Vice President called on the conservation of coastal areas for socioeconomic development of the country

Vice President U Myint Swe stressed the need to focus on environmental conservation for socioeconomic development of the country, to take measures for reducing climate change and to conserve coastal areas with abundant natural resources.
He made these remarks in his capacity as chairman of the central committee at the 7th Meeting of National Level Central Committee for the Administration and Management of Natural Resources in Coastal Areas, held at the headquarters of the Forest Department in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday morning.
The Vice President first of all acknowledged the implementation of 38 resolutions and 9 ongoing resolutions approved in the six meetings of the central committee thanks to the relevant committees.
He also said that global warning has caused climatic changes which caused various natural disasters, and it has reached the highest records in the previous four consecutive years. The higher global temperatures resulted in thermal expansion of seawater and melting of glaciers and ice sheets, the rise of sea level and large storms, affecting on socio-economy and health of people.

The 2019 UN Climate Action Summit held at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City in September adopted the action portfolios in the six prioritized areas of energy transition, climate finance and carbon pricing, industry transition, natural-based solutions, cities and local action, and resilience adaptation.
The Vice President detailed about the natural-based solutions as this portfolio was directly or indirectly related with the activities of central committee, saying that the 2,832 km long Myanmar coastal areas had abundant mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds, archipelagoes and delta regions. These were the resources for biodiversity to produce food.
The blue carbon was the carbon stored and sequestered in coastal ecosystems such as mangrove forests, seagrass meadows or intertidal saltmarshes.
Mangroves and coastal ecosystems could absorb a massive amounts of greenhouse gas, and these carbons were known as the blue carbon.
As the climate change and conservation of natural resources were directly related to each other, devastation of the latter would cause more carbon emission to affect climate change and devastate natural resources.
Moreover, mangrove deforestation along the coastal areas could cause landslide and sediments damaging habitats of marine lives. Mangrove forestation was better than concrete structure in landslide prevention.
The Vice President also emphasized the ways with least impacts on green economy covering maritime transport, offshore and inland fishing, offshore oil and natural gas exploration.
He added Myanmar was focusing on environmental conservation works in line with the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (2018-2030) that included three pillars and five goals. The third pillar was about the people and planet, while the fifth goal was concerned with natural resources and the environment for prosperity for the nation.
Myanmar signed the Paris Agreement, which was a convention on climate change, to establish 30 per cent of the country as forest area and 10 per cent as protected areas for environmental conservation.
He also said natural resources were the underlying foundations for socioeconomic development of the country, and that Myanmar was focusing on it through environmental conservation, while the nature-based resolutions were aimed to alleviate climate changes.
In his conclusion, the Vice President called for discussions on the implementation of meeting resolutions, challenges and future plans.
Finally, the Vice President gave comments and suggestions to ensure coordination based on discussions made by the members of central committee. The meeting came to a close after his concluding remarks.
The meeting was also attended by the members of central committee Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Dr Aung Thu, Union Minister for Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation U Ohn Win, chiefs ministers of Regions/ States U Myint Maung, U Nyi Pu, U Phyo Min Thein and U Hla Moe Aung, Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation Dr Ye Myint Swe, Deputy Attorney-General U Win Myint, Regions/ States Ministers Dr Saw Nyo Win and Dr Min Kyi Win, Commodore Naval Staff Commodore Zaw Zaw Latt, permanent secretaries, directors-general and officials. — MNA (Translated by Aung Khin)

(The Global New Light of Myanmar: https://www.globalnewlightofmyanmar.com/vice-president-u-myint-swe-calls-for-conservation-of-coastal-areas-for-socioeconomic-development/ )

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