Vice Chairman of State Administration Council Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win delivers speech at second meeting of State-Level Central Committee on the Administration and Management of Natural Resources in Coastal Areas
NAY PYI TAW February 16
The meeting of the State-Level Central Committee on the Administration and Mana-gement of Natural Resources in Coastal Areas was held at the Ingyin Hall of the Ministry of Natural Resources and En-vironmental conservation this afternoon and Chairman of State-level Central Committee on Administration and Mana-gement of Natural Resources in Coastal Areas Vice Chairman of the State Administration Council Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win delivered a speech at the meeting.
Also present at the meeting were union ministers U Tin Htut Oo and U Khin Maung Yi, deputy ministers U San Lwin and U Min Min Oo, the chief of naval staff, permanent securities, director generals and ma-naging directors while chief ministers from states and regions and officials participated in the meeting via video conferencing.
In his speech, the Vice-Senior General said that the SAC has placed emphasis on conserva-tion of natural resources as a national duty. With the aim of improving the management of coastal regions and mangrove forests, the SAC formed the State-level Central Committee on Administration and Mana-gement of Natural Resources in Coastal Areas by issuing Order No. 95/2021 on 2 April in 2021 and the committee was reformed with 21 members under Order No 306/2021 and tasked them with implemen-tation of ten objectives.
The first meeting of the state-level committee was held on 9 June 2021 under the guidance of the SAC and 11 decisions were made on management of coastal resources based on recommendations of the members.
As the meeting of the statelevel committee has been sche-duled twice a year, the members of the committee are required to report on implementation of the decision at its second meeting and to coordinate future tasks for effectively implemen-ting the management of natural resources management in coastal areas.
As the government aims to conserve the natural resources, which has a great potential for the country, in coastal areas for future generations, it is nece-ssary to manage the resources for long term utilization.
The state-level committees have been formed with the aim of developing a natural resour-ces management system in coastal areas that contributes to the long-term development of the country.
Among the ten tasks of the committee, the task (8) calls for the development of the inte-grated coastal management programme – ICM. The first meeting of the committee on 9 June 2021 decided to cooperate with all relevant departments for the development of the ICM.
The coastal management system issued in 1992 by the UN Environmental and Development Conference aims to develop principles for environment and development such as human equality, conservation of resources and the require-ments for those who destroy the environment to give compensation. The system is not only app-ropriate for the environment and the management system to coordinate for conservation of natural resources but also for the utilization of natural resources and development and environment. In other words, the system considers three pillars such as social, economic and environment in combination with scientific management.
Any activities carried out in coastal regions will have impacts on the ecosystem of the areas and other natural re-sources exploitation tasks. The entire ecosystem of coastal areas is made up of different sub-ecosystems, which con-tribute to the activities of the entire ecosystem. As damage done to a sub-system will have an impact on the entire system, it is necessary to take the value of sub-systems into considerat-ion when development tasks are carried out.
It is necessary to take into account the environmental and socio-economic impacts of development tasks carried out in coastal regions such as agriculture, fishery, hotels and tourism, oil, gas and mineral exploration, industries and construction.
Moreover, conflicts among individuals, departments and organizations that exploit coa-stal resources must be handled through negotiations in the long term interest of the people and the country as the ICM is a system that integrates different sectors and encourages them to cooperate.
It is learnt that measures are being taken to approve the coa-stal resources management system (draft) adopted by the International Union for Conser-vation of Nature (IUCN).
In the Myanmar Coastal Re-sources All-round Management Program, it is stated that it is necessary for all stakeholders to value the coastal and marine resources of the country, to participate for the conservation and development of the resour-ces, to prevent damage caused by human and nature and to utilize the resources beneficially for the future generations.
The Myanmar ICM states six tasks including management, enhancement of management capabilities of organizations, conservation of marine ecosyst-ems and rehabilitation and research and monitoring and development of a management system involved by all stake-holders and benefit sharing systems and the cooperation of the private sector and respon-sible businesses.
The Myanmar Integrated Coastal Management Plan (ICM) is a 15-year plan for coa-stal integrated management, which will formulate and link five-year action plans for each of the six strategic processes. It also aims to link the projects to be implemented by various departments and sectors for integrated coastal management in line with the ICM program and to be used as a joint venture between Myanmar and international partners to raise deve-lopment funds with international funding. Therefore, in order to approve the ICM program of Myanmar, the committee mem-bers must effectively cooperate with the recommendations and cooperation procedures.
Myanmar is rich in marine resources along its long coast-line and plays a key role in contributing to the country's food sufficiency and sustainable development. On the one hand, environmental issues such as population growth in coastal areas, deforestation of mangrove swamps and coastal for-ests, overfishing, environmen-tal damage caused by coastal tourism and development pro-jects, and marine pollution due to resource and mining activities, and depletion of watersh-eds in riverine areas can be addressed and emphasis must be placed on balance between environmental protection and users.
As the world's population grows and lifestyles change, so can the development of cities and communities in a balanced way to achieve sustainable de-velopment goals and the pre-servation of the environment. Therefore, countries including ours are implementing activi-ties in line with the long-term development goals of the United Nations. There are 17 sustain-able development goals, 14th of which is related to coastal and maritime development.
In developing coastal and marine development plans, ways to address about global warming, sea level rise and climate change challenges must also be considered.
The greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide that are the main causes of climate change are absorbed in large numbers by mangroves, coastal and marine ecosystems, and this stored carbon is referred to as the Blue Carbon. That is why the conservation of coastal and marine resources is being promoted around the world.
Deforestation of mangroves along the coast will not only lead to climate change, but also landslides and sedimentation, which will affect the survival of fish in the water and natural-based solutions such as the establishment and planting of mangroves and the conservat-ion of natural mangroves must be widely used. Coastal and maritime businesses such as maritime tourism, offshore and inshore fishing, offshore oil and gas production, and tourism,
also known as the Blue Economy, are being promoted around the world to promote Blue Eco-nomy by adopting environmen-tally friendly approaches.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS Myanmar) reviewed four potential opportunities for Blue Economy de-velopment in Myanmar in 2015: strong management plans and policies for coastal and maritime industries, effective investment in offshore and marine resources extraction, good conditions for effective conservation work due to the rich coastal and marine biodi-versity and the establishment and maintenance of mangrove forests for natural disaster prevention to be carried out as part of a program to enhance environmental security and protection.
Myanmar is cooperating with the international community on the United Nations Develop-ment Goals 14 for coastal and maritime development, and encourages the development of sectoral and sectoral action plans for coastal development in post-COVID pandemic period. Therefore, when implement-ing future coastal and marine conservation and development projects, we must focus on the development of the Blue Eco-nomy sector in conjunction with the Myanmar Integrated Coastal Management Plan.
The Vice-Senior General also thanked for the decisions of the first meeting of the Central Committee and the implemen-tation of the duties prescribed by the Central Committee since its formation. Members of the Committee should work together for the resumption of coastal and marine conser-vation and development work, which was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and for cooperation in coastal and marine conservation. The Vice-Senior General called on the relevant ministries and departments to openly discuss the ongoing and sustainable development and sustainable development of coastal and marine waters in the coastal region and showed awareness video on coastal areas.
Then, Joint Secretary of the Central Committee U Htay Aung, Director-General of the Depart-ment of Forestry explained the duties and responsibilities of the committee and the prepara-tions for the ICM plan.
Then, members of the Central Committee: Union Ministers, Region and State Chief Ministers; Deputy Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and the Director-Generals briefed on the relevant sectors, and the Vice-Senior General supplemented the briefings.
After that, the meeting was concluded by the concluding remarks of the Vice-Senior General.