Chindwin Basin Biodiversity Faces Serious Threats, Urgent Conservation Measures Needed, Say SEI’s Scientists
SEI scientists say Myanmar’s rapid economic development threatens the Chindwin Basin’s flora and fauna and the local livelihoods dependent on these resources. Implementing a host of conservation measures can save these valuable natural resources.
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The Chindwin Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (CBES) study, a two-year assessment by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), found that the Chindwin Basin’s rich biodiversity is under threat from mining, roads, logging, plantations, and the expansion of urban and agricultural areas. The most serious threat is unregulated and environmentally destructive mining, which is contaminating tributaries and lakes and polluting the main stem of the Chindwin River.
Unlike its neighbours in the Mekong Region, Myanmar still has abundant biodiversity. The Chindwin Basin, in particular, contains a wealth of biological diversity across its 114,000 square kilometres. The CBES study found that almost two-thirds of the basin is still covered in dense forest, sustaining diverse ecosystems from upland rainforests to riverine lowlands and seasonally flooded wetlands.
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Saving the Chindwin’s Biodiversity
