In this presentation, the Stockholm Environment Institute presents are green infrastructure solutions to aid the resilience and sustainability of development of the Chindwin River Basin in Myanmar.

1. Green Infrastructure:
Complementary solutions to resilience and
sustainability of development of the Chindwin
River Basin in Myanmar (?)
Dr. Chayanis Krittasudthacheewa
Stockholm Environment Institute
Special Session 7: Green infrastructure: nature based solutions to resilience and sustainability in the
development Mekong countries, WLE Mekong Forum 2015, Phnom Penh

2. CONTENT
1. Why Chindwin River Basin?
2. Priority green
infrastructure measures
may be promoted to
complement with other
measures
3. What are the challenges to
be overcome?
Sandbags and pumping machines are used to
protect Monywa from flood, Sep 2015
Decreasing water depth made the navigation
difficult in Uru river, Chindwin River Basin,
May 2015

3. 1. Why Chindwin River Basin?
• Chindwin is a largest tributary of
Myanmar’s chief river the Ayeyarwady
(catchment area: 114,000 km2, length:
900 km).
• Expanding multiple uses of water
resources from different sectors (e.g.
navigation, mining, agriculture,
hydropower, urban)
• Facing several water related challenges:
climate variability, floods, decreasing dry
season water level, sedimentation, bank
erosion, water quality degradation
• Concepts of living with the nature and
using local materials are recognized and
practiced by local government and
communities

4. High variability in climate requires the solutions that
are robust to both too much or too little water.
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Monthly Rainfall (mm)
River Flow (cubic meters/s)
Monthly rainfall and streamflow in Chindwin River Basin
Dry months Wet months Dry months
- Flood in rainy season vs.
drought in dry season
- Dry zone area in the
lower (southern) part of
the basin
- Economic loss from
2015 flood is highest in
Chindwin basin,
Myanmar

5. Living with flood: current adaptation in
Chindwin Basin
1. How to build the houses?
2. Where to build the houses?
But how high is enough in
each area?
Suspended houses to prevent
flood damage
Homalin, September 2015: just houses on
the river levees remained above water

6. Living with flood: different design of
floating houses in Chindwin Basin

7. 27.9
31.5
35.3
38.3 37.3
30.9
34.4 33.6 33.3 32.1
29.8
27.6
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
Average daily maximum temperature – Monywa
http://www.monywa.climatemps.com/temperatures.php
In the dry zone of Chindwin Basin, the rural villages often
have more tree cover than built area, in order to provide
thermal comfort for high maximum daily temperatures.
Living in the dry zone: Tree shade in villages in
Chindwin Basin

8. Dec 1973
Bluff on the border
of the river valley
Feb 1989
Erosion areas from
1973 to 1989
Jan 2001
1973
1989
Deposited areas
Eroded areas
2014
Erosion
(2001 to 2014)
Erosion
(2001 to 2014)
Monywa
Pakokku Myingyan
Dynamic change in river geomorphology in Chindwin requires the solutions
that are robust in short and long terms

9. Living with dancing Chindwin River: Relocation
River Bank Erosion Forces Hundreds
of Families to Relocate – “The
Irrawaddy” – 3 Sep 2013
Two villages in Kachin to relocate due
to soil erosion – “Eleven”
19 Jul 2014
Bank erosion along Chindwin River (Chayanis, April 2014)
Ayeyarwady Bank Erosion. Photo: Sei Tun / UNESCAP (2013)
http://www.irrawaddy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/8.-Pic-
Irrawaddy-river-erosion1.jpg
• Entire villages are being destroyed
by river bank erosion
• Families lose their lands and
houses
• Bank erosion brings risk to
infrastructure – bridges and water
pumping stations

10. Living with dancing Chindwin River: Protecting the
river bank by sand bags and bamboo breakwater
Sandbags (local
material) and cement
plates to protect bridge
from bank erosion –
Homalin Township
Villagers build bamboo
breakwaters to protect
banks – Homalin Township
But these do not last for many years

11. 2. Priority green infrastructure measures may be
promoted to complement with other measures
River Bank Erosion:
1. A geomorphological study and remote
sensing zoning of bank erosion risk to
advise on:
• Planning for land use to avoid the areas
with a higher risk
• Identifying the priority areas that need
to be protected
2. Seeking green infrastructure measures to
complement with other options such as:
• Conserving or regenerating forests on
river banks
• Using agroforestry riparian buffers
• Bank slope stabilization by various
methods
3. Manage human activities that might cause
bank erosion
Riverbank mining in Uru River, Chindwin Basin
Deforestation for banana. Location: Chindwin
river, Kaw Yar village, Homalin Township

12. Zoning of Bank Erosion Areas
• Lower risk for bank erosion to build
the house or other infrastructures
(bridges, pumping, etc.) in the green
areas that have been stable over the
decades
• In the red areas of the map, the river
keeps “dancing” (changing its course)
along the years
• If we build a village or a
infrastructure in that zone, the
river may come back again and
destroy it

13. Potential green Infrastructure measures: land
use management
Conserving or reforesting the forest
along the riverside
Chesapeak Bay – US. Source: Department of Natural
Resources of Maryland
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/criticalarea/geninfo/habitat_protection.asp
Using agroforestry riparian buffers
Zone 1 – plants with deep roots to stabilize river bank
Zone 2 – forestry and fruit trees
Zone 3 – native grasses and forbs
Schultz et al. (2013) Riparian and Upland Forest Buffers. In: Training Manual for Applied
Agroforestry Practices—2013 Edition Chapter 5 (2013): 67
Available at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/nrem_pubs/184/

14. Potential green infrastructure measures:
Bank slope stabilization
Schultz, R.C., T.M. Isenhart, J.P Colletti, W.W. Simpkins, R.P.
Udawatta, and P.L. Schultz. 2009. Riparian and Upland Buffer
Practices. Chapter 8 In: H.E. Garrett, (Ed.) North American
Agroforestry: An integrated Science and Practice, 2nd Ed. American
Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI.
Source:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/null/?cid=stelpr
db1043249
Brush mattress for bank slope stabilizationA combination of live and dead materials used in
the stream bank bioengineering practice

15. 3. What are the challenges to be
overcome?
1. Need a proper study and design of green infrastructure for Chindwin –
Limited available and accessible ground truth data related to soil type, land
use, changes in river course, etc. ( long-term and collaborative effort of
concerned agencies)
2. Need to improve current practice on living with the nature and using
local materials to make it more durable and effective – Some gaps in
knowledge and experience in various green infrastructure measures (
capacity building for home grown leaders)
3. Green infrastructure often provides more resilient solutions than “grey”
infrastructure – but it may take longer time to see the results as compared
to “grey” infrastructure ( integrated solutions)
4. Green infrastructure often requires a management of big landscape and
collaboration with many people from different sectors – No agency that
was officially established to help coordinate with multi-stakeholders from
different sectors and levels yet. (Chindwin RBO)