'We Are Revolutionaries': Villagers Fight to Protect Myanmar's Forests

Sep 23, 2016 | Katie Arnold
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U Ye Aung spent most of his adult life in a war zone. For over 60 years his village of Kalaikyi served as the frontline in one of Myanmar’s longest running civil wars. During the conflict, villagers from the Kamoethway river valley were subjected to forced labor, arbitrary killing, looting and extortion at the hands of the Myanmar military and Karen separatists. The fighting was finally brought to an end in 2012 after a preliminary ceasefire was signed between the Myanmar government and Karen National Union. “It brought me great relief as I was finally able to live out the rest of my years in peace,” said U Ye Aung, now aged 55.

That was until the bulldozers arrived in Kalaikyi to clear land for a new highway that would stretch 138 kilometers (86 miles) from the Special Economic Zone in Myanmar’s southernmost city of Dawei to the Thai border at Phu Nam Ron. Other development projects have followed in their footsteps. In 2012, mining company UMG entered the valley and began exploration for minerals before being evicted by the community.

Under constant threat of land grabs and eviction, the Kamoethway community formed a village committee dedicated to environmental conservation. This organization, Rays of Kamoethway Indigenous People and Nature (RKIPN), has now become a leading example of community-based conservation in Myanmar. They say their success proves that indigenous people can effectively manage their own natural resources without government or foreign intervention.