Pan Kachin Development Society Karen environmental and Social ...

Pan Kachin Development Society

Karen environmental and Social Action Network

Edited and introduced bySearchweb

Destruction and Degradation of the Burmese Frontier Forests

Colofon

Destruction and Degradation of the Burmese Frontier Forests:

Listening to the People's Voices

By Pan Kachin Development Society (PKDS)And Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN)

Acknowledgements: Tropical Rainforest Programme of NC-IUCN for funding theresearch, Novib for financing the report, Global Witness, Images Asia E-Desk,ERI, Terre des Hommes Germany, and all the people from the local communitieswho helped with the research.

Design:Continental Drift

Edited and introduced by:Search web

Printed by Kaboem Amsterdam, 2004

Table of contentsChapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 The politics of Burma and deforestationa. Politics of Burma 5

b. Logging and civil war 8

Chapter 3 Kachin State by PKDSIntroduction— 10

a. Logging business 11

b. Who benefits from the logging---14

Chapter 4 Karen State by KESANIntroduction

a. Doo The Htoo District

b. Mu Traw District (Pa Pun)

c. Toungoo District

- 16

- 18

-24

-32

Chapter 5 Conclusions and recommendations by KESAN 40

Maps 42

Abbreviations 44

3

5

10

16

Chapter 1

IntroductionIn 1998, the World Resources Institute (WRI) inWashington published a highly alarming report onthe state of the Burmese frontier forests. "Burmaholds more than half of mainland Southeast Asia'sclosed forests - forests that have caused the countryto be called 'the last frontier of biodiversity inAsia'", began the report. It concluded that this lastfrontier of biodiversity was seriously endangered.The findings of the report included, amongst others:

* Burma's neighbours, having lost virtuallyall of their own original forest cover, reliedincreasingly on timber from Burma.

* The rate of deforestation had more thandoubled since the present military regimehad come to power in 1988.

* Wasteful and destructive logging by theregime, some of the ethnic minority groups,and foreign companies along the borderswith China and Thailand, had resulted inmassive soil erosion, sedimentation of riv-ers, increased flooding, and acute dry sea-son water shortages.

W RI's information on the state ofBurma's frontier forests, specifi-cally on forest cover and the rateof deforestation in Kachin and

Shan State (on the border with China), relied heavilyon satellite data. What actually happened on theground within these frontier states, or around forestsin Burma as a whole, remained to a large degree un-known territory for the observer. Vast areas of theethnic states in Burma remain closed to foreignersby the Burmese military. This was the result of theongoing and disastrous political and ethnic conflictsand power struggles that have made the military re-gime of Burma, the State Peace Development Coun-cil (SPDC and before: SLORC), a pariah in the in-ternational community. As described in the nextchapter, the problem of logging and deforestationtakes place in the context of the complex politicaland military situation in Burma. The frontier re-gions, where the hotspots of biodiversity are locatedare controlled and contested by SPDC Army units,and a bewildering number of ethnic liberationgroups and armies, some of whom have, and some

of whom have not signed cease-fires with the re-gime. This situation has made it a point of vehementdiscussion whether international environmental anddevelopment organizations should and could work inthe country to support more sustainable developmentpolicies. A major international conservation organi-zation, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) ispresently working in SPDC-controlled areas in col-laboration with the Burmese Forestry Department toestablish conservation areas. For most of the interna-tional organizations, working with the regime is stillout of the question as long as democracy in Burma isrepressed.

This dilemma has led a number of organizationsover the past four years to develop alternative ap-proaches. At the end of 2003, one of these organiza-tions, the London-based NGO Global Witness pub-lished a report with the findings of then- 'undercover'research in Burma and the frontier areas. The reportgives a poignant and once again disturbing analysisof Burmese forests as a 'conflict resource'. The ex-ceptionally valuable and high grade Burmese tim-bers are resources that are extracted commerciallyfor large short-term profits, by institutions and indi-viduals ruthlessly exploiting the conflict situation.

Logging trucks on the road to China


The chief beneficiaries are Burmese officials andChinese companies. Meanwhile the Burmese andespecially ethnic populations are deprived of manyof their chief assets for sustaining livelihoods andfor future development. Many ethnic organisationsalso seem caught in the need for short-term incomegeneration and play along in the squandering of theforests. The end result? More and more environ-mental destruction and a continuation of the trendsoutlined in the 1998 WRI report.

The devastation, however, is not only environmental.Deforestation has its consequences for forests andfor forest dwellers, including indigenous people andother forest users. It is on these forest dwellers that,in conjunction with the end of the political repres-sion, the coming of democracy, and the empower-ment of local communities, the development of fu-ture sustainable environmental policies should bebased. But the lack of information on the forestdwellers and on the impacts of deforestation on theirsocial and economic life is, if anything, even greaterthan the lack of information about the deforestationitself.To address this information gap, representatives oftwo ethnic groups, from Kachin and Karen State,undertook the first research project, supported bygrants from the Tropical Rainforest Programme ofthe Dutch Committee for the IUCN (NC-IUCN).The results of this research by the Pan Kachin De-velopment Society (PKDS), and the Karen Environ-mental and Social Action Network (KESAN) in theirhome states, are presented in this report.

The reports of PKDS and KESAN are the first at-tempts to uncover the social impacts of deforestationand to relate them to envi-ronmental degradation. Theresearch was undertaken ina very difficult and danger-ous political climate. As aresult, the researchers wereforced to keep a low profile.The outcome of the re-search is therefore oftenuneven and remains impres-sionistic. These impressionsare, however, sufficient tomake us realize that whathappens at this moment inthe frontier forests ofBurma has its implicationsnot only on the terrain ofnature conservation, butalso on the terrain of thesocial and economic devel-

opment of local communities. With the logging andthe deforestation a whole new economic and socialreality develops, in which most people, having losttheir traditional livelihood, are turned into casuallabourers and a cheap labour force for local poten-tates and entrepreneurs. The loss of community for-ests is another outcome of the global dispossessionthat opens up even marginal territories to the dictatesof the market economy. With this dispossession notonly the environment, but also traditional culturesand social organizations disappear.

What this report, especially the contribution of KE-SAN, makes clear, is the positive role that the tradi-tional cultures and traditional environmental policiescan play in the formulation and implementation ofsustainable forestry policies in Burma. Support forgrass-root initiatives and for awareness-raisingwithin local communities should be combined withthe political campaigns for democracy in Burma,and with environmental campaigns to stop trade inunsustainable timber, to create an alternative for thepresent state of degradation and corruption. The fu-ture will show whether there is still time left, beforeone of the last hotspots of biodiversity in SoutheastAsia is sacrificed to human greed and narrow-mindedness.

