Myanmar's Ancient Forests Stripped by Military Government

BANGKOK, Thailand, October 8, 2003 (ENS) - The forests of Myanmar are being liquidated to serve the needs and desires of the country's cash-poor military government, according to a new report released Tuesday by Global Witness, a UK nongovernmental organization which focuses on the connections between natural resource exploitation and conflict.

Myanmar's vast forests contain over 80 percent of the world's remaining teak trees and a variety of rare hardwoods. But the northern old-growth temperate rainforests of the country once known as Burma are being wiped out by Chinese timber companies from neighboring Yunnan Province, the report warns.

At the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Bangkok Global Witness held a news conference to discuss the study, "A Conflict of Interests: The uncertain future of Burma’s forests."

The result of extensive research and fieldwork within Burma, Thailand and China, the report examines the roots of the civil war and the links between conflict and the control of natural resources in Burma.

“Revenue derived by the regime and insurgents alike from the exploitation of natural resources, including timber, has perpetuated violent armed conflict throughout Burma,” said Jon Buckrell of Global Witness.

A stand of teak in a Myanmar forest (Photos courtesy Myanmar Ministry for Forestry)

Forty years after the imposition of military rule in 1962, the SPDC remains in power, sustained in part by its control over access to minerals and timber, Global Witness said. In 2002, logging alone represented 9.3 percent of legal foreign earnings. The regime has also traded these resources forpolitical and military support both within Burma and with neighboring countries.

In 1960, about 50 percent of the country was forested, and the Ministry for Forestry contends that this amount of forest cover has not changed in the past since then. Independent observers put forest cover at about 30 percent and dwindling rapidly.

Destructive and unsustainable logging, as exemplified by Chinese logging companies operating in Kachin State, is "inextricably linked" to conflict, SPDC management of internal and foreign relations through the control of access to natural resources, coercive, non-transparent and poorly planned ceasefire arrangements, and corruption, Global Witness reports.

Over the past few years, a number of roads in Kachin state were built in return for huge logging concessions.

"The large standing army, the dire state of the formal economy, and inadequate and inequitable application of forest legislation" makes the situation worse, the organization states.

“Burma is resource rich but surrounded by resource hungry nations, and the regime has used this fully to its advantage,” said Buckrell.

The need for foreign currency has resulted in cutting by the state controlled Myanmar Timber Enterprise that exceeds levels set by the Forestry Department.

"Informal" logging has put even greater pressure on the forests of the central part of the country. A comparison of official import-export figures conducted by Global Witness suggest that the trade in Burmese timber is "at least double" that recorded by the regime.

“Unrecorded exports in excess of one million cubic meters, worth approximately US$250 million, strongly suggest that the regime has lost control of its forest sector,” said Buckrell.

According to Chinese import data cited by Global Witness, China imported over one million cubic metres of timber from Burma in 2002. This figure is likely to exceed 1.4 million cubic meters by the end of this year.

Global Witness investigations along the China–Burma border show that logging on this scale has led to the destruction of large stretches of pristine forest in Kachin State. These forests form part of an area said to be “very possibly the most biodiverse, rich, temperate area on earth,” the environmental investigators say.

To preserve what is left of these forests, it is essential that the international community renews efforts to end the conflict in Burma and actively encourages a dialogue between all stakeholders, including the ethnic communities, Global Witness recommends.

"The unsustainable exploitation of Burma’s forests can only be effectively addressed by engaging the SPDC on a diplomatic level - engagement does not amount to legitimizing the regime or condoning what it does," says the report.

“People’s livelihoods are being destroyed," said Buckrell. "China must stop logging in Burma immediately to allow time for proper planning that will ensure the forests are used for the benefit of the people of Kachin state rather than Chinese logging companies.”

Deforestation in a hilly region of Myanmar

Global Witness recommends that timber imported from Burma must not fund conflict, or lead to human rights abuse or increased poverty, and that it is harvested from a legal, sustainably managed source and produced in accordance with Burma’s international obligations.

"Meaningful public consultation" is a watchword of the report, which advises that all ceasefire groups be enabled to carry out Environmental and Social Impact Assessments for all development projects, and any commercial activities involving the exploitation of natural resources

All data relating to the importation of timber from Burma should be made available to the public, including volumes, value, and origin, the report asks.

A forest sector review and forest value assessment is needed to determine how to protect and sustainably manage all of Burma’s forests in the best interests of the people of Burma.

The international community should help rebuild society at a local level through the promotion of educational projects including environmental awareness, encourage the continuation of sustainable resource use and protection, and support grassroots environmental initiatives.

To ensure that the illegal timber trade does not support conflict, Global Witness says the international community should step in and, "Take unilateral, bilateral or multilateral action to make it illegal to import conflict timber and timber that has been logged, transported or traded illegally and to punish those companies and individuals involved."

Global Witness would like to see the United Nations Security Council recognize conflict resources as natural resources that should be banned from international trade.