"Myanmar, the largest country in Southeast Asia, has the least developed economy in the region (UNDP 2013)1 despite having some abundant natural resources and a relatively low population density. The current level of development is illustrated by Myanmar’s substantial shortfall in energy supply, with only 33% of households connected to grid electricity supply. Recognising that access to electricity is an important pillar in raising livelihoods (particularly in rural areas where 70% of Myanmar’s poor live) and achieving broad economic development, the Government of Myanmar (GoM) aims to rapidly increase power generation and electrification across the country over the next 10-20 years to provide affordable and reliable energy. Key sector targets include increasing national generation capacity by 500-1,000 MW per year over the next 10 years to reach 16,665 MW of installed capacity, and increasing the electrification rate to 75% by 2021/2022, then to 100% by 2030, and increasing increase energy exports to increase foreign exchange earnings. To meet these targets the government is considering a mix of power generation options, including gas, hydropower and other renewable energy alternatives. Given that the country is rich in hydropower resources, being home to major river basins and high annual rainfall in most areas, hydropower looms as an important contributor to the provision of affordable electricity. Almost the entire Ayeyarwady River Basin (91%, covering ~372,907km2 ) lies within Myanmar, as well as close to half of the Thanlwin basin (42%, covering ~127,745km2 ) and a small area of the Mekong basin (2.7%, covering ~ 22,070 km2 ). In addition, the Sittaung River Basin and the Rakhine and Tanintharyi coastal basins are other notable resources. But these substantial aquatic resources provide a range of essential ecosystem services that will be lost or degraded by inappropriate large-scale hydropower development, including maintaining river ecological and geomorphic processes, and providing important livelihood resources, therefore hydropower development must be sustainable. Hydropower development is at an early stage in Myanmar, with 29 hydropower projects (HPPs) greater than 10 MW capacity in operation, totalling 3,298 MW installed capacity, while an additional six HPPs are under construction with an installed capacity of 1,564 MW, the largest being the 1,050 MW Shweli 3 hydropower plant in the Ayeyarwady Basin (Figure 1.1). In contrast, GoM has received proposals for the development of a further 51 hydropower projects totalling 42,968 MW. There are also an additional 18 sites have been identified for potential hydropower development by state/regional governments totalling 994 MW. The sector is moving towards larger projects and away from Government-dominated development towards being driven by private enterprise..."