Myanmar Climate Change Alliance programme is engaging key stakeholders to build climate resilience at the community level and improve climate sector dialogue in the country through knowledge generation, awareness raising and communication. Learning from different geo-climatic zones in Myanmar we can support the transition to a low carbon climate resilient future. Gender-responsive and youth- and socially inclusive transformative approaches to local climate action are urgently required, considering the role of indigenous people, and the widening needs of population recently displaced by conflict.

Myanmar consists of eight major physiographic regions: The Ayeyarwaddy Delta, Central Dry Zone, Northern Hilly Region, Rakhine Coastal Region, Eastern Hilly Region, Southern Coastal Region, Yangon Deltaic Region, and Southern Interior Region. These different physiographies have little relation with climate as differences in relief or land form do not necessarily imply differences in climate.

Annual climate patterns, as well as seasonal temperatures and precipitation vary across the country, as summarized in the map below. The map underlines the differences in climatic challenges faced by the communities and a sample of actions taken in each region. Under MCCA2 programme, these physiographic regions were summarised into four main geo-climatic zones of intervention, corresponding to different climates as well as human settlements concerns: Hilly Region, Dry Zone, Delta, and Urban. These interventions were implemented with the communities and stakeholders' support and involvement. 

For instance, the Ayeyarwaddy Delta is prone to storm surges caused by tropical storms and cyclones. A potential solution to prevent flooding in towns and villages is to restore existing mangrove areas that have been depleted over the years. More examples of climate hazards and corresponding solutions can be explored for each geo-climatic region in the map on the right.

The local climate action planning process is built through a simplified three-phased approach. As a first step community-based Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments (CCVAs) were conducted. The CCVAs aim to engage a cross-section of the township community and utilise community-based knowledge to map the climate risks and hazards and the impacts. CCVAs fuel the Local Climate Action Plans (LCAPs) to arrive at a range of implementation actions at multiple scales of intervention. In parallel to the community-based approach, climate modeling using IPCC data was conducted. Both qualitative and quantitative geo-referenced analysis is used as part of the LCAPs.