Local environmental management for improving environmental infrastructure services of low-income settlements in a Myanmar town | |
| Author | Khin Htwe Maw |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.UE-01-07 |
| Subject(s) | Environmental management--Myanmar Infrastructure (Economics)--Myanmar |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Nyaungshwe, one of the growing towns in Myanmar, has been facing environmental problems. Accelerated growth in urban areas has widened the gap in the delivery of key urban services such as water supply, sanitation and solid waste disposal. This gap in services is making the urban environment worse. Much of the urban literature conclude that the urban low-income people suffer by the acute deprivation of access to environmental services arising from long prevailing (supply-led) institutional approach to service delivery. However, in recent years new approaches have emerged with the realization that local level actions and management are essential to attain sustainability of the environmental services in urban areas and improve the living environment of low-income settlements. Local environmental management (LEM) requires a spatial scale or unit, which is much smaller than commonly understood as the city. Creation of institutions at such a level is an urgent need for Urban Environmental Management (UEM) to be operational, functional and effective. With the above in view, this study looked into UNDP's Community Water Supply and Sanitation Project's (CWSSP) Water and Sanitation Committee (WSC), which appear to be a move in building institution at a neighborhood level and taking services to the doorsteps of poor urban settlements. Adopting a comparative research methodology, the study selected (a) one low-income settlements in Kanthar Ward which essentially relies upon the traditionally supply-led approach under the Town Development Committee and other urban services delivery agencies and (b) another settlement in Tha lay which is under the operation of the Water and Sanitation Committee (WSC) established by UNDP in 1994. Both settlements have tried to achieve the national goal of "Universal Access to Sanitation for All" by year 2000. The comparison of the situations in two settlements suggests that the settlements under WSC have achieved satisfactory coverage of environmental infrastructure services. This suggests that the presence of WSC has facilitated access of low-income people to various environmental infrastructure services like water supply and sanitation (toilet) in Tha Lay. The study then explores institutional arrangements and constraints of concerned agencies in the service delivery in order to determine why the existing institutional mechanism (supply led approach) did not serve them well to meet the national goal and how achieve the national goal in coming years. At this end, the study proposes institutional change at the local level, based on the study findings. The proposed institutional change involves a mechanism that will allow government agencies, NGOs and private sectors work together in order to meet the demand of low-income settlement and to achieve the national goal by the year 2005. Lessons learned from CWSSP/WSC are incorporated in the proposed institutional mechanism. |
| Year | 2002 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Urban Environmental and Management (UE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Amin, A. T. M. Nurul ; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Perera, Ranjith ;Kanegae, Hidehiko ; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2002 |