Myanmar’s junta stays quiet as climate change hits
On November 13, as country delegates at the UN climate summit in Egypt, known as COP27, continued their negotiations, Duwa Lashi La, the acting president of the National Unity Government (NUG), Myanmar’s parallel administration, sent a letter to the meeting reaffirming its commitment to reduce climate-warming emissions.
He added that the NUG was working with the people and ethnic resistance forces to protect the environment and lamented the military junta’s unchecked exploitation of the country’s natural resources, which he said has led to flooding and landslides.
On that same day, Khin Maung Yi, the junta-appointed minister of natural resources and environment, toured a protected forest in central Myanmar, inspecting tamarind seedlings and a 20-acre eucalyptus plantation. A small, grainy picture showed a group of masked men in slacks and light-colored shirts looking intently at a signboard.
Thin Lei Win
