Dawei Road could endanger forests and wildlife – Report
Myanmar’s lush rainforests and at least nine globally-threatened species are facing significant risks if the Dawei-Htee Khee road project (“Dawei Road”) continues without a comprehensive biodiversity protection plan, conservation experts warned.
In the report entitled ‘Nature in Peril: The risk to forests and wildlife from the Dawei-Htee Khee Road’, scientists and researchers from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) outlined the risks presented by the Dawei Road to the Dawna Tenasserim (DT) and the proposed steps to mitigate these risks.
The 138-kilometre, two-lane Dawei Road links the Dawei Special Economic Zone to Thailand and runs through the DT, one of the largest stretches of connected forest in Asia which spans the borders of Myanmar and Thailand. The DT is home to an amazing wildlife, pristine forests, and diverse local communities. The landscape serves as safe harbor to 168 mammal species, 568 bird species and thousands of reptile, amphibian, insect, fish and plant species.
