Forest Rights Create New Livelihoods in Myanmar

Dec 4, 2017 | Duncan Macqueen
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It is impossible to talk about Myanmar without acknowledging the persecution of the Rohingya by the country's armed forces over which the NLD, Aung San Suu Kyi's governing party, has no constitutional control.  Yet, away from this ongoing situation – which highlights the tense power dynamics between the elected government and the military – the NLD is supporting positive changes in forest and agriculture through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC). This is a hugely significant policy area in a country where around 70 per cent of the population live off the land and 17 million people are classified as 'forest dependent'.

In 2015, MONREC established a Community Forestry National Working Group and a Community Forest Unit, tasked with transferring 918,000 hectares of forest land from government hands to community forest management by 2030. 

The following year, MONREC clarified, in new Community Forest Instructions, communities' rights to commercially sell timber, non-timber forest products (NTFPs), and ecosystem services, in line with the government's 'market-led approach to community forestry'. 

These developments are bearing fruit. Just over 800 community forest areas in 2015 have grown to more than 3,000 in late 2017, with many government and non-government organisations aligning to support the transition. 

For example, the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) has been providing direct support to 15 forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs) in Rakhine, Shan and Ayeyewaddy states both at community level and at township level, where several community forest user groups have associated to market their products.