The planned Kyaukphyu SEZ – a core aspect of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Myanmar –generates hopes for development and jobs, but also fears about loss of lands and livelihoods. Kyaukphyu needs transparency and local participation in project planning and implementation.
Whenever a plan to build a large coal power plant is announced in Myanmar, people take to the streets. While these protests have been rather successful on a local level, this has not discouraged investors from simply announcing a similar plant in another location.
On paper, almost every government in the world is committed to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and keeping global temperatures limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. But too many governments, parroting the oil and gas industry's misleading claims, are actually supporting the expansion of fossil fuel production.
Renewable energy has become a technically and financially feasible alternative to coal and other fossil fuels or large hydro. And in contrast to these traditional sources of energy, renewable energy sources are neither harming the environment nor people's livelihoods in Myanmar.
Approximately 7,100 lives could be saved every year if Myanmar cancels its massive plan to build coal-fired power plants, and instead invest on renewable energy to meet the country’s electricity demand.
Informal humanitarian operations continue to provide important services for many communities along the Thai-Burma/Myanmar border. However, since the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, these essential service providers are increasingly sidelined, both politically and financially.
For decades, Myanmar was among the most isolated countries in the world. Although the process of democratization and the internet have changed things, people still cannot express themselves freely.
In 1967 the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded. This dossier sheds light on the institutional framework of ASEAN and analyses with contributions by civil society and academia, where social and ecological justice has, or should have, its place in Southeast Asia.
Myanmar’s transition to democracy has earned the country a lot of appraisal on the international stage. But over the last year, the boundaries between what is permitted and what will get people in trouble slid back and blurred again.
The planned Kyaukphyu SEZ – a core aspect of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Myanmar –generates hopes for development and jobs, but also fears about loss of lands and livelihoods. Kyaukphyu needs transparency and local participation in project planning and implementation.
Over the last years, Asia has undergone an impressive digital transformation. Large parts of the continent have turned from the world’s factory into a creative industry.The different contributions across the continent highlight both the opportunities and risks of digitalization in Asia.
The Contribution of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Advancing Women’s Political Participation and Effectiveness: Following decades of military dictatorship which denied Myanmar the benefits of an inclusive democracy, the new government continues to fall short: Women remain underrepresented. This paper focusses on the contribution of a growing CSO-led women’s movement to political participation and effectiveness, and highlights opportunities to maximize such efforts.
Without the ocean there would be no life on our planet. But the future of this unique ecosystem faces a grave threat today. The Ocean Atlas 2017 delivers with its 18 contributions and 50 graphics the relevant facts and figures about the ocean.
