Myanmar’s Union Minister of Environmental Conservation and Forestry U Win Tun delivers his speech during the Forests Asia Summit 2014 in the Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Editor’s Note: Check in at forestasia.org to see news updates from the Forests Asia Summit. Videos of all presentations and speeches at the Summit will be posted here.

Myanmar is “fully committed” to green growth as it navigates a transition to a more open country, its top environmental official said this week.

Forests Asia Summit 2014:

Plenary Speeches

Speaking at the Forests Asia Summit in Jakarta, U Win Tun, the country’s Union Minister for Environmental Conservation and Forestry, said his government “was fully committed to climate change mitigation and sustainable forest management” as it seeks to transform itself politically, economically and socially after years of isolation.

All eyes are on Myanmar to see whether it can maintain growth in its newly liberalized economy without that growth coming at the expense of its forested landscapes — a path that many of its more-developed neighbors have taken in recent decades.

Southeast Asia is on the frontline of the fight to balance the needs of a growing population, a growing economy, and environmental protection. Ministers, civil society, academia, the private sector and youth from every country in the region took advantage of the two-day Forests Asia Summit to seek ways to better manage forests and landscapes in the shift toward a ‘green economy’.