Amid political upheaval, the COVID-19 crisis and ongoing fighting between the military and civilian resistance fighters and ethnic armed groups, the junta is quietly attempting to pave the way for the implementation in Myanmar of China’s strategic infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Category: Myanmar
EU sanctions no ‘silver bullet’ against Myanmar’s illegal timber trade, experts say
Local activists are urging the international community to do more as globally significant tracts of forests in the country come under threat, with illicit logging financing the military’s repressive rule.
Calls for sanctions to prevent illegal teak entering the UK
The UK Government is being urged to impose sanctions on Myanmar Timber Enterprises (MTE), the state-run regulator responsible for timber exports, to prevent illegal teak from entering the UK. Myanmar teak is highly prized in the boat building industry.
Chinese Casino City in Myanmar Recruiting Despite COVID-19 Crisis
The US$15-billion (25 trillion kyats) “Myanmar Yatai Shwe Kokko Special Economic Zone” is due to cover nearly 12,100 hectares, stretching 19km along the border.
Myanmar’s electricity sector crippled since military coup
nce the source of the electricity is largely hydropower and domestically produced gas, there are few implications for foreign currency depletion.
In Mekong region, drug trade thrives
Seventy-one percent of the record seizure of 169 tonnes of methamphetamine in East and Southeast Asia in 2020 were in these five Mekong countries: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam,
Resources & power in Myanmar
Even if democracy returns to Myanmar, it is not guaranteed it will ensure the rights of ethnic people living in the resource-rich areas, that have to date only seen the adverse impacts of their extraction.
Asiatic black bear habitat to shrink by area the size of Belgium
The study projected that in China and Myanmar, suitable habitat will decline by around 30% and 50% respectively under the RCP 4.5 climate change scenario.
Endangered species are paying the price of COVID-19
For months, we’ve been researching the uptick in logging and poaching, which are gradually emptying out the forests here in Cambodia as well as neighboring Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. And for communities on the edges of wildlife-rich forests, exploiting these resources is increasingly a matter of survival.