References:

J. Brunner. 1998. Logging Burma's Frontier Forests:Resources and the Regime.World Resources Institute, Washington.

Global Witness. 2003. A Conflict of Interests: TheUncertain Future of Burma's ForestsGlobal Witness, London.

NDA-K controlled town on China border

Chapter 2

The Politics ofBurma and

DeforestationBurma, or Myanmar as it was renamed by the mili-tary government in 1989, is the largest country onthe mainland of South-East Asia, covering an area of678,580 square kilometres. It is bordered by India,Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal to the west, byChina in the north-east, Laos and Thailand in theeast, and by the Andaman Sea to the south.Despite the fact that Burma is rich in resources, thecountry is very poor. Decades of destruction througharmed conflict, political repression, human rightsabuses, and government mismanagement have cre-ated great hardships for the peoples of Burma; espe-cially in ethnic minority areas. It has left the countryin a deep economic, social, and humanitarian crisis.Burma, once one of the wealthiest, developed andmodern nations of Southeast Asia, had to apply tothe UN for Least Developed Country (LDC) statusin 1987.

C limatic conditions differ from region toregion, and there is a wide variety ofecosystems. These include the snow-capped mountains of northern Kachin

State, the rugged bare hills of the Wa region, theShan highland plateau, the rice growing areas in theirrigated dry zone of the central plains, mangroveforests in the Irrawaddy Delta, and the rainforestsand tropical islands of southern Burma. Burma isrich in minerals and natural resources, is one of themost fertile countries of Asia, and has wide biodi-versity. Kachin State in particular has been listed asone of the worlds remaining 'biodiversity hot-spots' (Moncreif and Myat, 2002).Burma is inhabited by a wide range of different eth-nic groups, including Burman, Mon, Karen, Karenni,Shan, Wa, Kachin, Chin and Rakhine. Ethnic mi-norities make up over 30% of the population, whichstands at some 50 million in 2003. Reliable statisticson population and ethnic groups are not available;the last comprehensive population census dates backto 1931.

Since the constitution of 1974, the country is admin-istratively divided into 7 divisions and 7 ethnic mi-nority states; Yangon, Irrawaddy, Magwe, Tenas-serim, Mandalay, Pegu, and Sagaing Divisions, andRakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Karenni, Karen, andMon States. These ethnic minority states make up55% of the land area, but represent only a few of thelargest ethnic groups.The majority of the Burman Buddhist populationlives in the central plains and valleys, where theypractise wet-rice paddy cultivation. These includethe river basins of the Irrawaddy. Sittaung, Salween,and Chindwin rivers. In contrast, the ethnic minoritygroups live in the hills and mountains that surroundthe central lowlands, where they have developedtheir own distinctive cultures and traditions, and


practise upland rice cultivation and rotational agri-cultural fanning systems. Before and during Britishcolonization, these ethnic minorities were largelyruled by their local leaders, and maintained a relativeindependence from the successive traditional king-doms in the plains.

N egotiations for independence fromBritish rule started after World War II,The Burman nationalists, led by AungSan, wanted independence from the

British as soon as possible. Ethnic minority leaderson the other hand, were concerned about the right ofself-determination, and wanted to establish a systemthat would give them equal rights and protect themagainst domination by the Burman majority. Someethnic groups wanted independent states for them-selves. In 1947, the Panglong agreement was signedbetween Aung San and Shan, Kachin and Chin rep-resentatives, which formed the basis for a future Un-ion of Burma. However, this agreement was incon-sistent about the rights of different ethnic minoritygroups, and many ethnic groups were not repre-sented.All these factors ultimately led to civil war soon af-ter the declaration of independence in January 1948,with a communist insurrection and army mutinies.The Karen National Union (KNU), created in 1947out of Karen nationalist organisations dating back tocolonial time, took up arms in January 1949.Other ethnic groups came up in revolt at the sametime. These included Karenni and Mon nationalists,who later formed the Karenni National ProgressiveParty (KNPP), and the New Mon State Party(NMSP) respectively. A Pao group in Shan State and

Loading wood on truck

6

Rakhine and Muslim nationalists in Arakan(Rakhine) State also took up arms.In 1962, General Ne Win took power from the U Nugovernment in a military coup, and created a one-party state led by the Burma Socialist ProgrammeParty (BSPP). The constitution was abrogated, allopposition put behind bars, and people's attempts toorganise themselves were severely repressed. Alllarge industries and business enterprises were na-tionalised under the 'Burmese Way to Socialism',the BSPP's official doctrine, Burma was to becomeself-sufficient, and the generals isolated the countryfrom the outside world.By this time, the civil war had already spread to Ka-chin and Shan State, where the Kachin Independ-ence Organization (KIO) and the Shan State Army(SSA) had started armed uprisings. Both of themwere able to expand quickly, fuelled by the growingdissatisfaction among the Kachin and Shan popula-tion over the unequal position of ethnic minorities inthe Union of Burma.By the mid-1970s, the Burmese army had succeededin pushing back the armed opposition groups fromthe plains and the Irrawaddy Delta and the Pegu Yo-mas into the hills and mountains of the border re-gions, using the infamous Tour-Cuts' campaign.This campaign is aimed at cutting the four links be-tween the insurgents and the civilian population:food, finance, intelligence and recruits. The 'FourCuts' strategy is directly targeted at the civilianpopulation, which has been subject to harsh treat-ment and forced relocations to special sites nearBurma Army camps.

After Ne Win came to power, relations with Chinadeteriorated. These came to an absolute low after

anti-Chinese riots in 1967,which China suspected wereinstigated or at least stimu-lated by the BSPP. As a re-sult, China changed its ini-tial careful policy towardsthe Communist Party ofBurma (CPB), which hadjust lost its main base areasin central Burma, into anall-out support.The CPB launched a suc-cessful invasion from Chi-nese territory into northernShan State and quickly be-came the strongest insurgentarmy in Burma (Lintner.1990). It forged a number ofalliances with ethnic minor-ity armed groups, including


Wa and Kokang troops.These were given arms andammunition in return foraccepting the political lead-ership of the CPB. This pol-icy was later applied to otherregions, and caused a num-ber of debilitating splits inethnic minority organisa-tions.In 1976, the National De-mocratic Front (NDF) wasformed; a new alliance con-sisting solely of ethnic mi-nority organizations, includ-ing the KNU, NMSP,KNPP, K1O, SSA and someother smaller groups. At-tempts to form a united frontbetween the CPB and theNDF failed. Until its collapse in 1989, the CPB alli-ance rivaled the anti-communist and pro-westernNDF alliance in strength. While the CPB and its al-lies relied on support from China, most of the NDFmembers financed their organizations by setting uptollgates along the Thai border. In Shan State, manyinsurgent armies were financed by opium taxation.

