Inle Lake needs to change its traditional practices to restore its open water surface area and to protect its environment.

Roy C. Sidle, et. al. published a paper of "Contemporary changes in open water surface area of Lake Inle, Myanmar"  in 2007 February.

They did not blame the shifting agriculture and timber removal for loss of lake area as usual.  They proposed the main sources of contemporary sediment and loss of open water area might be ongoing 'in-lake' and 'near-lake' agricultural practices.

Inle Lake is famous for its floating garden.  They show the imagery of the apparent open surface water in the lake, that has been reduced from 69.1 to 46.7 km square since 1935.  They found out that the most of this apparent loss is associated with establishment of new floating gardens and the relocation of abandonded floating gardens to the shores of the lake.