National Adaptation Programme of Action to Climate Change.

Myanmar’s National Adaptation Programme of Action to Climate Change was developed by the government through multi-stakeholder consultations in 2012. The Programme specifies priority activities for effective climate change adaptation for eight main sectors, namely: agriculture; early warning systems; forest; public health; water resources; coastal zone; energy, and industry; and biodiversity. The Programme has a national coverage, and projects and activities under it have a duration of up to five years. The overarching goal of the Programme is to identify and communicate priority projects and activities to address Myanmar’s immediate and urgent adaptation needs that will assist the country adapt to climate change impacts by building and enhancing resilience of vulnerable communities.
The Programme will seek to enhance rice production through farm mechanisation and breeding new rice varieties to ensure food security in areas most vulnerable to climate change. New and improved local rice varieties will improve nutritional value for people, and help reduce vulnerability to illness and malnutrition. The programme will seek to build the resilience of degraded and sensitive forest areas to climate change impacts through reforestation; community-based reforestation for climate-resilient ecosystems and rural livelihoods in degraded watershed areas and degraded coastal regions. Further, the Programme will seek to establish community-based eco-friendly agriculture, forestry and aquaculture systems; as well as mangrove buffers zones. The Programme gives particular priority to rural and local communities in its implementation. The Programme will seek to increase climate change resilience of rural and subsistence farmers through legume crop diversification and climate-resilient varieties; diversification and intensification of home-gardens through solar-power technology, high-income fruit crops and climate-smart agriculture approaches; and the transfer of a wide range of high-yielding and climate-resilient rice varieties. Further, it will seek higher seed and grain security in the face of climate change to contribute to alleviating rural poverty and enhanced food security for households.
The Programme employs community-based approaches for most of its activities and projects. It will seek to establish community-based management and ecosystem sensitive farming and forestry, fishery practices; and mainstream ecosystem-based climate change adaptation policies and plans in rural communities.
The Programme will seek to improve weather observation capacity through a mobile and deployable weather radar system for providing early warning systems against extreme weather events; develop a flood early warning system for reducing the vulnerability of local communities to climate change impacts; assess the hydrological impact of climate change on river systems; and develop a drought early warning system for reducing the vulnerability of local communities to climate change impacts. Further, it will seek to stablish climate-resilient health facilities; integrate climate change adaptation strategies into the prevention of heat- related disorders in agricultural and industrial workers; support intensive care units in hospitals to treat heat-related disorders; and reduce the vulnerability of local communities to climate-induced water-related health hazards through the provision of safe water supplies and sanitary latrines.
The Programme details the activities and projects to be implemented, including specific objectives, areas of implementation, beneficiaries, implementation periods, estimated budget, expected outcomes and outputs, agencies involved, baseline information, and climate change adaptation rationale.