4. Energy and Environment

This section covers the following topics: energy infrastructure, air quality, water, waste and soil

Indice

• 4.1. Energy
• 4.2. Air
• 4.3. Water
• 4.4. Waste
• 4.5. Soil

4.1. Energy

World Bank report 1, published in August 2023, on the state of Myanmar's energy infrastructure is emblematically titled “in the dark”.

Myanmar's power sector has been severely impacted by the ongoing political turmoil, with a downward spiral that has worsened since 2021 with prolonged power blackouts across the country. Electricity generation is declining, resulting in a widening gap between power supply and demand. The fallout from damaged power infrastructure due to the conflict has affected the stability of the entire transmission system. Major cities including Yangon , Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw , are facing power cuts while industrial zones across the country are bracing for crippling power cuts and soaring fuel prices.

Dispatching generation capacity has been reduced by more than 2.5 gigawatts (GW), due to various factors, including the suspension of operations of two large liquefied natural gas (LNG) generating plants in Yangon , low rainfall and water levels in hydropower reservoirs, and a shortage of domestic natural gas supplies. In addition, foreign-invested projects to build natural gas-fired power plants totaling more than 2 GW have been suspended. Development of new hydropower and solar PV continues, but progress is slow. Production from domestic gas fields is expected to decline and become depleted in the coming years, and major multinational companies that were developing new offshore gas fields have left the country.

To maximize the total daily energy supply, electricity generation from hydropower plants was increased from mid-2021 to compensate for the lower electricity generation from gas-fired power plants, resulting in a sharp decline in the amount of water available for electricity generation and irrigation in January 2022. Four hydropower units had to be temporarily shut down for maintenance operations in mid-2022, including Myanmar's second largest dam, Shweli-1. This further reduced available capacity and resulted in a severe electricity shortage during the dry season from January to May 2023.

Limited transmission and distribution network capacity also contributes to the electricity shortage. The power grid has been attacked and damaged in the ongoing conflict. Officials said the power grid was attacked 229 times between February 2021 and April 2023. Although the number of conflict-related events on electricity infrastructure has declined from its peak in late 2021 and early 2022, the capacity of the grid remains vulnerable. Additionally, the development of the transmission grid, including interconnection with neighboring countries for energy imports, has not made much progress since 2021.

Several factors are affecting the financial sustainability of the sector, including currency depreciation, rising grid maintenance costs, and declining revenues. After depreciating since 2021, the Myanmar kyat has pushed up hard currency-linked power purchase prices by independent power producers. With the grid damaged, maintenance costs have increased. Additionally, the military takeover has triggered a nationwide boycott of electricity bill payments. The unpaid portion of electricity revenues has increased over time, reaching 45% in November 2021. Although significant deficits are expected in the power sector, increasing revenues from natural gas exports to China and Thailand can contribute substantially to the financial position of the overall power sector, including electricity and fuel. There has been little progress in improving electrification, leaving over four million households without access to electricity. The prospects of achieving universal electricity access by 2030 have dimmed. Between November 2020 and December 2021, the household electrification rate increased from 57.9% to 61.6%, an increase of only 3.7% over a year, compared to an average of 6% per year between 2017 and . Petroleum fuel prices have increased two to three times compared to 2021 due to supply shortages and currency depreciation. Such high fuel prices put pressure on mini-grid operators and companies, further reducing access. Distributed renewable energy is increasingly gaining ground in meeting electricity demand, but supply chains and access to financing are barriers to further growth.

Power outages in Yangon have caused long queues at compressed natural gas refueling stations, directly impacting buses operated by Yangon Bus Services and taxis, resulting in a shortage of public transport services for commuters. Health workers are unable to refrigerate essential medicines and test samples. Most industrial and commercial buildings are running their diesel generators during power outages. These outages are negatively impacting the competitiveness of the low-margin garment sector that dominates the country’s manufactured exports.

Energy demand would require an additional 300-500 MW annually until 2030. Scenario analysis of the energy supply-demand gap shows that available generation capacity is expected to fall short of the growing demand and the gap will be exacerbated by difficulties in mobilizing capital investments in power generation and gas exploration. Keeping transmission and distribution networks running will also be challenging due to financial and human resource constraints. In the medium to long term, domestic gas depletion and difficulties in mobilizing investments in additional generation sources are likely to push the energy sector into an even worse situation.

