The fisheries and aquaculture sector in Myanmar is critically important to the country’s food and nutrition security and economy. Climate change is forecast to have a significant impact on the sector. For capture fisheries (marine and inland) these impacts include changes in sea surface temperature, higher inland water temperature, changes in ocean currents, changes in the frequency of El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, sea level rise and changing levels of rain and water availability. The aquaculture sector is also exposed to hazards such as salt-water intrusion, flooding of ponds, shortages in water supply, invasive species and ad hoc development planning altering local ecosystem dynamics and undermining their resilience, integrity and functionality.

To help address these challenges the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN in cooperation with MOALI and MONREC kicked-off the implementation of a project entitled ‘FishAdapt-Strengthening the adaptive capacity and resilience of fisheries and aquaculture-dependent livelihoods in Myanmar,’ through an Inception Workshop held in Nay Pyi Taw on 14 June 2017. The GEF – LDCF funded project aims to assist government to enable inland and coastal fishery and aquaculture stakeholders to adapt to climate change by understanding and reducing vulnerabilities, piloting new practices and technologies, and sharing information.

The workshop was attended by close to 70 participants from MOALI, MONREC, NGOs, INGOs private sector, local traders and fishers. The workshop served as a venue to review the project’s history, framework and activities, as well as share recent work or experiences from within the sector in an effort to update and enhance the project’s activities.

“This project FishAdapt is focusing very specifically for fishery sector mainly on the development of adaptation strategy/ways and means in order to enhance adaptive capacity and facilitate developing climate resilient for Myanmar fisheries and aquaculture dependent people from climate change challenges” said Dr. Aung Thu, Union Minister, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation. “This is very important event for us particularly to enter the implementation phase mainly on the ground/field work for technical transfer and capacity development for fishery communities and all related stakeholders,” he furthered.

Over the years, the FAO has also worked closely with the Government of Myanmar and the fisheries and aquaculture sector in developing the sector and responding to emergencies impacting it.

"Over the years, FAO has worked closely with the Government of Myanmar and the fisheries and aquaculture sector in developing the sector and responding to emergencies impacting it.” said Ms Xiaojie Fan, FAO Representative in Myanmar. “FAO has been privileged to be asked by the government of Myanmar to assist in the development and implementation of this project (FishAdapt)” she added.

The project has four main components: strengthen regulatory and policy frameworks to facilitate the adaptive capacities of the fisheries and aquaculture sector; enhanced critical adaptation practices demonstrated by fishers and fishing communities in vulnerable coastal and inland water regions; develop and apply adaptation models to strengthen the resilience of Myanmar’s aquaculture sector to the impacts of climate change, and knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation, training and scaling up adaptation practices, lessons learned development and dissemination; and will run until 2021.