Natural Resources and Subnational Governments in Myanmar: Key considerations for wealth sharing

This report provides an overview of state and regional governments’ roles in natural resource governance, highlighting the mining, oil and gas, timber, and hydropower sectors. This report is the fourth volume in the Subnational Governance in Myanmar Discussion Paper Series, which aims to inform future analysis of the potential risks and benefits of changes to the role of subnational governments. This report is funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). From February to May 2014, researchers interviewed civil society members, political parties, subnational government officials, and business associations in Kachin and Shan States, and central-level ministries in Naypyitaw, in order to address the following questions: What are the current roles of national and subnational government in natural resource management and revenue flows in Myanmar? What discussions of natural resource wealth sharing are now taking place? What are the potential benefits, risks, and economic trade-offs involved? U Win Min, Senior Research Fellow at MDRI-CESD says, “The considerations presented in this report are crucial for the future of resource sharing, a key component of the national reconstruction process.” With wealth-sharing discussions still in an early stage, the report says that stakeholders should consider important questions about ‘which goals wealth-sharing policies would be intended to address, and the transparency, sustainability, and distributional effects of the systems they might create.’ In Myanmar, the Foundation works with partners in government, the private sector, and civil society to build the country’s capacity for regional integration, strengthen the core institutions and processes of democratic governance, and support increased access to information

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