Myanmar’s ASEAN Heritage Park Inlay Lake Wildlife Sanctuary designated flyway network site

Inlay Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, an ASEAN Heritage Park (AHP) in Myanmar, was recently declared a flyway network site in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), one of the nine major flight paths of migratory waterbirds in the world.
Myanmar’s second largest lake located in the Nyaungshwe Township of Taunggyi District of Shan State, Inlay Lake joins the list of important sites identified by the EAAF Partnership (EAAFP) as internationally important for migratory birds.

The EAAFP is a network of partners within the flyway, aiming to protect migratory waterbirds, their habitats, and the livelihoods of people dependent upon them.

One of EAAFP’s partners is the ASEAN Flyway Network (AFN), a virtual network of flyway site managers and other key stakeholders in the ASEAN region that facilitates regional cooperation in the conservation of migratory waterbirds and the wetlands that support them along the flyway.

The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) facilitated activities of the AFN through a project supported by the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund and being led by Singapore, through the National Parks Board.

In its announcement on 2 February 2020 in time for the celebration of the World Wetlands Day, the EAAFP Secretariat said Inlay Lake Wildlife Sanctuary is recognised for its importance for Baer’s Pochard, Eastern Sarus Crane, and other endangered migratory waterbirds species.

“We welcome the designation of Inlay Lake as a flyway network site of EAAF. This will bring a range of benefits for its site managers and surrounding communities, allowing them to step up biodiversity conservation efforts in the area,” ACB Executive Director Theresa Mundita Lim said.

This unique wetland system, one of the eight AHPs in Myanmar, is a high conservation value area, being home to 270 bird species, 20 species of snails, and 43 species of fish, 16 of which are endemic.

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