The Politics of Climate Change Actions Amidst Myanmar's Deepening Political and Environmental Crisis

Description

In 2021 the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its sixth and starkest warning yet: the world is facing a grave climate crisis and the impacts will be particularly pronounced in poor and conflict-affected countries like Myanmar. Between 2015-2020, the efforts of environmental activists and indigenous community-based organisations to tackle climate change were gaining momentum in Myanmar. However, research shows how this period also coincided with rapid agribusiness expansion, mining and mega extractive and infrastructure development projects which dispossessed primarily ethnic minority and indigenous communities’ access to their land. In addition, climate-related conservation initiatives implemented by international organizations also contributed to exacerbate ethnic and indigenous communities’ vulnerability through ‘green washing’ processes and technologies of state dispossession and enclosure (Franco & Borras 2019; Woods & Naimark 2020).

This panel examines the politics of climate change actions amidst Myanmar’s deepening political and environmental crisis in areas which have long been affected by civil conflict. In the wake of the 2021 military coup which has forced environmental activists underground and into hiding, each of the papers explores possibilities for positive climate action in Myanmar. This includes climate-related initiatives led by indigenous/ethnic environmental activists and organisations, youth and international environmental NGOs and a critical look at the role played by state and non-state armed actors in co-producing vulnerability for communities long-affected by conflict.

Period	10 Jun 2023
Event title	15th International Burmese Studies Conference 2023
Event type	Conference
Location	Zurich, SwitzerlandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International