10 th June 2013, Taungyi, Shan State. A very good morning;

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1 Speech by H.E. U Sai Aik Paung, Minister for Forestry and Mining of Shan State Government at the Opening Ceremony of Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Lake Conservation Management Practices A very good morning; 10 th June 2013, Taungyi, Shan State Ministers of Shan State Government, Her Excellency Ann Ollestad, Ambassador to Union of Myanmar of Royal Norwegian Government, Country Director of UNDP and representatives of the UN agencies in Myanmar, Representatives of the State Hluttaw, International Experts on Natural Lake Management, representatives of NGOs and INGOs, participants from various Ministries of Government of Myanmar and those who attend to this occasion; I would like you blessed with both personal and physical well-beings. First of all, I would like to thank for having this wonderful opportunity to be here with you and to address at this opening ceremony on the Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Lake Conservation Management Practices. The two main objectives of today s workshop are - To enhance the understanding of the Inlay Lake stakeholders on the governance structures, coordination mechanisms and mandate and responsibilities of the natural lake management and - To identify possible options for the Inlay Lake Management. As you may be aware, Inlay Lake is blessed with diverse landscapes comprised of lands, forests, water bodies and moderate weather while it is a unique and highly valued cultural and historical area and of socioeconomic importance in the country. Therefore government of Myanmar committed to conserve and rehabilitate the Lake as a national responsibility contributing substantial effort.

2 2 Within last decades, situation of the lake had been considerably deteriorating due to various causes which had accumulated over years. But we can analyze the fact that the root causes of the deterioration of the lake stem from regions changes in socioeconomic basis and climate change. Even though there were records of a variety of lake conservation efforts in the past by various organizations, the environmental deterioration of the lake and its environs continued. There might be a lot of reasons but the weaknesses of past efforts we have appraised are, there were not enough evaluation on root causes of the problems before project or programme implementation; using reactive means in solving the problems rather than using of proactive means; instead of integrated approach, practicing of single approaches; hardly practiced the ways of free, prior and informed consent of local communities; rarely considered the livelihood improvement activities for the communities; and weakness in extension of environmental conservation of the lake. In 2010, the historic drought occurred in and around the lake and local communities suffered economic and communication hardships, and wetland ecosystems of lake were also affected seriously. To make quick response to the problem, government of Myanmar made several concerted efforts. The efforts inter alia were formation of a National Level Committee on Sustainability of Inlay Lake and Environmental Conservation. Under this committee, led by Director General of Forest Department a team was organized with a view to formulation of 5 Year Action Plan on Sustainability of Inlay Lake and Environmental Conservation. To set the suitable activities in the Action Plan, a subsidiary body for supporting the Plan Formulation Team was also formed with technicians, scientists and practitioners from research institutions, universities, NGOs and INGOs. The plan was formulated with full participation of related stakeholders practicing the Project Cycle Management Method, including stakeholder s consultation workshops with separate focus groups. The Action Plan was commenced its implementation activities in 2010 with confirmation of government of Myanmar. For your information, the plan comprised of 5 major outputs in combination with 35 detail activities. The 5 out puts were watershed conservation for preserving water body of the lake, soil erosion and sedimentation

3 3 prevention, extension and capacity building through technical cooperation with various organizations, biodiversity conservation, and improvement of socio-economic status of local communities. The plan practiced approach of zoning in the names of Remote Area Zone, Buffer Zone and Core Zone. Action Plan was formulated with feedbacks from strength and weakness of past projects or programmes and ongoing projects, and in effect, the plan received considerable supports from related stakeholders including major stakeholder of local communities. To support fulfilling objectives of the Action Plan, UNDP is participating by implementation of Conservation and Rehabilitation of Inlay Lake Project with generous financial support of Royal Norwegian Government. In addition, with financial support of Royal Norwegian Government, the IID and UN-Habitat also receptively formulated long term Lake conservation Plans which are Inlay Lake Conservation Project A plan for the Future and Long Term Restoration and Conservation Plan of Inle Lake through their competent research and survey activities. In this connection, on behalf of the Ministry of Environmental Conservation Forestry, my sincere thanks are due to IID, UN HABITAT, and the Government of Norway for their technical and financial assistants. Today s meeting agenda is observed interesting, because the various international experts are going to share their valuable knowledge and insights on natural lake management in their respective countries. Moreover, panel and group discussions are arranged so that specific outcomes are achieved in formulation of a sustainable governance system for Inlay Lake. Therefore, I would like to encourage all experts and officials of Myanmar who are attending this occasion, to make their great contribution in the course of workshop so as to introduce the proper governance system for Inlay Lake in the near future for sustainable management of the Lake. The nature of conservation and management of the Lake are long term and ongoing, as you have understood. It is needed to practice integrated approach rather than single ones

4 4 focusing on biodiversity conservation, integrity of the Lake Environment and livelihood improvement of local communities. The activities should be based on demand driven and used the programme approach instead of project approach. Those approaches should be also underpinned to scientific background and knowledge accrued from action research activities. On the one hand, capacity building to local communities, staff from government agencies and members of CSOs and NGOs is a prerequisite to success of the activities. The climate change is a critical problem which makes a lot of challenges to endeavoring sustainable development of the entire world. The developing countries with mountainous areas, dry land and coastal areas are very vulnerable to this problem. As all of mentioned critical regions exist in Myanmar, it is needless to say that Myanmar is very vulnerable to climate change induced problems. Inlay Lake is, as evidenced recently, very vulnerable to climate change. Therefore the activities relevant to resilience and adaptation to climate change of local people have to be taken into strong consideration in the future implementation activities. On behalf of the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry, I would like to express words of thanks to those who are involved in implementation of respective projects for the sustainability of Inlay Lake and environmental conservation. I would like to also sincerely appreciate responsible persons from concerned ministries and experts form UNDP, IID, UN-Habitat for their time, expertise and tireless efforts to participate in implementation of ongoing projects and formulation of long term plans for Inlay Lake conservation. I am grateful to Her Excellency Ann Ollestad, the ambassador to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar of Royal Norwegian Government for her excellent supports on Myanmar s Development Activities. In conclusion, on behalf of the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry my gratitude goes to His Excellency, Chief Minister of Shan State Government, Her Excellency Ann Allistad and Country Director of UNDP Myanmar for your kind

5 5 presence at this workshop. In the last but not the least, I am grateful to Ministers and Members of Shan State Government, International Lake Management Experts, representatives of the UN agencies in Myanmar, members of NGOs, INGOs and CSOs for their participation to accomplish this workshop, today, with a success, here in Taungyi. Now, I would like to conclude by encouraging all of you to actively participate in discussion for the fruitful outcome of Inlay Lake Conservation and Sustainable Management. Thank you very much all.