Sector-Wide Impact Assessment of Myanmar’s Oil & Gas Sector
The Myanmar Oil & Gas Sector-Wide Impact Assessment (SWIA) puts detailed information on potential impacts of the sector into the public domain for uptake and use by a wide range of audiences. It assesses not only localised impacts on individuals and groups that may arise from projects in the sector, but also cumulative impacts and the sector’s potential impacts on Myanmar society as a whole.
The SWIA approach was developed by the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) in partnership with its co-founders, the Institute of Human Rights and Business (IHRB) and the Danish Institute of Human Rights (DIHR), and is intended to support responsible business practices in growing sectors of Myanmar’s economy. SWIA is a forward-looking assessment that aims to contribute to preventing and minimising the sector’s negative impacts as well as strengthening and improving the sector’s positive impacts.
This is important because:
- Myanmar is currently facing a rapid increase in investment in its oil and gas (O&G) sector with the award of 16 onshore and 20 offshore blocks in the space of 12 months in 2013-2014
- Even though the country is emerging from decades of ethnic conflict, authoritarian rule and economic isolation it is, and will remain for some time, a high-risk country with poor governance. An understanding of the potential impacts of the sector is necessary to improve the outcomes for Myanmar and its people.
- Responsible business conduct in the Oil & Gas sector in Myanmar therefore requires enhanced due diligence to determine what impacts business activities may have on society, including on human rights. This must include robust approaches to managing those impacts. The Oil & Gas SWIA is intended to be a resource for these efforts.
The recommendations in the SWIA are directed towards government, businesses (and investors in those business), civil society and development partners for Myanmar, and are intended to support wider multistakeholder collaboration.
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