In the past according to U Mg Taung, current chairman of Local Conservation Group – LCG, there is no conservation group to protect critical species and monitor illegal fishing along the coastline of Gulf of Mottama. The bird hunters used old-fishing-nets to catch the birds and sold it at the local markets for family income. The bird haunting didn’t happen only in the villages in Paung Township but also in many townships along the coastal areas.
These incidents occurred for many years due to a lack of awareness-raising on biodiversity conservation, law enforcement, and community participation in protecting key species.
Establish Local Conservation Group
Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association – BANCA established a Local Conservation Group - LCG in village level in 2013, these groups included bird hunters and other communities participants according to U Mg Taung.
Following the establishment of LCG, BANCA started to raise awareness about critical endangers of key species and the importance of conserving biodiversity and natural resources. At the same time, it provided livelihood options to bird hunters to change their practices through supporting fishing materials including boats to start their new livelihood in doing fisheries.
Through local arrangements by LCG, BANCA was able to conduct regular patrolling and shorebirds’ surveys and provided training on birds watching and biodiversity conservation.
Current chairman U Mg Taung said that LCG was very active since it had been formed 6 years ago. Many cases had been reported to local authorities for further actions. With financial support from BANCA, it conducted public awareness and education in schools. However, LCG had no proper financial support and source of income to continue except 5000 Kyat monthly member-fee. As a result, many committee members had resigned and become less strong.
In 2018, after having contact with the Gulf of Mottama Project, LCG started to reform and expand its committee members. Following the reform process, it was registered by the Mon State Government under organization registration law and became a legal association on biodiversity conservation.
Biodiversity Law
On 21st May 2018, Union Government of Myanmar issued Biodiversity and Conservation of Protective Area Law which substituted The Protection of Wildlife and Protected Area Law 1994. The law includes 13 sections with a total of 53 articles. In section 3, article 4.a states that the management committee is formed by Minister of Natural Resource and Environment Conservation as chairman including line departments and academia. However, it does not state the role of the State and Regional Governments in this management committee. At the same time, the role of communities and local conservation groups is missing in current law and perhaps it might exclude the grassroots community participation on biodiversity protection and conservation.
According to 2008 constitution, Section (15), Schedule (2) Region or State Legislative List (Refer to Section 188), it does not specify the role of State and Regional Governments have authorized to create Biodiversity and Conservation or Protective Area Law except sector (4.e) Recreation centers, zoological garden and botanical garden.
By looking at all these aspects, the roles, responsibilities, and procedures of the State and Regional Government on the management of biodiversity and conservation of protected areas are questionable. Although the state government has the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment Conservation and line departments such as forest department and environment conservation department, it does not have formal authorization on managing the protection of biodiversity and conservation. It might be difficult for NGOs, INGO and Civil Society Organization which working on biodiversity and conservation to deal with and develop local level policy on this sector.
Role of Coastal Natural Resource Management Committee
May 24th, 2018 with notification no. 56/2018 of the Union Government, the State Level of Coastal Resource Management Committee, which is chaired by Vice Presidents U Myint Swe was formed. The committee was established with 20 representatives from line ministries including chief ministers from Mon state and Bago regional along the coastal area.
Notification letter listed 10 action points for this committee to implement. Among these, action point No.3 stated that this committee is expected to develop the Integrated Coastal Resource Management Program which is acting as guidance documents for further development on policy and strategic planning at Mon state and Bago regional levels.
Action point No.9 described that to support the central committee performance, supporting committee in State/Region and District Level and also establish technical supporting committee need to be formed. Action Point 9 gives decentralized power to state and regional government on the authorization of the establishment of the multi-levels supporting committee. For this aspect, State and Regional Level CRMC should consider including the private sector, communities, and civil society organizations as part of the committee list.
CRMC is the only window for NGOs, INGO and Civil Society Organization to engage with when it comes to the protection of biodiversity and the creation of conservation areas such as marine parks, management zone, and protected areas including the designation of fishery co-management and RAMSAR Site. With the recommendation of CRMC, the proposed agenda will reach to union level for further processing. At the same time, due to Chief Minister is the chairperson for the State and Regional level of CRMC, he/she has the power to make decisions on some area.
What does the Gulf of Mottama Project do to conserve biodiversity and critical species
Outcome 3 of the Gulf of Mottama Project states that “coastal natural resource governance is coordinated and effective, and awareness of the value of the GoMP is raised”. Under this outcome, GoMP set up different targets and objectives. Establishing Local Conservation Group integrated into the Fisheries Development Associations and developing local conservation plans in project villages are key components during the second phase of the Gulf of Mottama Project.
So far, the project has trained focal people from project villages in A Lat Village and provided equipment, technical and financial support for the group to conduct patrolling activities.
Fishery co-management and crab conservation zones were created in the Thaton area with permission from Mon State Government in 2017. Along with establishing fishery co-management, the project facilitated to formation Fisher Development Association which is community-based organizations in township level. This association focuses on fishery management and conservation. With support from the project, the team members of the association do regular patrolling within the co-management area to tackle illegal fishing and conserve nature.
Illegal fishing is a major threat to fisheries in the Gulf of Mottama. Because of this, within 10 years fisheries resource has been decline from 50% to 90% according to research from the International Union of Conservation of Nature. However, due to the effort of FDA and Gulf of Mottama Project, in the current condition, the scale of illegal fishing has declined and the fishery resources are improving.
Likewise, because of regular patrolling in close cooperation with the local conservation group, the coastal communities are aware of biodiversity conservation and the case of bird hunting has dramatically decreased compared to 5 years ago.