Material flow and material footprint in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar

Abstract

Material Flow Analysis (MFA) has been widely used to understand the physical economy of the country and its implication on the economic and environmental issues. By subscribing to the data on Global Material Flow Database released by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) International Resource Panel, the material flow account and derived indicators of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar were assessed from 1970 to 2019. Results show that the Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) of these countries grew from fourfold to ninefold from 1970 to 2019, with the dominance of biomass despite the increasing share of nonmetallic minerals. The DMC per capita of Myanmar (3.97 tonnes/capita) remained to be within the agrarian socio metabolic regime, while Cambodia (7.39 tonnes/capita) and Lao PDR (14.33 tonnes/capita) are amidst the transition to industrial socio metabolic regime. Material footprint of Lao PDR in 2019 is dominated by nonmetallic minerals with 50% share, while biomass has the highest share in Cambodia and Myanmar. The growing affluence in these countries has been the major driver of material consumption. While trends of relative decoupling of economic growth and material consumption have occurred in Myanmar and Cambodia, the growth of Lao PDR's DMC surpassed the GDP from 2012 up to the recent year. This analysis of material flow indicators to monitor progress on SDG 8.4 and 12.2 for Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR shall serve as basis for policy development in relation to these country's material consumption.