Nyaungshwe, Myanmar (Burma)
City population: 189407
Duration: 2022 – 2022
Implementation status: Completed
Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Project area: 1393 m2
Type of area: Residential, Other
Last updated: April 2023

The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) Myanmar and its local collaborative organizations developed a community garden at Inn Dein village to ensure access to diverse and safe food amidst the current internal crisis in Myanmar. The community garden is a part of the wider research project “Climate-smart villages as platforms for resilience building, women empowerment, equity, and sustainable food systems”, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The expected outcomes are to benefit over 4,200 internally displaced persons (IDP) (due to COVID-19 and internal conflict) in Inn Dein and the Yangon Monastery Camp in Nyaungshwe. The community garden was established in the close vicinity of the Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp. The garden area is about 1.5 acres and rented for three seasons from the owner. Saplings were supplied for agroforestry purposes and a community support fund has also been provided for income generation and livelihood activities. Sprinkler irrigation has been installed to cover the whole land area, and 20 types of crops, including several legumes crops and vegetables such as mustard, radish, carrot, coriander, okras, eggplant and pumpkin are being cultivated. This project is particularly important in the current situation "[because of the lack of opportunities to direct support to IDP camps and the risky situation in food supplies, access to food and nutrition for IDPs is critically important." This project benefits both addressing food insecurity and increasing green space in the neighbourhood of the IDP camps. (Ref 1).

Project participants growing mushrooms in the community garden
Project participants growing mushrooms in the community garden
Ref. 1

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Community gardens

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
  • Inclusive governance
  • Effective management
  • Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
  • Economic development: agriculture
  • Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
  • Sustainable consumption
  • Sustainable production

Focus

Maintenance and management of urban nature

Project objectives

The project is a part of the Climate Smart Village (CSV) and Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) research project and shares the same objectives. - To ensure access to diverse and safe food amidst the crisis. (Ref 1) - To enrich local food systems (Ref 1) - To further enhance livelihoods and generation of income. (Ref 1) - Studying the contributions of climate-smart villages (CSVs) (Ref 1) - Identify and scale optimal climate-smart agriculture practices and interventions suitable for the four major agroecological regions of Myanmar: the central dry zone, the mountain uplands, the upland plateau, and the delta (Ref. 2)

Implementation activities

Farmers are cultivating a variety of vegetables and other foods which thrive in the local environment. The garden area is about 1.5 acres and rented for three seasons from the owner. Twenty beds in five blocks were set up in the 50’ x 3’ garden area. Sprinkler irrigation has been installed to cover the whole land area, and 20 types of crops, including several legumes crops and vegetables such as mustard, radish, carrot, coriander, okras, eggplant and pumpkin, are being cultivated. For CSA, targeted farmers were supplied with trees for agroforestry purposes. Participatory research methods are practiced here for the agricultural purposes and to engage the community. Activities are managed by the management committee. As part of the management plan for the community garden, all have agreed to share the produce with other IDP camps across the Nyaungshwe Township. Moreover, it is expected that the community garden will benefit the IDP camp located in Yangon Monastery with over 300 IDPs, including children. (Ref 1, 2)

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

  • Increase the use of climate-resilient plant species (resistant to drought, fire, and pests)
  • Other

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity conservation:

  • Protect and enhance urban habitats
  • Promote environmentally-sound development in and around protected areas
  • Preserve and strengthen habitat connectivity
  • Reduce negative impacts and avoid the alteration/damage of ecosystem
  • Means for conservation governance
  • Biodiversity offsets
  • Raise public awareness
  • Public engagement
  • Capacity building
  • Protect and apply traditional knowledge and conservation practices

Main beneficiaries

  • Citizens or community groups
  • Marginalized groups: Refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, Other
  • Food producers and cultivators (i.e. farmers, gardeners)
  • Young people and children

Governance

Management set-up

  • Led by non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Non-government organisation/civil society

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
  • Co-management/Joint management

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

IIRR Myanmar - Budget Funding and supplying trees and crops Internally Displaced People - Management (Ref 1, 2)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? No
... a national policy or strategy? Yes (As the initiative aimed at building Climate Smart Villages, it is worth mentioning that in 2015 Myanmar passed the Climate-Smart Agriculture Strategy (CSA), which seeks to "optimize the benefits and minimize the negative trade-offs across food security, agricultural development and climate change adaptation and mitigation." (Ref 4) The CSV was implemented in line with CSA. (Ref 3))
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Financing

Total cost

€500,000 - €2,000,000

Source(s) of funding

  • Funds provided by non-governmental organization (NGO)

Type of funding

  • Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution
  • Provision of land
  • Provision of labour
  • Provision of expertise
  • Provision of other services
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
  • Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
  • Private sector (businesses, financial institution)

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Environmental quality
  • Improved soil quality
  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area
  • Reduced biodiversity loss

Economic impacts

  • Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Increased access to healthy/affordable food
  • Education
  • Increased support for education and scientific research

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. Community Gardens supporting Internally Displaced People in Myanmar (No Date), International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, available at Source link (accessed 17.1.2023).
2. Climate and nutrition smart villages as platforms to address food insecurity in Myanmar (No Date), International Development Research Center, available at Source link (accessed 17.1.2023).
3. Resource conservation in the uplands of Southern Shan: How climate-smart agriculture can help (January 2019), International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, available at Source link (accessed 17.1.2023).
4. Climate Laws, Myanmar Climate-Smart Agriculture Strategy, available at Source link (accessed 28.1.2023)
5. Concern (2022), Upwards, sideways, sloped: gardening in refugee camps, available at Source link (accessed 3.2.2023)
Participants working in the community garden
Participants working in the community garden
Ref. 1
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the "NBS 2022" UNA Asian extension project funded by the Asia-Europe Foundation.