The BSPP's economic policy was a complete fail-ure. Consumer goods were only available on theblack market. Smuggling of these goods became amajor source of income for ethnic insurgent armiesbased along the Thai border. Burma was facing ahuge economic crisis, and in 1987 had to apply forLCD status. The BSPP decision to devaluate a largeamount of banknotes, officially to curb black markettrade, further led to great resentment among thepopulation, In 1988, a massive movement for de-mocracy and human rights was initiated by studentsand other urban activists. They staged demonstra-tions and strikes in the cities and larger towns ofcentral Burma, demanding an end to military ruleand a multi-party system. On 8 August 1988 ('8-8-88'), millions of protesters over the whole countrytook to the streets. The army responded with bruteforce, killing thousands of unarmed protesters. InSeptember 1988, the military set up a new rulingbody, the State Law and Order Restoration Council(SLORC). After years of self-imposed isolation, theSLORC (that most observers claim to have beenonly a new name for the same old group of powerholders), initiated a new 'open door policy', andsought to attract foreign investment and acquire for-eign exchange. For elections in May 1990, the armyallowed the formation of new political parties, thefirst time since it took over state power in 1962. The

Logging Papun area

opposition National League for Democracy (NLD),led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of inde-pendence hero Aung San, won a landslide victory.The military backed National Unity Party won only10 seats, then the Shan Nationalities League for De-mocracy (23 seats) and the Arakan League for De-mocracy (11 seats).The SLORC refused to hand over power and by1992, the majority of political parties had beenbanned. Instead, the SLORC set up a National Con-vention that started to work on a new constitution inearly 1993, under close supervision of the military.In 1995, the NLD decided to withdraw from theConvention in protest against restrictions. In an attempt tobreak the deadlock, the NLD, in cooperation with anumber of ethnic minority politicians, set up theCommittee Representing the People's Parliament(CRPP) in 1998. The military immediately re-sponded by arresting many NLD and CRPP mem-bers.

A fter the crackdown of 1988, thousandsof Burman activists fled to the junglebases of ethnic armed oppositiongroups in the border area, mostly to

member groups of the NDF. Here student activistsformed the All Burma Students' Democratic Front tolaunch an armed struggle against the military gov-ernment. This led to the formation of new alliances.In 1990, the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB)was formed, a new umbrella organisation of ethnicminority organisations and Burman oppositiongroups. Two years later, in 1992, the National Coun-cil of the Union of Burma (NCUB) was created and set


up at the KNU headquarters in Manerplaw, near theThai border. The NCUB consisted of ethnic nationalityorganisations plus members of political parties, and MPs-

elect (mainly NLD) who had escaped a new wave ofarrests after the elections of 1990.

In 1989, Wa and Kokang troops mutinied against theBurma CPB leadership. They formed new organisa-tions based along ethnic lines and included theUWSA in Wa-inhabited regions of Shan State, theMNDAA in Kokang in northeast Shan State, theNDAA in eastern Shan State, and the NDA-K in Ka-chin State. The mutiny spread quickly, and SLORCresponded by offering cease-fire agreements to thesenew groups. The CPB insurgency was effectivelyended.

Old DKBA logging camp (Sin Swein area)

The NDF tried to woo the mutineers into their campbut failed. Instead, the military pressure on otherethnic armed groups in the northern Shan State in-creased. The Shan State Army (in northern ShanState), an NDF member, signed a cease-fire soonafterwards. Other important NDF members, includ-ing the Pao National Organisation (PNO) (nearTaunggyi in Shan State) and the Palaung State Lib-eration Party (PSLP) (near Hsipaw in Shan State), fol-lowed two years later in 1991.The Burmese Army launched new offensives againstthe remaining NDF members. During 1991-92,heavy fighting took place in the mountains aroundManerplaw, the KNU headquarters, but against theexpectation of many observers, the KNU managedto hold its ground.The KIO now proposed to start joint negotiationswith the SLORC on behalf of the NDF. After failing

to convince the NDF, the KIO signed a sepa-

rate cease-fire in February 1994. While the KIO ar-gued that it was better to make a cease-fire first, andthen find a political solution, others, including theKNU, wanted to have a political solution first beforesinging a cease-fire. The KIO was subsequentlyejected from the NDF and the DAB. In 1995, twoother NDF members, the NMSP and the KNPP, alsosigned a cease-fire, although the latter broke downafter a few months.Pressure on the KNU increased after the breakawayof groups of dissatisfied Buddhist soldiers, whoformed the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army(DKBA). The SLORC responded quickly and of-fered the DKBA aid and territory. This ultimatelyled to the fall of the KNU's headquarters in Maner-

plaw in early 1995.Cease-fire talks be-tween the SLORC andthe K N U during1996-97 failed to pro-duce results. The KNUmaintained that it can-not sign a cease-firewithout a lasting po-litical solution. Duringthe military offensiveof the Burmese armythat followed immedi-ately after, the KNUlost most of its

remaining territory.It now operates as a

guerrilla army from a

number of small basesalong the Thai border,

with small-scale hit and

run attacks.By the end of 2003, most of the large armed ethnicopposition groups had signed cease-fire agreements,except for the KNU, the KNPP, and the SSA-South.These organisations are all located along the Thaiborder. Smaller Chin, Rakhine, Naga and Muslimgroups remained active on Myanmar's northern bor-ders with Bangladesh and India, In early 2004, theKNU and the SPDC made a temporary verbal cease-fire agreement.

Logging and civil war

During the decades of civil war in Burma, all con-flict parties have relied on the extraction of naturalresources, mainly by logging and mining, to financetheir armies. The scale of logging increased dramati-cally after SLORC came to power in 1988. The most

8


serious damage has been done in the ethnic minorityareas along the borders with Thailand and China.These areas previously contained untouched forestreserves with various types of hardwood and tropicalrainforests, and included many important watershedareas. The increased fighting along the Thai borderin the late 1980s and early 1990s coincided with un-sustainable and clear-cut logging practices by Thailogging companies,In November 1988, the Thai government announceda total logging ban in Thailand after logging-relatedmudslides caused the death of 350 civilians. In De-cember 1988, soon after the formation of theSLORC and the bloodbath of August and September1988, Thai Army Commander Chaovalit visitedBurma and returned with lucrative logging and fish-ing concessions. As a result of this trip, a large num-ber of Thai logging companies, most of them wellconnected to high-ranking Thai military officers orpowerful Thai politicians were granted logging con-cessions by the SLORC. Many of these concessionswere located in areas controlled by armed ethnic op-position groups, including the KNU, NMSP, KNPP,and MTA.

