*Smithsonian Institution and the +US
Environmental Protection Agency
The Smithsonian
Institution’s (SI) main objective in Myanmar is to provide humanitarian aid to protect
the environment and natural resources. Since
1994, SI has conducted training courses for Park Staff in the Ministry of Forestry, and
more recently we have provided projects and foreign co-advisors for PhD students at Yangon
University (YU). Most projects focus on
biological surveys and conservation biology. However,
in December 2003 SI developed collaborative interdisciplinary projects with YU’s Chemistry and Zoology departments to address chemical
contaminant problems and their effects in Myanmar. Discussion
and a field excursion led SI and YU scientists to conclude that agricultural chemicals are
a growing problem in Myanmar. About 70% of
Myanmar’s labor force works in the agricultural sector, with the main products ranging
from rice to fish and fish products. Since the
1960’s total food production in Myanmar has increased 80 fold and the government
continues to encourage higher yields. This
growth in agricultural production is expected to be accompanied by greater use of
agricultural chemicals. As the awareness of
the potency of these chemicals grows, so do their “alternative” uses. In December 2003, SI scientists surveyed pesticide
use in a fishing village in Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary, Upper
Myanmar, and uncovered multiple accounts of killing fish and birds with pesticides. Farmers from a neighboring agricultural village
offered similar stories of pesticide fishing. Villagers
all reported declining fish yields in the last 4 years. We designed a collaborative
project to study Kye-In Lake’s fisheries ecology and
ethno-zoology, and to analyze pesticides in selected parts of the ecosystem. SI is currently developing collaborative grant
proposals that will bring foreign specialists into Myanmar who can train scientists from
YU, provide current scientific information, and help design alternatives for Kye-In fishermen that will assist in achieving a sustainable
fishery.