Threat or Possibility: Land Rights & Disaster-Vulnerability - A qualitative study on land rights, tenure security and disaster-vulnerability in light of the 2018 land law amendment in Myanmar

Abstract: Secured land tenure is considered to play a crucial role in decreasing disaster-vulnerability. By signing the Sendai Framework, Myanmar Government agreed to focus its policies on reducing risks of natural disasters. However, in 2018 it issued an amendment to the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law, criminalizing tenure without land certificates, affecting particularly ethnic farmers. To date, few studies have discussed the relationship between tenure security and disaster-vulnerability. Likewise, the assessment lied unexplored in the literature on Myanmar. Thus, the thesis contributes by developing an understanding of land rights impact, in light of the new amendment, on ethnic farmers’ tenure security, and the subsequent effect on their disaster-vulnerability. Data were derived from interviews with practitioners in Myanmar and used Sen’s capability approach to frame the analysis. The research found that land rights, in light of the amendment, increase ethnic farmers’ tenure insecurity, which decreases their possibilities to alleviate disaster-vulnerability. This results from lacking the protection of customary land practices and structural barriers, causing difficulties for applying and acquiring the certificates to secure tenure. However, the certificate represents possibilities to attain financial means to recover from emergencies like disasters. Nonetheless, the difficulties of acquiring the certificate hinder the opportunities to decrease disaster-vulnerability.