Kyi Phyo听- Foundation Renewable Energy and Ecology
Shoon So Oo听-听World Wildlife Fund Myanmar
Chuenchom Greacen听-听independent consultant
Dr.听Chris Greacen听-听independent consultant
Join Zoom Meeting
November 19, 2021
12:00 - 1:30 PM
Co-sponsored by Center听for Asian Studies
Myanmar is one of the least electrified countries in the world. The country鈥檚 Ministry of Energy听and Electricity claims (over estimates?) that 50 percent of the population has been electrified as听of 2020, and the power consumption per capita is about twenty times less than the world听average. For rural households, access to electricity is lower still. Prior to 2011, five decades of听military rule left many communities fending for themselves with regards to electricity, leading to听a number of resourceful innovations. At the same time, the country has been a major exporter of听energy听--with Myanmar in long-term contracts to deliver natural gas through pipelines to听Thailand and China and plans for huge hydroelectric facilities that would primarily export听electricity to China and Thailand. In ethnic minority areas (Shan, Karen, Kareni, Katchin, Mon)听energy projects have been implicated in human rights abuses including deliberate flooding of听villages and forced labor. This talk will explore Myanmar鈥檚 energy situation and how this situation changed during and听after its decade of democracy from 2011 to 2021 followed by the military coup and violent听crackdown; the role of Thailand and China as exploiters of Myanmar energy sources;听Myanmar鈥檚 deployment of clean decentralized energy including community-centered energy听development, and the complicated relationship between states/regions and the union听government vis-a-vis energy development.