The discussions were centred on polder management, tidal river management, sustainable forestry practices and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Ayeyarwady Delta which is the lowest expanse of land in Myanmar. The Delta Experts and Practitioners presented the disaster risks faced by the delata and the measures taken for flood protection in-terms of irrigation and drainage. Improved river system in Ayeyarwady Delta, government’s strategy on management of mangrove forests in the delta and most importantly the Integrated Ayeyarwady Delta Strategy were some of the topics extensively discussed at the meeting. The plenary was held on the last day of the meeting after the two days field visit to Ayeyarwady which gave an insight on polder management and hands on experience to all the topics discussed at the first day of the workshop. The well-attended plenary was a sign of good commitment from government departments and other stakeholders including private sector, non-governmental organisations, Embassy of Netherlands in Myanmar and the National Water Resources Committee, Myanmar on delta coalition in the region.
Myanmar Water Partnership (MWP) and its partners hosted the meeting in collaboration with GWP South Asia. Dr Zaw Lwin Tun, Director, Irrigation and Water Utility Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation who is also the Wing Coordinator of Myanmar Delta Alliance Wing and Representative of MWP lead the organising committee in Myanmar. Prof Monowar Hossain, Executive Director, Institute of Water Modelling and Ms Ismat Ara Pervin, Associate Specialist, Water Resources Planning Division, Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) participated the mission representing the Bangladesh team while Mr Ariel Halpern, Vice President of Procasur Corporation joined the team as a Knowledge Management Expert. Mr Lal Induruwage, Acting Regional Coordinator represented GWP SAS at the meeting.
At the end of these multistakeholder consultations in Bangladesh and Myanmar, the Knowledge Management Expert will map the demand and supply of practical knowledge on Adaptive Delta Management (ADM) in Bangladesh and Myanmar in order to select the most important learning areas, experiences, innovations to learn from each other.
Learning Deltas Asia is an initiative of GWP, set-up in consultation with the Delta Coalition. Asian members of the Delta Coalition include Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam. Other Asian countries i.e. China, Pakistan are expected to join later. The character of Learning Deltas Asia will be South-South cooperation with an important role of the Country Water Partnerships of GWP and its partners.