The ‘Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalayas (Himalica) Initiative’ facilitated a three-day micro-planning workshop in Kyaung Taung village near Myanmar’s Inle Lake.

Kyaung Taung faces acute water shortages for half of the year and has low soil productivity. These issues are exacerbated by climate change, population growth, and poor land rights.

Thus, three ICIMOD staff and officials from the Himalica project implementing partner Myanmar Institute for Integrated Development brought together representatives from the village to identify short-term and long-term priorities for the village. The goal was to create a micro-plan that would ensure environmental sustainability and improve livelihoods of the community.

After creating a vision for the village, the participants prioritized key issues on which actions could be taken to improve the village and maintain soil productivity. This included an exploration of catchments surrounding the village in order to strategize actionable tasks that the community could undertake now, as well as tasks that may require external assistance.

This is the first of five village micro-plans facilitated by the EU-funded Himalica Initiative in Myanmar. Combined with other interventions in water, capacity building, and value chain, the micro-plans would enable communities to coordinate better among themselves as well as with the government and NGOs, and to adapt to climate change and improve their livelihoods.

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