The World Wildlife Fund is to host its first ever Earth Hour event in Myanmar on March 19, shining a light on the future of renewable energy in the country.
Earth Hour is marked around the world by activists, governments and citizens who turn off the electricity for an hour to remind people of the need to cut the use of fossil fuels and protect the environment.
Much of Myanmar is involuntarily in the dark due to the failure of successive military regimes to expand the electrical grid and develop energy resources.
But today, as a new government of Myanmar prepares to take power, tackling the country’s energy shortfall will be a tough call, with pressure on to build fossil fuel-burning power plants.
The World Wildlife Fund or WWF has over the years expanded its area of concern beyond direct wildlife conservation to overall environmental conservation efforts, given that man-made climate change, pollution, and threats to flora and fauna all are concerns for the planet.