New DS Project to Prevent Climate Displacement Commences in Myanmar: Establishing the Myanmar National Climate Land Bank

23 May 2017

In Myanmar, land disputes and displacement are widespread and likely to worsen as the effects of climate change increase across the country. Based on DS' many years of experience working in Myanmar, it is clear that without appropriate counter-measures and innovative policies, conflict over land is likely to increase as large numbers of people affected by rising sea levels and worsening storms can no longer remain in their homes along the country’s lengthy coastline and seek to relocate to higher ground. If not managed properly, this process could all too easily result in tension, violence, and even new forms of conflict. In policy terms, therefore, DS strongly believes that there is a pressing need in Myanmar to identify and allocate land at a level commensurate with the scale of present and likely future climate displacement in the development of domestic strategies and laws to address the problem. The establishment of a Myanmar National Climate Land Bank (MNCLB) would act as the central institutional tool in this process. The aim of the MNCLB would be to set up land set-aside programmes of parcels of State land in a bid to prevent land conflict and resolve climate displacement in a rights-based manner…...