From the SLORC's perspective, these log-ging concessions were pan of a largerscheme to defeat the ethnic insurgencies. In1991, U Nyunt Shwe, then Burmese Am-

bassador to Thailand, said: "We are selling [the log-ging concessions] to get foreign exchange. No onecan deny that countries need foreign exchange. Hadthe deal not been sealed before the logging ban [inThailand] then there would be political problems inThailand. Therefore, politically you [Thailand] gain.Economically we [SLORC] gain, and politically andeconomically the insurgents lost." (Kramer, 1994)The sale of logging concessions in US dollarsbrought in much-needed foreign exchange. Annualincome from the sale of these logging concessionsmight have been US $112 million a year. In the1990s, the total average annual timber revenue wasUS $200 million and was the largest single source offoreign exchange (Smith, 1994).Thai logging companies removed forest cover forguerrilla armies, and buil t strategic roads into hith-erto inaccessible terrain. Furthermore, on a numberoccasions the Thai army allowed Burmese troops toattack Karen, Mon and Karenni strongholds frombehind, using That territory. In this way, the Bur-mese army quickly overran a number of bases thathad been impregnable before. These "logging wars'were chaotic in nature and led to many conflicts be-tween logging companies, ethnic minority armies,

and the SLORC, and lasted until the mid-1990s. Bythat time, huge parts of Burma along the Thai borderhad been deforested by Thai companies (Kramer,1994).Logging also increased dramatically in northernShan State and in Kachin State after the cease-fireagreements. Organisations such as the KIO, NDA-Kand the SSA-North, found it increasingly difficult tofinance their organisations, and became reliant onthe sale of natural resources, mainly timber, toChina. They claim to have no other alternative. Afterthe cease-fire, the KIO lost control of the jade minesat Hpa-kant, which up until then was its mainsource of income.The majority of the timber is cut by Chinese compa-nies, who subsequently export the logs across theborder to neighbouring Yunnan Province in China.In recent years, both the KIO and the NDA-K havealso given out logging concessions to foreign com-panies, mainly Chinese but, reportedly, also Malay-sian and Singaporean. These concessions were ex-changed in return for road building projects in Ka-chin State, which is very underdeveloped and haspoor infrastructure. Representatives of the KIO andthe NDA-K say that since the government has madeno efforts to develop Kachin State, they have to do itthemselves. The only way to finance this, they ar-gue, is by selling logging concessions (Moncreifand Myat, 2001).

References:

Kramer, T. 1994. "Thai Foreign Policy TowardBurma 1987-1993". MA thesis, University of Am-sterdam, Amsterdam.

Lintner, B.1990. "The Rise and Fall of the Com-munist Party of Burma (CPB)". Cornell Univer-sity Press, New York.

Moncreif, J., and H. Myat. October-November2001. "The War on Kachin Forests."The Irrawaddy 9 (8): 14-17.

Myanmar Forestry Department. 1991. Popula-tion statistics for May 1991.

Smith, M. 1999. "Burma: Insurgency and thePolitics of Ethnicity", Zed Books, London.

Smith, M. 1994. "Paradise Lost? The Suppressionof Environmental Rights and Freedom of Expres-sion in Burma. London", Article 19:13.

Chapter 3

KACHIN STATEby PKDS

An introduction

Kachin State is a dark green temple of closed for-ests, full of precious natural resources; notably jadeand gold. The subject of many poems and songs, itsbeauties are far beyond those expressions, It is saidthat the forests of Burma are among the most re-sourceful in the world; inside Burma, the forests ofour Kachinland are the richest of all.Since the days of our forefathers many have giventheir lives, talents; all they had, to protect this re-sourceful land. Kachins lived without greed, earningtheir Livelihood and producing sufficient food usingtraditional methods of agricultural cultivation. Everyyear they grew crops for an annual harvest, and aftereach year they moved to another field (taungya) toplant new crops, returning once in ten years to eachfield.In forty years of civil war, many of our Kachin peo-ple; men, women, and children, were only able tosurvive in me midst of war because of the forest. AllKachin know in themselves that me forest is themother which offers shelter and food for me Kachinpeople. It has long been the safe operating area andhome of the Kachin liberation fighters of the KIOand the NDA-K. Because the Burmese enemy wasnot familiar with the Kachin forest, the Kachin de-fenders could for a long time compete with the Bur-mese troops, despite the Kachin resistance forceshaving less weapons and smaller numbers.

The Kachin practice traditional medicine using re-sources from the forests and mountains of Ka-chinland. There are many different herbs with me-dicinal value in the leaves, sterns, flowers, bark, ber-ries, nuts, roots and fruits in the plants. Bird nestsand other animal products, even some animal drop-pings, are used as medicine. The forest is the medi-cine store of the Kachin. Traditional Kachin herbalmedicine can cure diseases and injuries as severe asbroken bones and deadly wounds often better thanmodem medicine. Presently, this rich source ofherbal medicine is in great danger of being wipedout. as some of the most useful species are becomingvery difficult to find. Some of the best herbal medi-cine plants which are a world heritage can only befound in the very deep forest areas.

K achin life is heavily dependant on theforest. Some people are taking advan-tage of the forests to get rich throughthe logging, mining and smuggling of

natural resources like rattan cane, jade and wildlifeproducts. Jade and gold mining, logging, overhun-ting and road building are especially threatening theKachin heritage. Many Kachin are left wanderingand rootless, having lost their livelihood resourcesalong with the forests that have been destroyed be-fore their eyes. The forest, rivers and land where ourancestors have lived for generations are being sold

An interview with a local in Laiza

"There were many kinds of wild animals. Tigers, antelopes, deers, bears, fowls, birds, monkeys, and more wereabundant around here. Now they have gone. People are setting the forest on fire in the summer. Because ofthe fires the wild animals cannot stay in the forest and insects die. Medicinal shrubs are also wiped out.""People say the logging business is for the development of the country. We can see no other development thanthe increasing number of good houses built for officers. People are still in the same situation as before. Deforesta-tion is done by the people in authority. When we talk about deforestation and reforestation to them, they tell us tobring dollars. The KIO is planting trees, but only teak to be cut in the future.Real reforestation means to grow a variety of trees that were wiped out. Religious leaders are preaching this in thechurches. They should preach more about this. Everyone should grow at least one tree and look after it. Environ-mental conservation should be taught in the schools. Only then will the new generation know how to conserve theforest and have a healthy environment.Hpung Ki Company is the biggest company from China engaged in the logging. At first it was supposed to builda hydropower electricity plant at Mali Hka. After eight years of extraction there is still no sign of the plant.People cannot do logging business. All permits are issued to officers only."

