Background to Zone III

Kungyangone

Kungyangone, which was believed to be a village of Mon ethnic people in ancient times under the Burmese monarch, is just 48 miles away from Yangon (Maung 1978, p.215). When someone goes to Kungyangone via Dala Township, it is only a two-hour drive from Yangon. Eight of the selected villages under Kunchangone are in areas that are historically and geographically known as the Southern Kunchangone, and the other two that belonged to Dedaye are the closest to the sea, residing on a shore between Toe River and Yangon River.

Kunchangone was only a village of 200 houses in 1850 and was inhabited only by 100 people. Under the British, it was transformed to a small town by combining with another village called Taw Pa Lal. Since the early years of the twentieth century, Kungyangone was governed as a district under the Twente Division which contained nine other districts. The sparse population contains mostly Burman and other minorities including Karen and Indian migrants (Maung 1978, p.217).

The southern parts consist of coastal villages and islands exposed to sea water after the mangroves were rapidly cleared in the last half of last century. Traditionally, people from the northern part of Kunchangone made their living from plantations and the southern part is inhabited by paddy farmers and fishermen who made settlements along the coast line.

Dedaye

Two villages from Dedaye are located on the mouth of the Toe River facing the sea. Administratively, these villages are combined with the Dedaye township, although they are geographically closer to Kungyangone. These three villages are on the right side of Toe River, which was the borderline for the two townships of Kungyangone and Dedaye. These villages are close to a historic place called China Bakir Flat, where the British government installed a light-house between 1869 and 1920 (Maung 1978, p.327).

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The name Dedaye was assumed to be a Mon name and the town’s people believed that it was founded by ancient Mon. After Independence, Dedaye remained as a town in the Ayeyarwady Division, although Kungyangone became a part of Yangon Division. Dedaye used to be bigger than Kunchangon in size and population in the early 20th century. The peak of agricultural land expansion occurred during the colonial days, but more forest areas were cleared for agriculture under the military government that came into power in 1988 (Yan 2016). After nearly three decades of rapid deforestation, the local people have become increasingly aware of more frequent floods and strong weather. Nargis was a wake-up call for the people of Kunchangone and Dedaye, where mangroves were cut until they reached zero level. The case study villages under Dedaye lost part of their mangrove areas during the rule of SLORC and SPDC. It is an inconvenient truth for the local people who are now highly aware of the negative consequences of deforestation, but they did not have the collective bargaining power to challenge the local authorities (Yan 2016). Dedaye, which used to have 2,800 acres of mangrove forest in the past is now covered by 50 acres (Yan 2016). Selected villages in the Dedaye under study have a majority population of fishermen with a few paddy farmers.

Figure 4 Map of research zones in the Ayeyarwady Delta

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Chapter 4

Historical outline and vulnerability in the Ayeyarwady

Delta before Cyclone Nargis

This chapter identifies vulnerability and resiliency in the Delta before Cyclone Nargis hit the region. It intends to locate disaster in historical context and learn the implications of recent history in enhancing human security in the delta. Bankoff (2004) points out that ‘disasters are both historical processes and sequential events’ (p.24). Anthony Oliver-Smith also makes a similar point, ‘the life-history of a disaster begins prior to the appearance of a specific event-focused agent’ (Oliver-Smith 1999, p.29˗30). This chapter argues that much of the vulnerability around Cyclone Nargis is rooted in national history and its implications for conditions of the community’s assets (physical, institutional) and processes (social capital, participation, trust) for resilience. Much of the modern history of Myanmar has been described in terms of failure of development as evident in the state of the economy or failure in democratization as evident in the long domination of the military in politics. While several accounts on different features of Myanmar have been discussed in various thematic studies: general history and politics (Holliday 2012; Steinberg 2001; Hlaing et al. 2005), development and economic (ADB 2012; Cheesman et al. 2013; Furnivall 1947; Than 2007; Thein 2004), society and culture (Gyi 1983; Myint-U 2006), ethnic conflict and military (Gravers 2007; Lall 2009), civil society and human security (James 2005; Steinberg 1997), environment and resource extraction (James 2006; Skidmore and Wilson 2013), specific accounts of the Delta were limited. Adas (2011), Schendal (1991) and, Than (2000) provide accounts of the Delta with the main focus on an agricultural aspects of the Delta communities in the colonial and post-independence period.

In this chapter, issues related to the Delta are extrapolated from secondary data and reports on Myanmar. The first part of the chapter provides a background of Myanmar with issues affecting to the whole country including the Delta. In the second part, socio-economic and environmental vulnerability in the Delta before Cyclone Nargis is analyzed within a framework of three domains: ‘people’, ‘place’ and ‘governance’.

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