Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment of Labutta Township, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar, 2016 – 2050 (Scenarios for Resilience Building)

In 2016 the Myanmar Climate Change Alliance, comprised of UN-Habitat, UN Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, in collaboration with WWF and Columbia University conducted a detailed climate change vulnerability assessment of Labutta Township. Labutta is located at the southern tip of the Ayeyawady Delta Area region in Myanmar and is home to around 315,000 people. Characterized by a deltaic environment, it has a predominantly flat topography, and suffered greatly in terms of damage and lives lost from Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Labutta is still struggling to recover from its effects, especially in rice production.

This assessment analyzes the vulnerability of the ecological, infrastructure and socio-economic conditions of Labutta in relation to the present and projected climatic conditions. It concludes that vulnerabilities in Labutta are currently high and that changes in climate will require decision-makers in Labutta Township to plan for increased coastal flooding, warmer temperatures, more frequent extreme heat days, greater amounts of rain within a shorter monsoon season, salinization of water sources and agricultural land, and erratic rainfall patterns during other seasons.