10


off to the advantage of foreign and local business-men and the national and state power holders. Busi-nessmen from both inside and outside Kachin Statehunt for resources like wolves in sheepskin, playinga game that destroys the land. Moreover, they createnew hardships for the local people - leaving themwithout land and resources, unemployed and disad-vantaged

T he problems of logging and mining areclosely related. Until the mid-1990s,gold mining was done only on a smallscale, using manpower, with bamboo-

made sluices and banana leaves and trunks. Up tothat time the only logging done was for the construc-tion of local buildings. Today, all kinds of powerfulmachinery are used with catastrophic environmentalconsequences. Mining concessions and logging con-tracts have been issued across Kachinland to compa-nies from different regions.The situation is not only the result of profit motivesand bad administration. It is also a consequence ofthe political game playing of the SPDC. Stimulatingmigration to Kachinland in relation to 'economic de-velopment' is a way to break up Kachin social andethnic structures. Destruction of the natural re-sources of the forest, sources of food, and other ba-sic necessities threatens to extinguish Kachin culture

Because of this, we will discuss the following ques-tions:

1 What problems are caused by the logging?2 Who benefits from the logging?

The report is based mostly on interviews and otherfield research done mostly between April 2002 andJuly 2003. It looks at the strategies behind the log-ging, about the concessions, and about the endan-gered areas. It talks about the victims of the conces-sions, about exploitation of local people, and aboutthe growing power of businessmen.

Logging business

At one time the forest was central to the life of theKachin people. After harvesting their crops, villag-ers collected different types of mushrooms, andhunted birds and wild animals in the forest. In someplaces, villagers collected many kinds of forest prod-ucts and vegetables and brought them to the marketto sell. With the money they earned they were able

Logging news from Talawgyiand Sinbo (June-July 2003)

There are two districts under the K1O administration inthe eastern part of Irrawaddy (Mali Hka) River, namelyMan Maw (Bhamo) District and Sadung (Sadon) Dis-trict. Logging business began in 1985, on a small scalein these two districts. Large-scale and intensive loggingbusiness started in 1994, extracting hundreds of thou-sands of tons per year. From 1990-1999, people fromKachinland (Kachin and Shan) were given permits forlogging. The KIO did not allow the Chinese companiesto log. Since 2000, logging permits have been issued to Chi-nese merchants from China and the local people are notallowed to log anymore. All the forests in Sinbo and Ta-law Gyi area were given in concessions to the Chinese.

From 1985-1990, local people engaged in the loggingbusiness. Tax for a logging permit was paid to the KIOonly. From 1994-2000, loggers had to also pay SPDCsoldiers 1000-2000 Kyat per truck-load of logs apartfrom the permit tax. Since 2000, loggers have to paySPDC soldiers at 200,000 Kyat per truck. The KIO hasalso increased the permit tax.The biggest logging tycoons are: Lau Ying (Chinesefrom China), Leng Wun (Chinese from Myanmar), YupZau Hkawng (Jade Land Company - Kachin), and theboss of Hung Ki Company (from China).From 1985-1990, about 10,000 tons of logs were ex-tracted per year from Sinbo and Talawgyi forests. Dur-ing 1991-1996, the extraction increased to many tens ofthousands of tons per year. In 2002, the extraction wasabout 100,000 tons. Logs from Sadung District, BhamoDistrict and the KfO General Headquarters area wereextracted at the rate of 500.000-600,000 tons a year dur-ing 1999-2002.In 2003, the extraction became even more intensive.One Chinese company extracted 2000 logs in 6 months.In June 2003 alone, about 40 to 50 thousand logs werepiling up in Talawgyi and Sinbo forest (at the time ofthis survey). This is estimated to add up to many hun-dreds of thousands of tons over the logging season.Logging concessions were given for October 2002 toJune 2003. The KIO issued a statement that loggingconcessions would be stopped in the year 2003-2004,but some KIO officers illicitly allowed a few loggers towork in return for bribes,

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to buy basic kitchen materials. However, with com-mercial logging, there have been big environmentalchanges, including loss of wild food and acute watershortages, forcing the villagers to turn their back onthe old way of life and join the logging business.In 1994, after the ceasefire the serious logging be-gan, and after only three to four years it had ex-panded to every comer of the land, although in someareas it is smaller scale and hard to document.The majority of the logging concessions now areheld by Chinese foreign businessmen and people inauthority.

A1Logging companies andconcessions

Today the word 'development' is very popular inBurma but in actual practice nothing positive hap-pens, nothing changes to make conditions better forthe Kachin and other ethnic societies. The nationalarmies, the KIO and NDA-Kare aware of the necessity forrapid development in Kachinsociety before outsiders havebuilt too strong an economicposition that disadvantages lo-cal people. They want to set uptheir own development projectsin Kachin State. But, the armieslack the skills and money torun these projects. The imperialjade from the mining town ofHpakant, the main source ofwealth for the KIO and Kachinsociety, is now under control ofthe Burmese government.Opium production, a former Logging trucks at checkpointsource of financing, is internationally prohibited andhas been seriously cut back by the KIO which wantsinternational support and credibility. To supporttheir own development projects the KIO and NDA-K have turned toward the sale of the forests. Bigscale logging started in the KIO area, after the cease-fire agreement in 1994, and in the NDA-K area in1996,Almost all the biggest logging companies are fromChina, which itself has a ban of logging to protect itsown forests. Some well-known holders of loggingconcessions in Kachinland include the followinglauban (an honorific title for boss or tycoon): CingShin (a company from Ten Chong), Cu Hi Jshau,Leng Wun, Hkang Lung (from Yin Jiang), Fan DuShau (Yang Yin), Pong Han Chin, Lag Yin, ShingLeng Woon (from Loije) and Lau Fu.

