Dr. AUNG THAN OO – As Myanmar’s monsoons grow erratic and cyclones intensify, the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss threaten the livelihoods of rural communities. From 21 to 22 May 2025, Myanmar Youth Foundation (MYF) answered that call with the workshop: Community-Led Climate Adaptation & Resilience Planning, aligned with the International Day for Biological Diversity theme.
Through youth leadership and local knowledge, MYF illuminated how healthy ecosystems are the bedrock of food security, clean water and disaster resilience. Over two days in Mayangone, Yangon, 120 participants—farmers, women’s groups, local officials, financiers and NGOs—co-designed adaptation blueprints that knit biodiversity conservation into every intervention.
Workshop Highlights
Day 1: Mapping Vulnerabilities & Ecosystems
Participants split into township teams, using multi-user digital whiteboards and participatory GIS to overlay:
– Climate risks (flood corridors, drought hotspots, cyclone tracks)
– Key habitats (riverine forests, rice-fallow wetlands, community woodlots)
– Critical ecosystem services (pollination zones, aquifer recharge areas)
This exercise surfaced urgent needs—soil erosion at riverbanks, pollinator declines in horticulture plots, watershed degradation upstream—and sparked spirited debates on solutions rooted in local traditions, from silt-trap ponds to fruit-tree windbreaks.
Day 2: Co-Designing Action & Financing Models
Building on those insights, thematic teams drafted **Adaptation Action Packages (AAPs)** featuring:
– Agroforestry corridors planted with native nitrogen-fixing trees
– Rainwater gardens and micro-irrigation linked to village-owned water funds
– Soil-health cooperatives trading bio-char and compost
In parallel, finance clinics introduced community seed-bank funds, watershed enterprise grants and micro-credit products co-developed with Small Farmers Development Bank. By workshop’s end, each township had a bankable pilot package—about USD 25,000 of mixed grants and loans—to launch in the 2025 monsoon season.
Driving SDG Impact
This workshop accelerates four key SDGs:
SDG 13: Climate Action
Tailored adaptation plans cut local climate risks through nature-based solutions.
SDG 15: Life on Land
Restoration of native flora and fauna sits at the heart of each AAP, reviving ecosystem functions.
SDG 2: Zero Hunger
Resilient agro-ecological systems safeguard rice and vegetable yields against extreme weather.
SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Cross-sector alliances between youth networks, government, banks and NGOs ensure collective ownership and resource mobilisation.
By foregrounding biodiversity, the workshop also touches SDG 6 (Clean Water)—through community water funds—and SDG 8 (Decent Work)—by seeding nature-based enterprises in rural townships.
“When our farmers see their living roots restored—mangroves along streams, fruit trees on slopes—they grasp that resilience is woven with every species,” reflects Dr Aung Than Oo, MYF Executive Director. “Youth are the catalysts: they blend digital maps with ancestral wisdom to craft solutions no single agency could deliver.”
From Plans to Practice ways of action
MYF will support pilot roll-out in three townships beginning July 2025, offering technical coaching, monitoring tools and seed grants. A policy brief co-authored with local administrations will recommend incentives—tax rebates for reforestation plots, match-funding for bio-enterprises—and guide township councils in embedding AAPs into annual budgets.
A Youth Resilience Network of 150+ champions will gather quarterly—online and in the field—to share progress, troubleshoot challenges and scale successful models across Myanmar’s delta, uplands and peri-urban belts.
Looking Ahead
By catalysing community-driven adaptation anchored in biodiversity, MYF’s workshop sets a new standard for youth-led climate action. As we celebrate International Day for Biological Diversity, our message is clear: nurturing harmony with nature isn’t optional—it’s how we secure sustainable development for every village, every farm and every future generation.
Connect on social media with **#BiodiversityDay**, **#YouthClimateSolutions**, **#MYFResilience
Together, we can turn local wisdom into global impact—and prove that when communities lead, nature and development thrive side by side.
