A 2024 satellite survey revealed Myanmar has 1,718% more peatland than previously estimated — one of Southeast Asia’s most significant ecological discoveries in years.

The newly identified peatlands could store the equivalent of more than 40 years of Myanmar’s carbon emissions.

Civil war has halted ground surveys, driven out international funders, and left authorities with no plan to protect them.

Government officials warn the peatlands may already be degrading — and unlike most environmental damage, peatland loss is irreversible.

In 2024, scientists discovered that Myanmar holds more than 200,000 hectares of peatlands — 1,718% more than previous estimates. It was a major ecological discovery. It was also under immediate threat. Myanmar’s civil war, now entering its fifth year, has made it nearly impossible to map, protect, or even monitor these newly found carbon stores — and the window to act may already be closing.

International funders had proposed projects to protect these peatlands, but withdrew them citing political instability — the same instability that makes independent conservation support most needed. Without international backing, plans for protection have stalled, and officials warn the resulting delay could carry irreversible consequences.

Myanmar’s civil strife has killed more than 80,000 people, displaced 3.5 million, and cost the country $93.9 billion in economic damages. The Tatmadaw — Myanmar’s military and de facto government — controls the nation’s Bamar heartland, but has lost nearly half of the country to the insurgent People’s Defence Forces (PDF) and ethnic militias, with fierce fighting continuing across vast swathes of territory.

Alongside the human tragedy, the conflict has accelerated environmental destruction. Uncontrolled teak deforestation thrives as corruption has proliferated across the fragile state. Environmental enforcement has been all but impossible across huge areas of the country. In the far north, ethnic........

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