Sustainable Yangon

Despite negative reports on the air and water quality, Yangon is recognised as an Environmentally Sustainable City (ESC) under an initiative to compare the environmental merits of respective cities throughout the Asean region.

It is among 10 Asean cities presented the Asean Environmentally Sustainable Cities (ESC) Award, for its exemplary initiatives to keep itself clean, green and liveable, during the Asean Environment Ministers Meeting in Vientiane last week. Others include Thailand’s Chiang Rai, Vietnam’s Hue City, Laos’ Luang Prabang, Palembang in Indonesia, Melaka in Malaysia, and Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei Darussalam.

The awards were presented for the third time this year, after the first two in 2008 and 2011.

Some foreign expats have complained about the environmental condition in the city.

“The city is dusty,” he said. Still, he acknowledged that the city is attempting to improve the quality to match that in Singapore – hailed the most economically developed among Asean nations.

Yangon just unveiled last month a plan for developing Yangon city and its surrounding suburbs over the next 25 years. Including about 80 projects which will cost US$4.5 billion, some would involve public transports and water drainage system.

In any angles, Yangon is different from Laung Prabang, which was also recognised in this round. 

Luang Prabang is small, with a total population of about 452,900, against some 5 million in Yangon. 

While business travellers cannot afford to miss Yangon despite notorious traffic jam, Laung Prabang is a heaven destination for leisure travellers.

According to Vongdavone Vongxayyalath, head of the Luang Prabang Tourism Promotion Department, the province’s efforts to develop a green environment where the air is fresh and easy to breathe help boost tourism. Vongdone believed the award will help attract more tourists to Luang Prabang, with visitor numbers having increased every year after it was voted as the world’s best tourism destination by British travel magazine Wanderlust for three consecutive years from 2006-2008.

The number of overseas visitors to Luang Prabang reached 343,000 people in 2013 and the province has set an ambitious goal for tourist arrivals to hit the 500,000 mark this year. 

Vongdone admitted that Luang Prabang still has more work to do to ensure a sustainable environment and maintain the award next year. To this end, the province will prohibit residents from cutting down mature trees or shrubs and will encourage them to plant more saplings. The department is also cooperating with local communities to encourage them to dispose of their garbage properly and help keep the town clean and beautiful. The department will be cooperating with primary and secondary schools as well as universities to encourage students to learn how much garbage can affect the environment and campaigning for them to lead the recycling effort.

The Asean Initiative on Environmentally Sustainable Cities (AIESC), which was endorsed by the Asean Environment Ministers in 2005, serves to assist Asean cities, especially smaller and rapidly-growing cities, to pursue environmental sustainability. 

The programme covers 25 participating Asean cities. As participating cities of AIESC, regional activities are focused on initiatives in these municipalities, such as to pilot test the revised ESC key indicators for clean air, clean land and clean water.

According to Asean Cooperation on Environment, a unit under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the awards were conceived in 2008 as a way of recognising the exemplary initiatives that have been made to keep Asean cities clean, green, and liveable even as they continue to grow as centres of economic and industrial activity.

Asean is now home to about 600 million people.