Myanmar faces enormous development challenges in the midst of a rapidly changing and uncertain political and economic landscape. The European Journal of Development Research is pleased to present a special issue on development challenges in Myanmar. In this webinar, we draw on the findings of two papers within the special issue, examining land conflict in Myanmar.

Competition over land is at the core of many sustainable development challenges in Myanmar: villagers, companies, governments, ethnic minority groups, civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations from local to the international level claim access to and decision-making power over the use of land. Lara Lundsgaard-Hansen will talk about research that investigates the actor interactions influencing land-use changes and their impacts on the supply of ecosystem services and human well-being.

Dr Bächtold will address the land conflicts that have increased across the country’s ethnic-minority area, amid Myanmar’s political transition and despite its new government’s discourse of inclusion and dialogue. This webinar will demonstrate that land plays a central role in the complex interplay of state formation, armed conflict and international development in Myanmar’s contested borderlands and that land conflicts can provide an entry point to make sense of these dynamics.

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Lara Lundsgaard-Hansen is a PhD Candidate in the Sustainability Governance cluster at the Centre for Development and Environment in Bern, Switzerland.

Dr Stefan Bächtold is an Associated Researcher at the Analysis & Impact Program, specialising in evaluation approaches and collaborative learning processes for conflict-affected environments. He is currently based as a visiting post-doctoral fellow at Monash University in Kuala Lumpur.

Jun 22, 2020 11:00 AM in London