4.2. Air

According to the World Bank 2, rapid development from 2011 to 2020 has also led to increased air pollution in urban areas. Yangon and Mandalay are experiencing increased urbanization due to rural-urban migration and increasing population density, as urban population growth has outpaced urban growth. In 2017, air pollution was estimated to be responsible for more than 45,000 deaths. As a risk factor for death, air pollution is higher in Myanmar than in other countries in the region, nearly double the average for Southeast Asia. However, real and highly reliable data on air quality in Myanmar is lacking, and arrangements for air quality monitoring and pollution control are still in their infancy.

According to WHO 3, Myanmar faces double pollution, both of outdoor and indoor air. As in many places in Southeast Asia, where electricity and gas are not available, the use of household cooking fuels (kerosene, wood, agricultural waste) contributes to indoor air pollution. Such fuels cause high exposure to pollutants within the household, especially for women, children and the elderly. They also contribute significantly to poor outdoor air quality in nearby communities. Urbanization and transportation exacerbate outdoor pollution. Peak air pollution episodes can result from incidents such as the waste burning at the Htein Bin landfill in April 2018, which affect surrounding communities.

Despite the lack of widespread data, a significant source of pollution and climate-altering emissions is the practice of slashing, a rudimentary method of fertilization obtained by burning fields, still widespread in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Slashing is practiced in the dry season between November and May and produces a blanket that, due to the dry winter monsoons, cannot be cleaned from the air due to the lack of rain. This blanket adds to the suspension of pollutants from China and India and forms the phenomenon called the “Asian Brown Cloud”, clearly visible from satellites since the late 1990s.

In April 2023, the smoke cloud phenomenon was particularly severe, with impacts even in Thailand, where the combined smoke clouds from Myanmar and Laos led to the hospitalization of over 2 million people for respiratory problems 4.

The government elected in 2015 had taken the issue of fires seriously and, in collaboration with the FAO, 5had developed an intervention strategy, but it is not clear how the government of the military junta was able to follow it up, also taking into account that many forested and agricultural areas are conflict zones.

4.3. Water

Myanmar has abundant water resources, which are unevenly distributed in space and time. About 80% of the average annual rainfall of 2,340 mm falls during the monsoon season (May–October) and 20% in the dry season. The drainage basin of Myanmar's eight major river basins is about 737,800 km2, and there are two major natural lakes, Inle Lake and Indawgyi Lake . The constructed reservoirs have a capacity of 15.46 km3. The artificial reservoirs have a capacity of 15.46 km3. The potential volume of groundwater resources in the country is 580 km3, of which the total estimated renewable volume is 1,046 billion m3, and the total inland water resources per capita is 24,046 m3/capita/year 6.

According to 2017 data from the Water and Sanitation Division of the Ministry of Construction 7, 91% of the water used comes from surface water and only 9% from groundwater and is used for 89% in agriculture, 1% by industries and 10% by municipalities; hydroelectric production uses 3% of the available water.

Climate change affects Myanmar in specific ways 8:

• The highly productive areas of the delta and the low-lying coastal areas, where part of the rice cultivation is concentrated, are exposed to seawater intrusion and coastal erosion due to rising sea levels, whose salinity reduces crop yields.

• Ayeyarwady basin , rising temperatures lead to droughts, such as the severe drought of 2009 that affected major cereal crops, and desertification. In 2010, a severe drought reduced water supplies to villages across the country and destroyed agricultural crops of peas, beans, pulses, sugarcane, tomatoes and rice.

• Flooding is also a growing problem. In October 2006, the Zawgyi River overflowed its banks, causing extensive crop damage. Heavy rains from July to October in 2011 caused flooding in Ayeyawady and Bago regions of Mon and Rakhine states , resulting in the loss of an estimated 1.7 million tonnes of rice. In the delta region, mangroves have been cut down to make way for shrimp farming, making the land more vulnerable to rising sea levels.

• Additionally, excessive rainfall severely erodes soil, causing excessive sedimentation in water in Rakhine State in 2010 , which further damaged rice seedlings and reduced yields.

• Cyclone Mocha made landfall in Myanmar on May 14, 2023, as a Category 4 storm, bringing winds of up to 250 km/h, heavy rain, storm surges, flash flooding and landslides. It is the strongest cyclone to hit the Bay of Bengal in the past 10 years and has caused significant damage to people's homes, infrastructure and energy and water services; the World Bank estimates the total damage at US$2.24 billion, or 3.4% of Myanmar's GDP 9.

The National Water Policy 10, published in 2015, Myanmar should complete the integrated national water resources management system by 2040. The programmatic document, while recognizing the autonomy of the States and Regions of the Union, identifies the need to develop a national Directive, implement national standards and clearly define the responsibilities of the bodies involved and the interstate and interregional coordination mechanisms. The Document also provides that each State and Region of the Union establish a Water Authority that defines and modulates the tariffs of the water system, with the indication that they are based on volumetric principles and that they encourage the reuse and recycling of water.

