Myanmar Protected Areas: Context, Current Status ... - Istituto Oikos

% cover of total country area
The Ministry of Forestry (MOF) gradually took over the coordination of environmental protection in
Myanmar, especially after the nomination of the Minister of Forestry as chairman of the Environmental
Conservation Committee in 2004 and the transfer of NCEA from MFA to MOF in 2005. As a consequence,
the environmental policies and laws are very sectoral and focused on forest management and nature
conservation instead of considering environmental issues as cross-cutting within the economic and
social development of the country. Furthermore, MOF inherited the extractive mentality of the colonial
government and its first priority remains the commercial exploitation of forests. NWCD and NCEA are
the lowest institutions in the internal hierarchy of MOF, thus they have little capacity, opportunity
and resources to mainstream environmental protection at national level. Nevertheless, both agencies
have collaborated in the formulation of the Forest Law (1992) which regulates forest protection and
management, establishment of forest plantations, extraction of forest products, as well as administrative
action towards offences, replacing the old Burma Forest Act (1902). The importance given to public
participation in forest management as well as to private sector involvement is highlighted in the
Forest Rules and Community Forestry Instructions issued in 1995 to fulfill this law. In the same year
the national Forest Policy was promulgated with the assistance of FAO, aiming for a more integrated
approach towards environmental protection. The Forest Policy (1995) recognises different categories of
forest: i) reserve (reserved) forests which are fully protected for commercial and local supply, watershed
protection and biodiversity conservation, ii) public protected forests protecting trees but allowing
other activities, iii) unclass (unclassified) forests where access is open to local people. The protected area
system falls under the “Protection of Wildlife and Wild Plants and Conservation of Natural Areas Law”
(1994), which replaced the old “Wildlife Protection Act” (1936). This law regulates the establishment
of six categories of PAs (scientific nature reserve, national park, marine national park, nature reserve,
wildlife sanctuary, geo-physically significant reserve) and of other nature reserves determined by the
Minister of Forestry, which can be compared to international categories as further explained in chapter
2. In 2001 a 30-year Forest Master Plan was approved mandating the increase of the Permanent Forest
Estate PFE (constituted by reserved forests and public protected forests) to 30% and of PAs to 10% of
the total country area. These targets reinforced and replaced those set by the Forest Policy (1995),
respectively the increase of PFE to 30% and PA system to 5% of the total land area by 2010. Furthermore,
the Forest Master Plan encourages the registration of unclassified forests into community or private
forests. Data collected from combined sources 4 show that although in the 1999-2009 decade the forest
cover of Myanmar has decreased, the area protected or managed under PFE, PA or community/private
forestry has increased, which is indicative of the effort to prevent the conversion of unprotected forest
areas to other land uses (see Figure 3).
Figure 3 Trend of Forest and Protected Area 4
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
forest cover Reserve forests and Protected
Public protected
forests
Areas
Community and
private forests
Status 1999-2000
Status 2004
Status 2009
Status 2030
Background on Myanmar
Since the 1990s Myanmar has also increased the participation in the international fora regarding
environmental matters which resulted in the signing of several international environmental agreements
which are given in Appendix 2.
Policy implementation
As for any other government policy, the effectiveness of environmental policies depends mostly on
the political will and the availability of resources to implement it. Biodiversity conservation is hardly
being given the first priority, especially in developing countries where it is generally perceived as a
constraint to economic development. Furthermore, the legal and institutional constraints described
above have an impact on the execution and enforcement of such policies. On one hand, the sectorspecific
policies leave gray areas (e.g. no procedures or rules for Environmental Impact Assessments)
or produce overlapping (e.g. marine national parks fall under both Ministry of Forestry as protected
areas and Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries for the conservation of marine resources). The lack of
coordination is not only between different ministries or departments but also between centre and
peripheries. Although Myanmar state is highly centralised and most decisions are taken from centre,
localities have ways of blocking and influencing decisions, for instance through slow and inaccurate
information flow. Alongside the legal and institutional framework, it is important to consider the
attitudes of the individuals towards conservation. The conservation and management of PAs rest with
forest officers who are specifically trained in planning and implementing forestry operations. Most forest
officers are not acknowledgeable of the ecological functions of ecosystems and recognize only a few
tree species as valuable. Thus their professional judgment, summed up with the lack of incentives (low
salaries and no travel allowance) and the low perceived control from the centre, reinforces the general
attitude of neglecting PAs. However, many of NWCD staff are very dedicated to conservation, especially
those who have received training abroad or from international agencies, and play a remarkable role
4 Data for the period 1999-2000 are from FAO, Asia and the Pacific National Forestry Programmes: Update 34, December 2000. Data for 2004 are from Forest
Research Institute, Status of forest genetic resources, their conservation and management in Myanmar, Presentation by Aung Zoe Moe 2004. Data for 2009 are
from NCEA, Sustainable Forest Management: Perspectives on REDD development, Presentation by Htwe Nyo Nyo 2009.
5 One example is the famous Buddhist monk Maing Fone of Par Sar, thanks to whom the protected area has been established and conserved so far without the
allocation of staff and resources by FD.
6 In 2010 the Forest Department reported international cooperation with the following organisations: Asian Wetland Census (AWC), Birdlife International
(BLI), California Academy of Science (CAS), Global Tiger Forum (GTF), International Crane Foundation (ICF), Istituto Oikos, Makino Botanical Garden (MBK),
Smithsonian Institute (SI), Wild Bird Society of Japan (WBSJ), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), World Conservation Union (IUCN), World Pheasant Association
(WPA). Other organizations are working in Myanmar without official recognition.
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L. Beffasti