Projects

The Road to Dawei

Environmental governance and advocacy planning in southern Myanmar (2015-17)

Collaboration: Ashley Scott Kelly; Dorothy Tang

"The Road to Dawei" is an advocacy infrastructure planning project that addresses development impacts via environmental policy and physical implementation scenario-building. The simultaneously planned and under construction Dawei-Kanchanaburi Road Link connects Dawei, Myanmar to Bangkok across critical forest habitat and a culturally rich landscape just emerging from ethnic civil war into a new industrial and agricultural development paradigm. Weak environmental and development regulation requires multi-pronged approaches. Our planning project consists of three components: Promoting ecosystem services along the road; strategies for locating points of critical wildlife connectivity where data is scarce; and promoting sustainable road construction technologies. All three comprise a transcalar approach, from construction details to specific site strategies, landscape and transboundary planning. The landscape design team included policy specialists, ecologists, infrastructure planners, GIS specialists, and computer programmers to model scenarios and propose alternative construction practices to minimize environmental damage and fragmentation of critical wildlife corridors. The work is used to build institutional capacity and regional and national levels of government, the road builder, and civil society groups.

Government officials touring land use change and road development in Tanintharyi, 2015.
Government officials touring land use change and road development in Tanintharyi, 2015.
Site-specific vignettes show the impacts of road construction and dependency of road sustainability on ecosystem services. These include erosion control, landslide prevention, habitat fragmentation, disturbance, and loss, flood regulation, air quality, and secondary impacts of land use change and development, 2015.
Site-specific vignettes show the impacts of road construction and dependency of road sustainability on ecosystem services. These include erosion control, landslide prevention, habitat fragmentation, disturbance, and loss, flood regulation, air quality, and secondary impacts of land use change and development, 2015.
Long-isolated due to six decades of civil war, this region now faces pressure from domestic and transnational development, weak land rights, and large-scale resource exploitation. This map, published online by the design team, compiles contradictory planning knowledge and facilitates dialogue, 2015.
Long-isolated due to six decades of civil war, this region now faces pressure from domestic and transnational development, weak land rights, and large-scale resource exploitation. This map, published online by the design team, compiles contradictory planning knowledge and facilitates dialogue, 2015.
Three reports highlight 1) ecosystem services and environmental regulation, 2) wildlife crossings modelling, and 3) design guidelines for sustainable road construction with wildlife mitigation. A collaboration with WWF, these were generated rapidly over 10 months due to imminent threats of construction, 2016.
Three reports highlight 1) ecosystem services and environmental regulation, 2) wildlife crossings modelling, and 3) design guidelines for sustainable road construction with wildlife mitigation. A collaboration with WWF, these were generated rapidly over 10 months due to imminent threats of construction, 2016.
This Roadmap, presented here to Myanmar's national Highways Department, outlines sustainable planning, design, construction, and maintenance stages of road development. Institutionalizing wildlife and ecosystem services is critical given Myanmar's evolving environmental and developmental regulation and rich natural and cultural landscape, 2015.
This Roadmap, presented here to Myanmar's national Highways Department, outlines sustainable planning, design, construction, and maintenance stages of road development. Institutionalizing wildlife and ecosystem services is critical given Myanmar's evolving environmental and developmental regulation and rich natural and cultural landscape, 2015.