Nyein Chan

Junior Associate Professor, Ph.D. in Area Studies
You are the master of your own life. The most important point is to not lose your soul, which is your intrinsic treasure. As for me, if I have my own difficulties: I always obey Nature's rules. As teachers, the most we can do is support you in making your dreams come true. So, please spread your wings and soar as high as you can.
E-Mail
nyein.chan
Website
https://researchmap.jp/nchan
Areas of Research
Forest Biomass, Allometry, Ethnic Land Use, Socio-economic Studies, Forest Management, Forest Resource Federalism
  • Profile
  • Research

  • Dr. Nyein Chan is from Myaing, a town nearby Bagan in the central area of Myanmar. He earned his Bachelor’s in Forestry from the University of Forestry in Myanmar and then received his master and Ph.D. in Area Studies from the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies at Kyoto University.

    Dr. Chan served as a range officer at the Forest Department of Naypyitaw, Myanmar in 2006. Following this he was a demonstrator at the University of Forestry and Environmental Science in Yezin, Myanmar for seven years, after which he was promoted to assistant lecturer and lecturer in forthcoming years. He worked as a national consultant at WWF-Myanmar and Save-the-Children in Yangon, Myanmar for three months before reconvening his research in Japan.

    He moved to Kyoto, Japan in 2019 and was a Research Fellow at the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies at Kyoto University. He conducted his post-doctoral research at the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Japan. In 2023, Dr. Chan returned to Kyoto and became a junior associate professor for the Faculty of Bioenvironmental Sciences at Kyoto University of Advanced Science.

  • Research Projects

    • 2007-2010: Sustainable Forest Management and Indigenous Uses of Forest Resources in Myanmar by the University of Forestry, Yezin, Myanmar and Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan (Completed)
    • 2018-2019: A Comparative Study on Land Use and Land Tenure Change in Myanmar with a Special Focus on Three Regions where Land Tenure is of Critical Concern by the University of Forestry and Environmental Science, Yezin, Myanmar and the Land Core Group, Myanmar (Completed)
    • 2019: REDD+ Country Profile Writing Project “The context of REDD+ in Myanmar: Drivers, Agents and Institutions” by Forest Research Institute, Yezin, Myanmar and CIFOR, Indonesia (Completed)
    • 2018-2019: Assessment of Solid Woodfuel Consumption by Urban Communities: Case Studies in Bago and Tharyarwaddy Towns, Bago Region, Myanmar by the KFS-REDD+ Project, Forest Research Institute, Yezin, Myanmar (Completed)
    • 2022: Assessing the Impacts of the Changes in Mountain Family Farming on the Livelihoods of the Swiddeners: Case Study in Pinlaung, Southern Shan State, Myanmar by the EEPSEA Small Research Grant (Completed)
    • 2021-2022: Gender, Climate Change, and Forest Landscape Governance: Insights from Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam (Phase I) by the RECOFTC-Explore Programme (Completed)
    • 2019-2023: Ecophysiological studies in Evergreen forests in Japan and Finland by Satellite Observation Center, NIES, in collaboration with JAXA and Ministry of Environment, Japan (ongoing)
    • 2021-2026: “Fair for whom? Politics, Power and Precarity in Transformations of Tropical Forest-agriculture Frontiers” funded by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto University as a collaborative researcher (ongoing)
    • 2023-2025: Assessing the Local Community’s Perspectives on Their Environmental Rights: Case study in Indawgyi Lake, Kachin State, Myanmar by the Pyin-Nya-Man-Daing Programme (ongoing)

     

    Dr. Chan’s first topic of research was to assess the forest cover changes in Kabaung sub-watershed by using Landsat Images, under the research project titled “Sustainable Forest Management and Indigenous Uses of Forest Resources in Myanmar”, jointly implemented by the University of Forestry, Myanmar and Kyoto University, Japan. The RS/GIS analysis using Landsat Images of 1999 and 2006 identified the change of forest cover of the sub-watershed in the Bago Mountains, Myanmar due to dam construction, and suggests that there is an urgent need for rational watershed management of the remaining upstream forest for the dam to be able to survive beyond its proposed life span and to achieve the sustainable development of the local area. Also, the study suggests that there is a need to make an environmental impact assessment in any development project for comprehensive management planning. In doing so, the application of RS/GIS in the assessment is potentially the current most available option to meet the priority information requirements for managing natural resources and monitoring environmental changes. Using these findings, he was able to publish a conference paper titled “Assessment of forest cover changes in Kabaung sub-watershed by using Landsat images”.
    During his graduate studies, Dr. Chan focused on forest land use by swiddeners (mostly known as shifting cultivators) in mountainous areas, specifically in the central and western mountain ranges of Myanmar and in the northeastern part of Lao PDR.
    Using those findings, he was able to complete several peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and oral and poster presentations. He was also awarded a Best Student Presentation Award and two Best Poster Awards. The main findings were highlighted as follows:

