Yoma Community Forest by Dora Myszko

Yangon is not one of the world’s most walk-able cities and as one of the fastest growing cities of a developing nation it can be smoky and polluted. But imagine if amongst helter-skelter construction and traffic jams there was a nestling urban oasis. A lovely city forest traversed by canals and tooting with wild life.

Urban community forests provide affordable access to outdoor active lifestyle, nature and fresh air. A forest could offer Eco-friendly opportunities for Yangonites and visitors to enjoy a leafy green respite from the hustle and bustle of the city to walk, run, or simply quietly experience the serenity of nature in all its diversity. This is the lung of the city, this is where we get the oxygen to clean up ourselves.

The best way to get a project like this running is to involve the community. People could be earning their living from the management and maintenance, a social – economic impact of creating shared value. A concerted effort of the few can create a natural asset which makes life better for everyone and makes the community rightly proud.

Paved over developments have their place, of course, but dedicating more energy to developing natural resources in the face of local deforestation and global climate change is increasingly urgent.

We have few ‘urban warriors’ in Yangon, people who tirelessly set up organic farms, composts and natural community areas. It’s a good time for a large scale developer to support individuals, ‘get your hands dirty with Earth’s soil’ and run projects that create and sustain natural assets. It is a message with increasingly high PR cache and one that sets Yoma Land apart - doing what is meaningful rather than expedient. Ultimately every developer will have to get involved or face irrelevance, therefore now is much better than soon, sooner is better than later.