There are different reasons given by the authoritiesfor the selling of concessions such as the building ofroads and hydropower plants. As one example, theJadeland Company was engaged to build a road be-tween Bhamo - Myitkyina - Sumprabum. In winningthe bid to build the road they were given a loggingconcession one mile wide on each side of the roadbeing constructed.In 2001, the KIO hired the Hung Ki Company tobuild the Mali hydropower station. In return theJahta area was given as a logging concession to theHung Ki Company. Now the concession has beenextended to two Chinese companies, including theHug Ki and Hung Hta companies. The KIO leadershave ordered local people not to do any logging inthis area.Sometimes villagers are persuaded by the business-men to ask permission for logging. For example in1996, the villagers of Jaumau in the NDA-K areawere persuaded by a Chinese company to ask theNDA-K leader for permission to log in their forest.In return, the company would build a school, hospi-

tal and church in the village. The Chinese business-man also offered to build a road and to carry all thelogs. In the end, however, the concession went toNDA-K officers and the village chief who privatelysold to the Chinese and pocketed the profits; whilethe villagers were left without any benefits.

Logging practice

When a logging concession is given to a Chinesecompany, Chinese workers move into the forest areafor a period of months. They bring their own rice,but for their curry they usually rely on forest prod-ucts and wildlife. They exhaust the forest with theirhunting. When the logging process begins, the Chi-

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L

nese first build a road for their trucks. Then theystart cutting the trees into eight foot iong logs (thesize in which they can be carried loaded sideways onthe trucks) with their chainsaws.Where two or three Kachins have to work all daywith their handsaws to cut one big tree, the Chinesewith their chainsaws can speedily clear the forest.When the workers have to move the logs fromplaces where the trucks can't come, they either carrythem themselves to the trucks, or use elephants whenavailable. The trucks carry the logs day and nightinto China.

In Sinboo, Ta Law Gyi and Shwe Gu areas, localpeople are allowed to sell teak. These people cut theteak with handsaws and sell to Kachin businessmen.But since the Kachin businessmen don't have muchcapital and can't buy many logs cut by the villagersthey started taking loans from Chinese businessmen,buying more logs and therefore making more profit-able business.

Loggers bring the logs to the Irrawaddy riversideon bullock carts from the deep forest. Where it istoo difficult for both trucks and bullock carts, thelogs are cut smaller and carried by the workers

themselves. By river, the logs are brought to theNam San Yang area. Bullock carts are used again totake the illegal logs to where trucks can approach.

After that, trucks carry the logs into China via Lizatown.

There are numerous toll gates on the main roadsmost people use, and also on the separate, secret log-ging roads in Kachin State. The majority of them arecontrolled by different SPDC army and military in-telligence units, police, forestry department and cus-toms. There are less KIO and NDA-K checkpoints.As well as Laiza there are a number of other bordercrossing points where the timber is taken across toChina: the Pangwa gate (check-point), Kambaitigate, Hpimaw gate, Sa Ji gate, Sampai gate, LrangFang, Htaw Lang, Shi Chyang, Pa Wa Hku. La Ka-ing gate, Loi Ying Hai gate (Mai Ja Yang), and viathe Hka Shang road and Lai Ying road (Mai Ja Yangand Loije). It is most likely that there are other bor-der gates where logs are brought to China that areunknown and until now inaccessible to our research-ers, such as in the N'Mai Hku area on the border inthe north of the KIO and NDA-K controlled territo-ries.

Khindit area

Khindit consists of three small villages, Hkindit,Bawmling and Bumring Zup around the town of MaiJa Yang located on the Chinese border. There areabout 20 households with a total population of 100people. Approximately one third of the householdscultivate wet fields and approximately two-thirds de-pend on dry field cultivation. A few people havehorses, mules and water buffaloes. The entire villagewas burnt down by the military in 1962 and has sincebeen re-built In 1999, the village leaders granted alogging and charcoal extraction concession for theirforest in return for electricity.

Key points:(1) Average costs of electricity are 9 Yuan per week

per household (higher than on the Chinese side ofthe border). Average expenses on kerosene were 4Yuan per week before the installation of electric-ity.

(2) Voltage is always lower than the standard,(3) Electric lamp-posts are only on the main streets.(4) The villagers have still not been informed about

the terms of the concession agreement.(5) Young people and women feel that there is too

much deforestation but cannot say anything to thevillage leaders.

(6) The women have no voice in the village admini-stration. A woman leader is chosen by the villageleaders, not elected by the women. Women andyoung people hope that the village wilt progressbetter if their voice is heard. They wish to partici-pate in reforestation for future generations.

(7) There are no plans for forest conservation or refor-estation.

(8) The concession was granted for three years, but nowritten agreement was signed. This was four yearsago, but logging and charcoal extraction is stillgoing on.

(9) The community forest is within a radius of 1 milearound the vitlage. Apart from the community for-est, the concessionaires continue to cut trees fromthe main forest. At present, the deforested area isalready about 10 miles deep into the main forest.

(10) The villagers grow fruit trees in the deforestedarea for subsistence, but not on a commercialscale. There is now a plan to grow bamboo andpomelloes. The seedlings will be bought from theChinese factory, but on condition that the productsmust be sold to the factory at the price fixed by thelatter.

(11) Meteorological changes have been noticed since2003. Streams are drying up in the summer andthe climate is hotter.

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Dum Bau and Prang Ngawng Villages

(1) In these villages controlled by the KIO, a log-ging concession and electricity supply agree-ments have been signed with Chinese compa-nies. The forest concession is four square kilo-meters. Logging activities started on November24, 2002, three days after the concession wasissued. At first, only large trees were logged.Now trees as thin as a Pepsi bottle are alsologged for charcoal.

(2) There are 24 households and 117 persons inDum Bau Village. Among them 20 percent areyoung people; mostly students. Most have toleave school because they cannot afford thecosts. The villagers cultivate paddy-fields. Somepeople do not own but rent their land. All house-holds have small gardens to grow vegetables.People also collect vegetables and mushroomsfrom the forests and sell them in the market.There are many kinds of bamboo (ora, mai seng,u law, mai hka, mai hpyu, mai dading) in the for-ests. The shoots of many species are edible.There are many kinds of wild animals, but peo-ple seldom hunt them.

(3) Dum Bau village can be reached after passing aKIA logging check point. There is a timber fac-tory situated in a long and narrow valley by thevillage. There are no carpenters or skilled per-sons to manage business in the villages, thereforethe villages cannot start their own sawmill. Thissituation compelled them to sell forest land to aChinese company in exchange for electricity.

(4) One high-ranking KIA officer owns a large fishpond. There is a hydro-electric generator operat-ing just to supply the fish pond and the farm.

(5) Prang Ngawng village is adjacent to Dum BauVillage. Villagers get electricity from China viaMai Ja Yang and Loije. Villagers pay for theelectricity and the Chinese government mam-tains the supply. The villagers feel that the elec-tric power is over-priced. There is no meter box,

(6) There is enough water and suitable elevation tobuild hydro-electric generators to supply elec-tricity to both Dum Bau and Prang Ngawng vil-lages. However since the local Kachins lack skillin the operation and maintenance of the genera-tors, they chose the alternative of buying elec-tricity from China.