According to the premise of Myanmar National Waste Management Strategy and Master Plan 2018-2030 11, inadequate wastewater management and sanitation, combined with insufficient investment in preventive healthcare, have posed significant challenges to the environment and human health.

The research underlying the Strategy found that large resettlement areas in Yangon , Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw have urban sanitation services well below acceptable levels, with the situation worse in other regions and poor areas of the country. With the exception of central districts, none of Myanmar’s three major cities have centralized wastewater collection and treatment systems and sewerage: domestic wastewater is usually released into storm drains and natural waterways.

In Yangon , it was observed that only six areas of the city (which are home to 7% of the total population) have sewage and sewage waste managed in connection with drainage and activated sludge treatment plants. For other parts of the city, septic tank waste is transported by vacuum trucks to designated treatment basins.

In Mandalay, septic tank sewage is collected by vacuum trucks and disposed of in an oxidation pond on the grounds of Ayeyatenyein Cemetery, Kyar Ni Kan Village , Patheingyi Township (Old) and Patheingyi Township (New). The residual sludge after evaporation is used as fertilizer. In addition, all industries that produce wastewater have built temporary individual treatment systems to connect and dispose of liquid waste via a 10-inch drainage pipe which is then connected to the Dohte River Hta Waddy without any preventive treatment.

To Nay Pyi Taw there is a centralized sewage and sewerage treatment plant in Wannatheikdeed ward which comprises 110 units and a population of 10,000. The treatment plant uses an anaerobic microorganism system and a chlorination process before discharging the treated water into Bukwe Creek.

Before the February 2021 coup, the Burmese government was working on several policy developments:

• drafting of the national surface water quality standard.

• Implementation of the project on capacity building in the enforcement and promotion of environmental compliance.

• Establishment of a national water quality monitoring system and construction of the national laboratory to enhance the national capacity of water quality management in Myanmar.

It remains to be seen how the military junta intends to follow up on its policies and strategies, while several non-governmental organizations involved in environmental and social assistance projects, launched during the period of the democratically elected government, report that the environmental situation and climate risks are generally worsening, both due to the spread of conflicts and due to the country's 12economic difficulties 13.14

4.4. Waste

According to the premise of the Myanmar National Waste Management Strategy and Master Plan 2018-2030 15, Waste in Myanmar comes from various sources, including households, commercial establishments, institutions, public areas, hospitals, and industries. Myanmar’s rapid industrialization and urbanization, which have accompanied economic growth, along with gradual changes in consumption and production patterns, have created enormous challenges in managing waste generation from all these different sectors. According to the policy document, there is currently no accurate and reliable data on total waste generation in the country and the document is based on the World Bank’s 2012 estimates that solid waste generation in Myanmar was 5,616 tonnes/day, with a per capita waste generation of 0.44 kg/day. This figure is expected to reach approximately 21,012 tonnes/day with 0.85 kg/capita/day by 2025. However, the policy paper also reports that more recent estimates show that Myanmar was already producing around 20,000 tonnes of solid waste per day in 2017, and that average waste generation in two major cities, Yangon and Mandalay, was around 0.8 kg per capita per day, with an expected growth of up to 1.0 kg per capita per day in 2025.

According to a study 16published in early 2019 by the Korean Society of Environmental Engineers , In Myanmar, the provision of waste collection and disposal services are managed by the responsible governments independently. Municipal waste collection systems in Myanmar's cities can largely be considered labor-intensive, relying on both manual workers and unskilled vehicles. Waste collection methods in Myanmar include door-to-door waste collection, kerbside bin collection, street dump collection, temporary storage system collection and street sweeping. The collection efficiency of major cities in Myanmar is estimated to be about 92%, however, the average for the country as a whole is estimated to be about 45%. The composition of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Myanmar includes organic waste (54%), plastic (16%), paper/cardboard (8%), glass (7%), metals (8%) and others (7%). The organic fraction in major cities, especially Yangon and Mandalay, is comparatively higher than that of the country as a whole. Currently, open dumping is the main waste disposal method in Myanmar, accounting for about 85% of the country's total waste disposal methods. The country's recycling sector is still developing, with an estimated recycling rate of only about 2% of the country's total waste, and waste collection is mostly managed informally.

According to a study 17published in December 2020 by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (Japan) and based on data from the Burmese government, approximately 28% of municipal waste in Myanmar leaks directly into the environment, polluting waterways and the air. Open burning is a common method to reduce the volume of waste in landfills, with approximately 10% of all municipal waste being burned after final disposal. Smaller cities typically make greater use of this practice, but rural communities in particular rely primarily on burning to manage their disposed waste. The Ayeyarwady River is estimated to carry approximately 100 tonnes of plastic waste per day.

