar, and Mekong regional experts from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok (Thailand) and other organizations Funder: Blue Moon Fund (BMF) and Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Starting date: 01 November 2013 Introduction In the coming decades, as Myanmar continues to open up to international trade and investment, economic growth and development is expected to bring massive changes to forest, land- and water-use, and place pressures on the country’s ecological resources. In the Ayeyarwady River Basin, Myanmar’s most important river basin, these changes and pressures on resources could result in increased environmental degradation whose impacts will be felt by people and on their livelihoods, and result in the further marginalization of particular groups. Identifying and understanding the key interactions among multiple water-related activities in the basin is critical to helping focus integrated water resources planning and management efforts as well as public scrutiny where these conflicts, tradeoffs and synergies are greatest . The Government of Myanmar already acknowledges this challenge. The Upper House of Parliament of Myanmar, for instance, agreed to the formation of the Ayeyarwady River Commission (ARC) in February 2013. The National Water Resources Committee (NWRC) was formed by the Presidential Decree in July 2013. A new Ayeyarwady River Basin Development Master Plan will be developed. These initiatives underline the urgent need for an informed multi-stakeholder process to support the exploration of alternative Ayeyarwady Futures and strategic decision-making in the basin. Objectives The program “Ayeyarwady Futures” aims to support Myanmar to move towards sustainable development through evidencebased participatory planning processes. Over the next 3-5 years, the program would support state, private and civil society groups in Myanmar to: • build awareness of the values and limitations of particular tools for integrated, basin-level, analysis, planning and management; • strengthen the capacity of state and civil society actors to engage in deliberations on water resources planning and development strategies and decisions; and, • guide the design of emerging institutional frameworks for water governance in the river basin so as to increase their commitments to environmental and social sustainability. Activities In collaboration with Chulalongkorn University and other partners, SEI is undertaking informed multi-stakeholder processes, considering the interaction among different sectors in Myanmar, and supporting the exploration of alternative Ayeyarwady Futures and strategic decision-making in the basin. SEI seeks collaboration and networking in working with Myanmar’s state, civil society, and public sectors to establish the framework for an integrated water resources management model that can then be applied to other river systems throughout the country. SEI will also use its extensive experience in water resources management and policy issues in Southeast Asia especially with tools that SEI has developed. Outcomes This long-term program, by drawing on the experience and lessons from past land- and water-use management elsewhere in the world, particularly in Asia, will enable stakeholders involved in the Ayeyarwady River Basin to formulate the institutions necessary for a national debate on water and development solutions. These lessons, and insights from institutional development in the Ayeyarwady River Basin, can be applied throughout the country, as reform and development move forward. The program is expected to contribute significantly to the production of high quality assessments that inform dialogue processes around alternative Ayeyarwady Futures and in this way influence strategic decisions. In the first year the groundwork for the assessments will be laid by the process of identifying critical issues. Looking to the future As the Ayeyarwady Futures project progresses, SEI and its partners will be fundamental players in encouraging Myanmar’s civil society and other sectors to actively participate in concerned dialogues related to water resources management and development using the evidences. This is to ensure a more integrated approach to water resources use and support concerned decision makers in different ministries to make decisions with accountability to the country’s people. This can help protect an ecosystem that is economically, environmentally and culturally significant to the people of Myanmar. The Ayeyarwady River Basin ဧရာဝတီ ျမစ္ဝွမ္း The Ayeyarwady River has its source from the confluence of the Mali Kha and Mai Kha Rivers, both of which originate from the Eastern Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. The river, that is 2,170 km long and drains to the Andaman Sea in the Bay of Bengal, is Myanmar’s most important commercial water way. It is one of the world’s top five rivers in terms of amont of suspended sediment loads, and this sedimentation provides for the rich ricegrowing areas in the delta. The Ayeyarwady Basin area is 414,100 km2, over 90% lies within Myanmar with some small parts in China and India. Annual discharge is highly variable (precipitation + seasonal melt from the Himalayas). Rainfall is 2,300 – 32,600 m3/s and average is 420 km3/year. Over half of the basin area is forested. About 36.1 million live in the Ayeyarwady Basin. Cultural diversity is high within the basin comprising predominantly Kachin in the upper basin, Burman in middle and lower as well as Karen, Arakan, Shan, Indian, and Chinese. The Ayeyarwady River empties through a nine-armed delta (Bassein, Thetketaug, Ywe, Pyamalaw, Pyinzalu, Ayeyarwaddy, Bogale, Thande), the Ayeyarwady Delta, one of the world’s major rice growing areas contributing 60% of Myanmar’s rice production. Published by: Stockholm Environment Institute-Asia 15th Floor, Witthyakit Building 254 Chulalongkorn University Chulalongkorn Soi 64 Phyathai Road, Pathumwan Bangkok, Thailand 10330 http://www.sei-international.org Contact: Rajesh Daniel [email protected] sei-international.org