(7) At the time of research (April 2003), woodenposts for electric cables were erected by the Chi-nese company. Villagers proposed to provide theposts, hut the Chinese company did not agreeand will charge for the posts at a higher price.

Social problems in loggingareas

Villagers are often unaware about the problems fromlogging because of a lack of education. The word'development' is attractive to them. Many business-men make use of this, and promise to build schools,hospitals, and churches to get their cooperation. An-other method for enticing villagers to give up theirforest is the promise of electricity for lighting.Again, the result is deforestation, leading to: notenough clean water, water shortages for farming,scarcity of firewood and of trees and bamboo used inhouse construction, and increasingly irreversible en-vironmental changes.Deforestation affects not only the forest, but also thesocial structure of Kachin life, Kachin used to live incollective ways, supporting each other. They did notneed much money to travel since the structure ofsocial relations extended throughout the villages.Any two Kachins were always in a kind of sharingfamily relationship with each other, considering eve-ryone else cousin or brother, aunt or uncle. Thisbeautiful and valuable social structure is now disap-pearing as a consequence of mining and logging.The state of mind, manner, and behaviour haschanged among the young Kachins. Kachin cultureis being further eroded because of the immigrationof thousands of Chinese workers, many of whomentice and marry Kachin girls, often met in Chinesekaraoke bars where the girls work as waitresses.

Who benefits from the logging?

Chinese and Kachin business

Chinese businessmen clearly benefit the most fromthe logging. They are present in all aspects of thebusiness. Chinese workers use chainsaws which arenot available to the Kachins. Kachins are not em-ployed for loading the trucks. The workers are paidpiece-wages. For instance, in Sampai area a busi-nessman called Wu Leng pays workers 25-30 Yuanfor each ton of logs cut, and Y 35-40 for one loadedtruck. Kachins "benefit" from the logging onlythrough the KlO's sale of concessions and the col-lection of taxes at the tollgates and through moneymade by the local people who are involved in cuttingand destroying their own forests. Chinese business-

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Kachin State

men make their biggest profits by processing thelogs in sawmills and timber factories near the borderregion, and exporting the products.Some Kachin businessmen join in logging conces-sions, but since they borrow their investment capitalfrom Chinese companies, they have to sell them thetimber for the price the companies offer. Many Ka-chin businessmen have been arrested for not havingenough money to bribe Burmese army posts.

SPDC, KIO, and NDA-K

In the eyes of many, the KIO and the NDA-K are theorganisations responsible for the excessive and non-sustainable logging in Kachin State. In actual prac-tice however, the major part of income from the log-ging goes to the SPDC. The SPDC really controls

most activities in KachinState, and if they wanted tostop it there would be littleor no logging.In one of our interviews,six timberworkers at Sam-pai-Jahta said that the log-ging was only possiblethrough bribery of the Bur-mese army posts. If onedoesn't pay, they can bearrested and jailed for log-ging, as has happened tosome Chinese businessmenwith insufficient funds forbribing the SPDC army.Another example of thiswas the Lin Fung Com-pany, managed by YangHkyi Seng, and logging in

Gang Dau Yang in Jahta area and Seng Mai Pa. TheChinese had to give 2 million kyat to a Burmesearmy officer for his "travel allowance".One of the interviewed said: "We have to givemoney to every SPDC army post that demands it.These demands are random. As for the KIO, theyprescribe a limit for taxes at their posts, before thelogs are sent to different parts of China via DumBung, close to the border. The KIO collects Y 150per ton, and Y 500 per truck. One concession fromthe KIO costs Y 3000 (300,000 Kyats), logging be-ing possible between September and April in thefollowing year. However we have to pay a personalbribe of 1-2 million kyat to a senior SPDC officerfor one convoy (or consignment) and then pay sepa-rate bribes to the forestry department, the police sta-tion, and all the army posts around."One logger interviewed in Man Win village saw histrucks loaded with timber confiscated by BurmeseArmy troops in 2001, "1 didn't have enough moneyto bribe them", he reported.

Logging news from Sinlum, Law Mun, Law Dan, Hpakawn (January 2003)

(1) This area has once been very rich in biodiversity. It had thick forests and was rich in flora and fauna. Riv-ers and streams would flow the whole year round. But after the commercial logging started, streams aredrying up in the summer and wild animals have started to disappear.

(2) Logging started in the year 2000. The logging concession is 38 miles wide and tens of thousands of acres.It includes Sinlum, Lum Ja, Munghka and Nmawk areas. In addition, some Chinese companies bribe theSPDC army camps and do logging in their territory too. Logging companies have to pay 3000 Yuan for apermit to the KIO, The KIO tollgate charges Y 500-600 for one truck load.

(3) Most of the logging is done around Sama Bum, Lagyen Bum, Langda Bum ranges, About 30-40 truckloads of about 6 tons each are transported to Dumbung in China per day.

(4) By estimation, about 4000 tons in 2002 and at least 5000-6000 tons in 2003 have been extracted.(5) People are watching with tears, the elimination of big trees that have been growing from the lime of their

forefathers. But nothing can be done; the people with authority and the Chinese merchants benefit.

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Chapter 4

KAREN STATEby KESAN

Introduction

Karen State, home to what were once lush and richlydiverse forests is in the Southeast of Burma, sharingits eastern border with Thailand and other borderswith Mandalay Division, Shan, Mon, and KarenniStates. There are seven districts in Karen State.Three of the four northern districts: Mu Traw(Papun), Toungoo, and Doo The Htoo (Thaton), arethe areas where research on the forest situation hasbeen conducted, (see MAP on page 42)

N orthern Karen State is comprised ofboth flatlands and mountainous areas.The Karen depend on flat rice paddyagriculture, traditional rotational farm-

ing in the highlands, and integrated orchard farming.These practices are suitable for the use of sustain-able agricultural techniques and have been used formany generations.The research shows that all three districts are facingsimilar situations and problems with respect to thedegradation and destruction of forest resources. Theareas were once rich in biodiversity, but now somespecies have become completely extinct, and manyothers are disappearing at alarming rates.

In Karen State, forests are officially classified in twocategories: reserved and unreserved forest land. Thereserved areas were set up by the British during theircolonial rule and remain under government control.The unreserved areas are supposed to be communityforests belonging to villages. However in mostplaces this is no longer the case and community for-ests are logged by other parties.

Several factors are a hindrance to the practice of tra-ditional agricultural methods and are causing majordepletion of the forests:

1.

