A former official at the Department of Meteorology and Climatology warned this week that the issue of climate change was something the country could not ignore. Dr Htun Lwin, who serves as a consultant for Myanmar Climate Change Watch, told about 100 attendees of a seminar on August 30 that natural disasters have occurred more frequently in recent years, noting the devastating cyclones Nargis and Giri in 2008 and 2010 respectively. The seminar, organized by the British Council in Yangon, addressed the potential impact of climate change in light of recent disasters in the country. Htun Lwin said the people of Myanmar have shown a greater awareness of changes in weather patterns in the country since 2008, when Cyclone Nargis ravaged the country’s delta region. The government announced an official death toll of 4,000, though international estimates put the number at more than 100,000 killed and many more displaced. Phyo Wai, a volunteer with the environmental NGO Ju Foundation who attended the seminar, said that educational initiatives were necessary to ensure the public was aware of the threat of climate change. “We are carrying out these [seminars] as we aim to raise awareness among people across the country and to inform them that temperatures all over the world are rising day by day,” she said. Alice Aye Aye Win, project director for Disaster Risk Reduction at Karuna Pathein, an affiliate of the Catholic social group Caritas, said the organization has sponsored efforts to combat climate change. “We have planted more than 5,000 trees in Cyclone Nargis-affected areas in 2010, and with cooperation from Caritas Thailand we are going to conduct five seminars about Child-centered Disaster Risk Reduction in the Nargis-affected areas.” Htun Lwin told the seminar that he will continue to conduct global warming and climate change forums in coming months.