Earth Hour: Myanmar Participates In The WWF’s Program For The 1st Time

Myanmar participated in the Earth Hour program of World Wildlife Fund which was celebrated in Yangon for the first time, Saturday. 

WWF’s Earth Hour program is the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment. People around the world usually switch off their lights for an hour to mark the celebration. 

CONSERVATION PROGRAM MANAGER, WWF-MYANMAR, NICHOLAS COX: “Earth hour was started in 2007 in Sidney, Australia. And really the event is a symbolic event. So, the whole lights near around switching lights off. It's not about saving electricity for an hour. It's really just the simple of people around the world committing to take action on climate change.” 

According to WWF, 70 percent of the nation population does not access electricity in Myanmar. Earth hour program is expected to fill the country’s electricity demand as much as possible. 

ENERGY MANAGER, WWF-MYANMAR, SHOON SO OO: “And also currently you might actually be aware the almost 70% population do not have access to electricity, actually that is almost 35 millions. So we are going to satisfy the electricity demand and for that we could go either traditional or we could go responsible and renewable energy. So this will be the benefits for the country.”

WWF is now implementing a visual called power sector for Myanmar which is targeted in 100% renewable energy for Myanmar by the year 2050.