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SUMMARY:
"This paper is the main output of a research project initiated by Pyoe Pin, and led by ECCDI with support from the University of East Anglia, whose aim has been to fill the gap in knowledge over the progress of Community Forestry in Myanmar through a systematic study. This paper presents the key data and findings, and offers policy recommendations based on these.
Of Myanmar‟s 67.6 m ha land area, forests currently cover around 48%, although there has been a declining trend for the last century (they covered over 65% early in the 20th Century). The declining trend is particularly dramatic for dense forests, which have more than halved in the last twenty years, from covering 45.6% of land in 1990, the single largest land use, to now just 19.9%.
The long -term decline in forests, is due to a combination of factors; change of land use (especially land hunger from the growing population), commercial timber harvesting (and the indirect effect of increasing accessibility through road construction), and also intensifying pressure on remaining forests for livelihood needs especially fuelwood.
Forest reservation was initiated by the British from 1856, creating a national forest estate but taking over control of many villages‟ forests in the process. Community Forestry has been a successful policy around the world for communities to protect and sustainably manage their forests and derive livelihood benefits. It was encompassed in Myanmar‟s colonial era policies to some extent through the creation of Local Supply Working Circles. However, these were under Forest Department management and have not been a success, with most becoming encroached or degraded.
Returning control of the management rights and responsibilities for village forests to the villages became seen by policy makers as critically important in the 1990s both to mobilise communities to protect and regenerate adjacent forests, and also to ensure that they fulfil their forest product needs locally. Hence, the Community Forestry Instruction (CFI) was issued in 1995, and initiated the promotion of Community Forestry in Myanmar.
Implementation of the Community Forestry Instruction began immediately, and was promoted by international donor projects (e.g. UNDP / JICA / DFID) as well as through Forest Department promotion, and in some cases self-organization by communities. Implementation received a major boost through the Forestry Master Plan (2001) which mandated that 2.27 mil. acres (1.36% of the country) be handed over to FUGs by 2030-31.
Annual progress of Community Forest establishment since 1995 had averaged 6,943 acres (2,810 ha), and there are now 572 Forest Users‟ Groups with certificates, managing 104,146 acres of forest, (with more awaiting their certificate). Implementation progress has been highest in Shan, Rakhine, Magway and Mandalay, most of which have been under UNDP project support.
However, the rate of CF handover has been far lower than that needed to meet the Master Plan‟s 30-year target (i.e. 2.27 million acres by 2030). For this we would need to hand over 50,000 acres (approx. 20,000 ha) per year, a rate almost ten times higher. (The FD also aims to obtain 4.13 million m3 of wood fuel from community forests, amounting to 25% of the country‟s total wood fuel requirement of 16.53 million m3 by 2030, another target unlikely to be achieved at the current rate).
After 15 years of Community Forestry in Myanmar, there are a wide range of experiences which have significant implications for sustainable forest management and community and livelihood development. To understand how community forestry is working we developed a detailed inter-disciplinary research design with a range of stakeholders in late 2010. Having finalised our method we then selected two States
and two Regions (Kachin, Mandalay, Shan, Ayeyawady) for study, and objectively selected 16 FUGs within these, using a statistically sound sampling method to reflect the diverse environments where CF is happening. We then conducted field work in 16 Community Forests and associated villages. This started in the second week of October and was completed by the end of December 2010. The community forests were assessed, the local Forest Users‟ Group institution researched, and a total of 272 households interviewed...
