Myanmar’ s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution-INDC.

This Myanmar’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution-INDC is a cross-sectoral policy document. The INDC outlines a series of actions to demonstrate Myanmar’s commitment to climate change mitigation and highlights options for adaptation.
The measures and policies in the INDC include those to promote food security. One important on-going project is “Addressing Climate Change Risks on Water Resources and Food Security in the Dry Zone of Myanmar” .
In the INDC, Myanmar confirms its commitment to climate change mitigation, by pursuing the correct balance between socio-economic development and environmental sustainability. To this end, Myanmar has identified mitigation actions and policies in the primary areas of forestry and energy, complemented by supporting policies in other sectors. These actions have been selected as they will not only deliver reductions in GHG emissions, but also have significant development co-benefits. For example, actions in the forestry sector will not only preserve one of the world’s most important GHG sinks, but will also prevent soil erosion and therefore reduce the risk to the population of floods and landslides. The objective for the forestry sector is: By 2030, Myanmar’s permanent forest estate (PFE) target is to increase national land area as forest land with the following percent of total land area): • Reserved Forest (RF) and Protected Public Forest (PPF) = 30% of total national land area; • Protected Area Systems (PAS) = 10% of total national land area.
The INDC promotes the rural poverty reduction through: increasing access to clean sources of electricity amongst communities and households currently without access to an electric power grid system. The goal is set as: Rural electrification through the use of at least 30% renewable sources as to generate electricity supplies. In addition, Myanmar is working to reduce climate change vulnerability and reduce poverty in rural areas and for subsistence farmers as a priority.
The measures and policies in the INDC also include those to enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems. Crop varieties are being researched with the involvement of universities, research institutions and local communities across the country for example. For instance, research is being carried out on the resilience of rice varieties’ resilience to drought, flood tolerance, salt tolerance and into alternative varieties that are resistant to pests and disease. In the livestock sector, actions have been taken in the recovery stages of areas affected by climate change through livestock management, loans for farmers, animal feed management research and provision of training to minimise risk of disease.
The INDC highlights that the national priority is to adapt to the devastating effects of climate change. According to the INDC, adaptation actions in agriculture, forestry, water, infrastructure and bio-diversity, among others, are being currently implemented, while reducing risks of disasters remains a main programme and policy focus. Four priority level sectors are established: 1. First priority level sector: resilience in the agriculture sector, developing early warning systems and forest preservation measures 2. Second priority level sector: public health protection and water resource management 3. Third priority level sector: coastal zone protection 4. Fourth priority level sector: energy and industry sectors, and biodiversity preservation. The agriculture sector is implementing climate smart agriculture approaches through implementation actions such as legume crops diversification, measures in the agro-forestry sector and systematic control of soil quality and irrigation water.