Promoting locally inclusive wetlands conservation – experience from Myanmar

Ridhi Saluja; Satish Prasad; Promoting locally inclusive wetlands conservation – experience from Myanmar; Thanapon Piman

doi:10.51414/sei2025.028

This brief outlines key concerns, policy gaps and recommendations on how Myanmar’s wetland conservation efforts can benefit from inclusion of community-led approaches, which have been proven to achieve more sustainable livelihood outcomes, based on research in the Upper Chindwin River basin.

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Citation

Saluja, R., Prasad, S., Maung, W., & Piman, T. (2025). Promoting locally inclusive wetlands conservation – experience from Myanmar. SEI brief. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://doi.org/10.51414/sei2025.028

DOI

https://doi.org/10.51414/sei2025.028

Key messages

In the Upper Chindwin River basin, the authors observed a 25% loss in wetland area between 2000 and 2020, with implications for this key biodiversity area.

Based on insights from SEI’s initiative in the Upper Chindwin basin, community inclusion can strengthen wetland conservation efforts while ensuring livelihood security for local communities.

The authors suggest a national framework for wetlands conservation or management that ensures local communities are integrated into such efforts. Inclusion of locally led wetland management within Myanmar’s national directives, such as the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan (NBSAP) and National Adaptation Plan (NAP), is key to safeguarding these critical ecosystems, supporting local livelihoods, and achieving climate and biodiversity targets.

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