"Myanmar's forests fall victim to conflict" 14 September 2023

From Kalaw town's bamboo forest to the Hsipaw Reserved Forest in Shan State and the freshwater swamps that flank the Irrawaddy River, Myanmar's forests rank among the world's most dramatic natural landscapes. But the country's civil war is threatening conservation programs and facilitating illegal logging on a massive scale...

Since Myanmar's military seized control in February 2021, conflict has escalated between the junta and resistance forces. Myanmar's forests, which accounted for 44% of the country's land in 2020, according to the World Bank, are among the victims.

Both mining and logging activities have intensified under military rule, and conservation efforts involving Indigenous communities have declined, according to Nikita Bulanin, an adviser at the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, a Denmark-based NGO...

However, Myanmar's forest product exports have grown since the military takeover, despite Western sanctions... China's imports alone increased by 35%. Most proceeds from official exports go to the state-owned Myanmar Timber Enterprise and other military-affiliated companies, helping to fund the military government...

[...]

Myanmar's deforestation is not a new issue. Forest coverage has been diminishing for years because of illegal logging of valuable woods such as teak, rosewood and padauk, along with clearance for rubber and palm oil plantations, mining and the development of hydropower and roads...

Naw Eh Moo Paw, an Indigenous peoples' rights and sustainable development activist from Myanmar, believes much of the deforestation is due to illegal logging and the wildlife smuggling trade... But James Bampton, WWF's regional forest lead for the Asia-Pacific region, said conservation progress was being made before the takeover, relative to neighboring countries.

"Myanmar's forest department was strong and very professional and were doing good work before the coup," said Bampton... Indigenous peoples' organizations were also involved in the development of a national land use policy and a government commitment to recognize customary land tenure rights...

With the democratically elected government overthrown and much of the world critical of the junta, many conservation initiatives were abandoned... Conservationists say that without a settlement of Myanmar's constitutional conflict, environmental forest problems are likely to intensify as Indigenous groups are forced to engage in mining and logging to survive...

These issues raise the question of whether conservationists should continue to cooperate with the military government or withdraw until a settlement is achieved and the fighting stops.

"As an organization, I absolutely understand the human dimensions, and I think we should support that. But as a conservationist ... there's so few of us actually fighting for wildlife and forests. ... I think you have to do anything in your power to support conservation wherever it might happen."