At the Union level, solid waste management is overseen by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC). Specifically, the Pollution Control Division (PCD) of the Department of Environmental Conservation (ECD) is responsible for overseeing national waste management policies, strategies, and legislation. However, the PCD currently has no dedicated field staff to monitor solid waste management practices, and there are no monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanisms at the national or regional levels to implement standards or reforms. MONREC has adopted the National Waste Management Strategy and Master Plan (NWMSAP), developed through a consultative process with multi-sectoral cooperation, released in 2019 and officially adopted by the Office of the President in January 2020. The NWMSAP was built on the same model as the Mandalay City Waste Management Plan, released in late 2017 and developed in collaboration with the guidance of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Government of Japan. The NWMSAP cites Myanmar’s 2012 Environmental Conservation Act, which assigns MONREC the role of the agency “responsible for formulating national or regional strategies and action plans related to environmental conservation and management.” The document also proposes that all local and state/regional governments be required to develop their own waste management strategies. As of 2019, at least one jurisdiction ( Mon State) had prepared its own SWMSAP, with support from the UNDP. Some smaller cities have also started developing local waste management plans, although they tend to be less ambitious or strategic than the national plan.

In the three main cities ( Yangon , Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw ), the responsibility of Municipal Solid Waste falls under the Sanitation Department of each respective City Development Committee (CDC).

MSW in secondary cities are the responsibility of local municipal authorities called Development Affairs Organization (DAO).

The jurisdiction of the Municipalities covers only urban districts. Each state and region of Myanmar is divided into Districts, which in turn are divided into “ townships ” (from a dimensional point of view they correspond to the Italian Regions). In turn, the townships are composed of “ wards ”, that is, urban and peri-urban areas, each of which has its own Administrative unit, and by “ overvillages ”, that is, communities of rural villages. The DAOs do not have jurisdiction over the overvillages , which therefore remain largely uncovered for the infrastructural needs of the MSW. However, the Rural Development Department (DRD) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation ( MoALI ) is gradually assuming the responsibility of addressing waste management in rural areas.

The funds are up to the Municipal Corporations to raise, although smaller cities may receive more significant support from state and regional governments. Major sources of revenue for larger cities include auctions of monopoly licenses (e.g. slaughterhouses), business permits, property taxes, income tax revenue sharing (5% of income tax collected), and transfers from Union, State and Regional governments.

Cities struggle to cover the costs of waste collection. Property tax revenues are extremely low and most municipal “Cleaning Departments” have historically run large operating deficits, despite Myanmar’s low waste collection costs compared to neighboring countries. A UNDP analysis for Rakhine and Mon States concludes that collection costs per tonne are 8,000 MMK (~4.50 EUR in 2020) and 5,000 MMK (~2.90 EUR in 2020), respectively. In small cities like Magway , it has been estimated that collecting and disposing of one ton of waste costs around 8,500 MMK (4.93 EUR in 2020), while in Mandalay City, operating cost estimates range between around 15,000 MMK (~8.7 EUR in 2020) and 20,000 MMK (11.6 EUR in 2020) per ton. Since residents typically pay a minimal percentage of income in taxes or fees that cover waste collection services, the burden is largely borne by already strained municipal budgets (when capital expenditures are included, the deficit becomes even larger). In general, the Department of Sanitation’s “revenue” from property taxes in secondary cities tends to cover only 20% or less of operating expenses. Municipalities are effectively subsidizing waste collection from their general budget, thus limiting resources for the provision of other essential services.

4.5. Soil

In the text of the National Waste Management Strategy and Master Plan, the word “soil” appears only 8 times, while the word “water” appears 35 times, which is indicative of how Myanmar is still in its infancy in managing and protecting soil and subsoil pollution.

There are several studies on land degradation, all related to agricultural practices and, in fact, the topic of land degradation is mainly present in the strategic planning of the agricultural sector (among others, Myanmar National Action Plan for Food and Nutrition Security, Myanmar Climate-Smart Agriculture Strategy, Myanmar Rice Sector Development Strategy, Food Value Chain Roadmap ) , as a problem related to erosion, fertility and salinity.

On 29 December 2015, Myanmar’s National Environmental Quality Guidelines were released 18, which focuses on emissions from different sectors and does not include soil.

The Environmental Impact Assessment of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone 19, produced in 2013, used the reference parameters of the Japanese legislation for soil and sediment quality analyses.