Summary/History
Myanmar is located on the Indochinese Peninsula and has nearly 2,000 km of coastline with the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. The coastline and waters around Myanmar support a number of species including the Spoon Billed Sandpiper (CR). In Myanmar recent surveys (Feb-Apr 2010) have been conducted at Lampi, a site with high potential for ecotourism, by BANCA, Forest Department and Oikos. These studies identified species of tern and gull in the area and also surveyed the native Moken women to assess their traditional fishing system and determine the socio-economic impacts on the marine environment. No candidate marine IBAs have yet been identified for Myanmar.

Key threats to Myanmar bird species include:
o Poaching and egg collecting, a particularly important threat to the Chinese Crested Tern
o Introduced species
o Bycatch

National priorities
o Priority species for research and description of Marine IBAs in Myanmar are the booby and noddy species which occur in this region
o Determine the exact numbers and status of terns in Lampi National Park and survey other areas for terns and potentially booby species
o organise surveys of priority breeding sites- based on the location of existing and potential IBAs. Use existing tracking data for some species to narrow the search area for non-breeding congregations
o raise awareness of seabirds and issues affecting them amongst the general public using, for example: seabird identification cards, simple sightings reporting form, undertaking seabird training days
o Establish a regional colony register
o Increase cooperation with other South East Asian countries

Government's support/relevant policy
The newly established 203 km Please see policy tab for list of agreements that this country is party to.

References
BirdLife International (2010). 1st Asian Marine IBA Workshop Report. Held 14-16 April 2010, JICA Chikyu-hiroba, Tokyo, Japan. BirdLife International internal report.