This needs assessment identifies areas in Myanmar’s current environmental governance that should be strengthened to better respond to current and anticipated environmental challenges. The focus is on the effective implementation of the recent Environmental Conservation Law  that provides the general legal framework for environmental conservation in Myanmar and the role of the Environmental Conservation Department (ECD) of the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry (MOECAF) as the main actor responsible for its implementation. Coordination, cooperation and participation of other line ministries and organizations is needed to implement the environmental conservation iunder the Environmental Conservation Law.

The assessment was funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (MFA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Myanmar and carried out by a team of experts from the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and UNDP.

The assessment is based on an extensive review of official and informal documents, available studies and project reports. A large number of interviews were carried out with government officials, development partners and independent experts. Two consultation workshops were organised to engage views of civil society organisations (CSOs) and representatives of the private sector on environmental governance and management in Myanmar. Based on the collected data, the regulatory framework for environmental conservation and management in Myanmar was analysed along with the existing governance arrangements and practices, capacities and resources for its implementation. Recent and ongoing activities by development partners to support the environmental governance in Myanmar have also been covered in the assessment.