MyClimate researchers organise panel at Burma Studies Conference
![Justine Chambers organise panel at Burma Studies Conference](/files/styles/landscape_thin_01/public/media/image/justine-chambers-organise-climate-panel-burma-studies-conference.jpeg?h=08b866d1&itok=JCp2-9rF)
On 9-11 June 2023, researchers from the MyClimate project organized and participated in a panel for the 15th International Burma Studies Conference entitled ‘The Politics of Climate Change Actions Amidst Myanmar's Deepening Political and Environmental Crisis’.
The panel began with a paper presentation by senior researchers on the MyClimate project, Helene Maria-Kyed and Myat Thet Thitsar. Drawing on a community researcher study across Myanmar, their paper explored local perceptions of climate change and its perceived relationship to extractive activities of powerful military and armed group elites. Justine Chambers, a postdoctoral research fellow at DIIS, then presented a paper on the lives of Indigenous Karen communities displaced by military airstrikes, and the increasing challenges they face as a result of climate change. Saw John Bright from the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) then followed, with a discussion of the importance of grassroots driven and indigenous led initiatives on climate change that seek to simultaneously support local livelihoods, cultural traditions and protect the environment. Marianne Mosberg, a PhD student at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, then presented her PhD research on the politics of internationally-led climate change adaptation interventions before after the 2021 military coup. Finally, Naw Thiri May Aye, a researcher from the Autonomous University of Barcelona spoke about the violence, values and virtues of climate change discourse, based on insights from the Environmental Justice Atlas.
![Panel Photo: Marianne Mosberg, Naw Thiri Aye May, Helene Maria-Kyed, Myat Thet Thitsar and Justine Chambers](/files/styles/common_02/public/media/image/researchers-panel-burma-studies-conference.jpg?itok=a_eB-hUG)
The panel highlighted the significant challenges facing communities and the environment in Myanmar in the post-coup context and the importance of investing in grassroots community-led initiatives, rather than directing climate change assistance through the military state.
DIIS Experts
![Justine Chambers](/files/styles/square_01/public/media/image/justine-chambers-bw.jpg?h=17b91f07&itok=7Gn-IdEM)
![Helene Maria Kyed](/files/styles/square_01/public/media/image/helene-maria-kyed_0.jpg?h=4d4e11ea&itok=tgKeq0zi)