FrontierMyanmar

THE IMPACT on Myanmar of the coronavirus outbreak that began in neighbouring China late last year has hit border trade and tourism hard, and there were reports last week that the garment sector was also being affected by supply-chain disruptions. As of February 17, Myanmar was monitoring ...

IN 2019, more than 1.3 million people in Southeast Asia were infected with dengue fever. The cyclical epidemic was exacerbated by poor state health infrastructure and constraints on access, as well as climate change and the increased movement of goods and people. In this context, and ...

For nearly two decades following its 1994 ceasefire, the Kachin Independence Organisation built up a business empire that intertwined formally with the state. The vehicle for many of these businesses is Buga Co Ltd, which the KIO’s economic department registered with the Directorate of Investment and ...

When Charcoal burners began casting covetous eyes over the mangrove forest next to coastal Kanyin Chaung village in Tanintharyi Region, its residents joined forces to protect a natural resource that had served their community for generations. The threat emerged in about 2005 and it worried the ...

The death toll from a landslide triggered by monsoon rains in eastern Myanmar rose to at least 41, an official said late Saturday, as emergency workers continued for a second night their desperate search through thick mud for the scores feared missing. A huge brown gash ...

While social media campaigns can and do attract significant support online, rarely do they translate into real-world action on this scale. That an estimated 6,000 demonstrators marched to the Criminal Investigation Department office in Yangon’s Insein Township on July 6 speaks to the growing concern over the ...

The impact of climate change in Myanmar is likely to be immense and will play out in multi-dimensional ways. Beyond that, though, it is difficult to predict. In remote, upland areas of the country that are controlled or influenced by ethnic armed groups, political, economic and ...

Foreign investors should distance themselves from hotel projects being developed around the ancient temples of Bagan in apparent violation of planning rules. It now seems likely that the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will approve Myanmar’s application to have Bagan ...

Life’s hard for the salt farming communities in the far south of Ayeyarwady Region, where services are basic, food is scarce and debt is never-ending. It’s a 90-minute motorbike journey south from the Ayeyarwady delta town of Labutta before you get the first glimpses of the ...

Electricity prices need to rise before the government can move forward with plans to meet demand for next hot season, a senior Ministry of Electricity and Energy official says. With many areas of the country suffering from crippling power cuts, the ministry earlier this month announced ...