The COVID-19 pandemic is creating a crisis in Myanmar’s rural and urban areas, hampering progress in the new planting season as well as progress on construction sites and factories around the country.  Supply chains have been disrupted and the prices of natural resources have plummeted. These challenges highlight the need for the identification of green recovery options for Myanmar, in connection with the supply of sustainable infrastructure, and for the development of sustainable value chains.  

The proposed project aims to contribute to addressing some key challenges including:  

• A lack of long-term mechanisms supporting and integrating green economic growth policies and guidelines between central and sub-national governments; the lack of a national LT-LEDS (Long Term Low Emissions Development Strategies) process thus far in Myanmar.  
• Inconsistent datasets for meeting NDC targets, a lack of socio-economic sectoral policies for COVID-19 green recovery on the scale of Myanmar’s state and regional governments and cities.  
• The potential derailing of future subnational low carbon and climate resilient growth pathways due to the economic crisis linked to COVID-19 due to the call for ramped up investment.  
• Insufficient understanding and shared policy actions between government departments working on low carbon urban growth, and the overall lack of a clear “whole government” framework that responds to this.  
• The persistent lack of a roadmap that supports local action in the implementation of national and international policy (NDC, National Adaptation Plan, LEDS, The Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan MSDP]).  

This GCF Readiness proposal for the development of Low Emission and Climate Resilient Development Strategy (LECRDS) supports sustainable growth and resilience, setting cities, and the country, on low emission and climate resilient development pathways. It also aims to assist local governments in the process of green recovery from COVID-19 crisis, in line with the country’s NDC targets and other key sustainable development policies such as the MSDP.  

Activities include but are not limited to: 

• Data collection sessions undertaken, collecting secondary and primary data on low emissions sectors and undertaking vulnerability assessments. Government officials in each city participate in the collection of data  
• Capacity assessment meetings and workshops with sub-national governments, assessing climate data management and green industrial growth planning and implementation capabilities. 
• Relevant local government officials and public sector agents take part in LECRDS data training including management/operation of data collection software and hardware.  
• A private sector”Low Emission/Climate Resilient Investment Forum” that invites national and local