Minister Launches Regional Forest Governance Project in Myanmar

Naypyidaw, Myanmar - Voices for Mekong Forests (V4MF) project was officially launched in Myanmar by H.E U Ohn Win, Minister of the Ministry for Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MoNREC). Co-funded by the European Union, the 5-year project aims to improve forest governance in the Mekong countries by strengthening civil society.

Approximately 50 participants representing the EU, MoNREC, NGOs and civil society organizations participated in the event on 17 May in Naypyidaw. Co-organized by RECOFTC – the Center for People and Forests with the project partners WWF-Myanmar and MERN, this launch event was one in a series of national inception workshop in five Mekong countries that follow-up on the regional launch held in Bangkok in April 2017.

“Deforestation has many causes, but good forest governance is the key to addressing them. Good governance is the main key to achieving sustainable forest management. Without the fundamental principles of participation, transparency and accountability, forest governance will not be effective,” stressed.MonREC Minister U Ohn Win in his opening speech. 

Joining Minister U Ohn Wiin to launch the project were Delphine Brissonneau, EU representative, Dr Kyaw Tint, Chair of MERN and Etienne Delattre, RECOFTC Project Coordinator for V4MF.

The V4MF project's overall objective is to empower non-state actors and enhance their networks in three transboundary landscapes to strengthen forest governance. The project in Myanmar will be implemented in the Dawna Tenasserim landscape area. The project aims to contribute to FLEGT-VPA (the EU Action plan for forest law enforcement, governance and trade - Voluntary partnership agreements) and REDD+ (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation).  

Following the launch, participants took part in the inception workshop where RECOFTC, WWF and MERN, as the main implementing partners in Myanmar, shared project highlights and the proposed workplan. Participants further discussed activities and roles of each national partner to be conducted at the project sites.