Two recent studies note that economic growth must include programmes to protect nature. Myanmar is one of the countries most exposed to natural disasters, like the 2008 Cyclone Nargis. For strategic consulting firm Maplecroft, adequate infrastructures are needed. For ADB, urbanisation must be held in check.

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The economic development of Myanmar, whose government is currently undergoing a process of democratisation, also includes environmental protection plans, especially in relation to natural disasters like cyclones, this according to two recent studies, one by a UK-based research institute and another by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The former Burma is one of several countries in Southeast Asia at risk of serious crises that could devastate its economy and environment. A fragile national economy and widespread poverty can make matters worse.

For Maplecroft, a global risk and strategic consulting firm, Myanmar is one of ten Asian nations, including India and Bangladesh, with little capacity to withstand natural disasters.

In its study, Maplecroft noted that Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar's worst natural disaster, killed 138,000 people in May 2008, causing widespread devastation in the Irrawaddy Delta region, which has not yet fully recovered.

In the absence of adequate infrastructures to cope with natural disasters, Myanmar's ambition to become a major rice exporter is at risk.

In a separate study, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warns that East Asian countries must act now to avert natural disasters engulfing their expanding urban populations by adopting more renewable energy systems and clean-air technologies.

With Asia urbanising at a faster rate than anywhere else, the continent is now home to almost half the world's city dwellers. By 2020, it will have 21 of the world's 37 megacities. Myanmar is no exception.

Just as the country seeks to emerge from decades of isolation and military dictatorship, it could face a rapid decline in quality of life of its cities as a result of increased air pollution caused by traffic, coal burning, and above all carbon dioxide emissions.

To avoid the decline, Asia but especially Myanmar must follow a green urbanisation path, the ADB said. With the right investments, pollution can be reduced, infrastructures developed and adequate standards of living guaranteed.

• myanmar
• environment
• economy
• sustainable
• development
• crisis
• cyclone
• natural
• disasters