Protected Area Community Trainings – Myanmar

Under the lead of Dr. Teri Allendorf, Community Conservation is in the midst of a project aimed at involving local communities in the management of 21 protected areas throughout Myanmar.

An incredibly biodiverse country, Myanmar has recently opened to the world and funds are being invested to establish protected areas. It is a critical time to develop a national strategy for Myanmar so that the voices of local communities are included in this process.

In order to do this, we are piloting models of collaborative conservation activities around protected areas in Myanmar through a series of community conservation trainings for people who live near the protected areas. The trainings take place in partnership with local Burmese conservation organization Friends of Wildlife.

We are also preparing a set of recommendations about how best to include community members in protected area management, to be delivered to the government of Myanmar. These pilots will serve as models at a national level for how to improve community livelihoods while also limiting threats to biodiversity. See a video about this project here.