Myanmar’s Greatest Challenge and Asset: Human Capacity

By: San Win, Current PHD candidate in Environmental Technology, King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi, Thailand

After 18 years (1994 to 2012) of experience in forestry at the Forest Department (FD) in Myanmar, my fortune has been turned into the field of environment’s much broader scope. I decided to serve at the Environmental Conservation Department under the same Ministry of Environmental Conservation. Currently, I work in the field of climate change in terms of negotiation, researching, project formulation, implementation, and awareness raising. It is a very important and interesting field but complicated and filled with uncertainty, arguments, policy negotiations, issues with support and commitments among the policy makers, scientists, researchers, observers, business, multi-medias, and politicians. On the other hand, several scientific findings and natural disasters, under the theoretical frame work of climate change impacts, are alarming us. Humans are increasingly trying to tackle climate change under the umbrella of the UNFCCC since about half a century ago, although challenges remain.