ON A Sunday afternoon in September, hundreds of people gathered on the cobblestones at Yangon’s bustling Bogyoke Aung San Market waving signs and posters and chanting slogans such as “System change, not climate change” and “We want climate justice”.
They were among the 7.6 million people around the world who took part in the first Climate Strike, held between September 21 and 27. It was the biggest climate change mobilisation in history.
The Yangon event was principally organised by Climate Strike Myanmar, a group of young activists led by Ko Kyaw Ye Htet, 21, a psychology student at Yangon University. Joined by other students and climate activists, the protesters demanded that private companies, the Myanmar government and ordinary citizens do more to combat the growing climate crisis. Though small compared to many of the protests elsewhere in the world, it was part of a growing movement that is winning converts particularly among Myanmar’s youth.
Climate change poses an urgent threat to Myanmar. In the Global Climate Risk Index published by Germany-based non-profit Germanwatch, Myanmar is ranked among the top three countries most effected by extreme weather events between 1998 and 2017.
The worst in Myanmar’s modern history was Cyclone Nargis in 2008, which claimed more than 138,000 lives and severely affected 1.5 million people, while Cyclone Giri in 2010 and Cyclone Mora in 2017 brought more death and devastation. The risk index warns that cyclones, floods, drought and episodes of extreme heat are projected to increase in frequency and intensity in the coming decades, thanks to climate change.