    • The allometric model Dr. Chan established followed the general trend for biomass estimation, with substantial differences among forest types. Furthermore, the result shows that when allometric models are developed using destructive sampling methods, either all mixed species combined or select dominant species can be used (although the optimal approach should include models with all species combined to estimate biomass accumulation for mixed-species forests). This finding contributes largely to the biomass study, especially for mixed-species forests. Moreover, he established the allometries for four different bamboo species which are still lacking in bamboo biomass studies. Using the best-fit allometry, Dr. Chan estimated the biomass regrowth of mixed deciduous forests, a dominant forest type in Myanmar, through the chronosequence approach. Biomass accumulation in the studied area generally increased with fallow age, with a large contribution of bamboo in the fallows.
    • Following the previous above-ground biomass study, the below-ground biomass and soil carbon accumulation in the fallow was estimated. Based on the estimation, the fallow forests in the study area of the Bago Mountains should take 20–35 years to recover to the total biomass accumulation of old forests. A curve of total biomass accumulation in the fallows was established against age, which can be easily used when the age of the fallows is known. Regarding soil carbon accumulation in the swidden fallows, the total carbon storage fluctuated with the fallow age and decreased with the soil depth.
    • Similar studies were conducted in the Chin Hills, the western part of Myanmar, and in the northeastern part of Laos. The results show that the AGB increased with the fallow age in all studies cited, although their regrowth patterns varied. Based on his findings, the recovery in biomass of the forest fallows in Laos was rapid, taking about 6 years to attain the biomass levels of the village production forests.
    • Different socio-economic conditions were observed in each case study. Even though the Karen swidden cultivators largely rely on traditional swidden, the degree of dependency decreased with the emergence of alternative livelihood activities. In Chin Hills, Myanmar, and also in the Khmu area, northern Laos, traditional swidden agriculture largely contributes to their subsidence, whereas alternative cash-income activities accounted for the major part of the total household cash incomes.

     

    After completing his graduate studies, Dr. Chan joined the University of Forestry and Environmental Science, Yezin, where he conducted several joint researches with other domestic and international organizations. Several research reports are listed as follows:

    • Assessment on the consumption of woodfuel in urban communities: Case studies in Bago and Tharyarwaddy towns, the Bago region, Myanmar (in collaboration with Forest Research Institute, Yezin, Myanmar and Korea Forest Service, South Korea)
    • The context of REDD+ in Myanmar: Drivers, Agents and Institutions (in collaboration with Forest Research Institute, Yezin, Myanmar and Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia)
      A Comparative Study on Land Use and Land Tenure Change in Myanmar: Three Regions Where Land Tenure is of Critical Concern (in collaboration with the University of Forestry and Environmental Science, Yezin and Land Core Group (LCG), Yangon)
    • Assessing the Impacts of the Changes in Mountain Family Farming on the Livelihoods of the Swiddeners: Case Study in Pinlaung, Southern Shan State, Myanmar (Small Research Grant)” funded by EEPSEA (April ~ October 2022)
    • “Gender, Climate Change, and Forest Governance: Insights from Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam” funded by Explore, RECOFTC (April ~October 2022) (in collaboration with Vinh University (Vietnam) and National University of Laos (Lao PDR))

     

    Dr. Chan is currently participating in four research projects:

    • “Assessing the Local Community’s Perspectives on Their Environmental Rights: Case study in Indawgyi Lake, Kachin State, Myanmar” funded by the Pyin-Nya-Man-Daing Programme (2023~2025).
    • “Fair for whom? Politics, Power and Precarity in Transformations of Tropical Forest-agriculture Frontiers” funded by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto University (2021~2026).