Transporting logs by cattle

The war. All conflict parties have relied on theextraction of natural resources to finance theirarmies during the decades of civil war. This hasbeen the primary cause of forest destruction inKaren State. The majority of the villagers in thethree districts face forced relocations by theSPDC and have had to abandon their homes andtraditional lifestyles.They have little choice but either to go to theconcentration camps where they must deal withforced labour, forced demand of food and sup-plies, unofficial taxes, and other human rightsabuses; or to hide in the forests. The influx of

Internally Displaced Peo-ple (IDPs) into the forestshas put a great stress onforest management andconservation. In the forests,the villagers have few op-tions for their survival andmost resort to non-traditional forms of shiftingcultivation. Where in tradi-tional forms forest areasare left to fallow for longerperiods, enabling the soil torecover, non-traditionalforms are non-sustainablemethods of farming thatclear large areas of forestafter inadequate fallowperiods, producing lowyields, and providing little

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food security. This situation has been pushedfurther because of a new SPDC strategy that al-lows the regime to maintain control of loggingthrough local intermediaries, in this way ensur-ing cooperation on both sides of the front linesin Karen State.

2. Closely related to the first point is the impact ofcommercial logging. It has been a commonpractice for many years, with notable accelera-tion in the 1990s. Logging that should be doneonly in the reserved areas that are under govern-ment control is now encroaching and destroyingthe traditional community forests. The KNUalso makes deals with the loggers, and villagershave lost their forest resources from their tradi-tional community forests as well as have re-stricted access to reserved forests, resulting inconflicts with the KNU.

3. Recent migration from the cities to the country-side has had great impact on the local communi-ties. Uncontrollable migrants from the cities col-lect fuel and timber for trade in the city, andclear forest areas for unsustainable vegetablegardens.

4. The routine setting of forest fires by the SPDCarmy to clear hiding areas of the KNU.

5. Charcoal production.6. Land confiscation by the SPDC to set up com-

mercial monoculture plantations, to buildcamps, and to develop infrastructure. Whenfarmers shift from traditional agricultural prac-tices to monoculture, the forest-use systemchanges from common property ownership toindividual ownership; encouraging people toencroach on community forest areas, and caus-ing more damage to already degraded forests.

L ogging has had serious impacts on theKaren people and their traditional waysof life. The villagers rely on the commu-nity forests for timber, and non-timber

forest products (NTFP) such as food, herbal medi-cines, and other plant resources. Women especiallydepend on the forest. They need to collect firewood,wild vegetables and other products daily, but thefogging makes this more and more difficult, increas-ing time spent on travel and resulting in less timeavailable for other daily responsibilities.Diminishing biodiversity threatens the practices oftraditional healers who rely on forest resources. Inaddition, the forests have a very important role inreligious beliefs and practices. When they are de-stroyed, the Karen can no longer practice their tradi-tional beliefs.

Key points:

(1) A new strategy allows the SPDC to main-tain control of logging through local inter-mediaries, ensuring cooperation acrossfrontline conflicts.

(2) There is some conflict between local vil-lagers and the KNU over deforestation andlack of access to the forests.

(3) Deforestation by means of logging, mono-culture and forest fires has led to watershortages, which has affected farming.This has forced people to change their live-lihood from farming to casual labour inlogging, gold mining, on mono-plantationand other temporary jobs

Deforestation has had great ecological impact onwater quality and availability, and on meteorologicalconditions. Farmers who depend on irrigation fromthe rivers are facing the problem of poor soil qualitydue to nutrient-deprived water, with lower yields asconsequence. In the dry season, there is a watershortage, and the rivers are at low levels during therainy season. Integrated orchards and gardens aretraditionally set up along the streams, however withthe changed conditions, the plants cannot surviveand die from lack of water. The quality of the wateris greatly affected by the logging. Elephants and buf-falos are used by loggers to pull the logs along thecourse of the streams (that villagers use for drinkingwater and household needs) and pollute the waterwith earth and dung. Soil erosion on the banks altersthe course of the rivers, and destroys gardens andorchards along the banks. The villagers have noticedan increase in air temperature and the weather can bequite irregular with increased droughts and flooding.These impacts jeopardise food security; farmers canno longer rely on their traditional agricultural prac-tices. The unsustainable logging sets off a downwardecological spiral. Many are forced to abandon theirfarms and become daily labourers and elephant driv-ers for the logging companies, work in gold mining,practice unsustainable non-traditional forms of shift-ing cultivation and commercial mono-plantations, orcultivate temporary vegetable gardens.

Deforestation is not only causing serious ecologi-cal problems, but with the loss of the forestsKaren cultural identity, indigenous knowledge,traditional beliefs and values are disappearing aswell. This is a major concern of all villages visitedin the course of the research.

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Doo The Htoo DistrictDoo The Htoo (in Burmese; Thaton) district is located in the plain areas betweenSittang River in the northwest and Salween River in the east. Most of the land areais flat with some mountains in the far north and slopes on the eastern side of the dis-trict near the Salween River. Many villages and agricultural lands are located alongthe basins of Dontkemi River (Baw Naw Klo in Karen) (Salween's tributary} and itstributaries such as Daw Za Chaung (Ta Uu Klo), Kyakat Chaung (Ter R'weh Klo),and other rivers like Bilin River and Theh Pyu Chaung,At present, accurate data on forests in Doo The Htoo district are not available. Ac-cording to the Myanmar Forestry Department statistics of May 1991, there are twomajor types of forests: Tropical Wet Evergreen; stretching from north-west to southparallel to the coastal line, and Mixed Deciduous Forests spreading out from thenorth towards the east, lying parallel to the tropical wet evergreen and coveringmost of the northern and eastern part of the district.Resarch was conducted in three villages: Taung Lweh (Karen name Ta Uu Kee) inBilin Township, and Kyakat Chaung (Ta R'weh Kee) village and Zee Woun(Saktaraw) village in Doo The Htoo TownshipTotal areas involved: Bilin and Doo The Htoo townships in Eastern Doo The Htoo(2 out of 5 districts)Habitat types: Tropical Wet Evergreen forests (cool and very wet). Mixed Deciduousforest (hotter climate, less rain)Wildife present: wild buffalo, wildpig, 2 monkey species, bear, deer, squirrel, wildchicken and other small bird species

1. True status of the rainforest

The status of the rainforest has significantlychanged over the last thirty years. Around 1970many kinds of tree species were common, such asteak, ironwood, Sgaw, Say Baw, Kyaw Kae, Thay PaHsa, Gaw (species from Dipterocarp family), La Ter(another kind of Dipterocarp), Padaunk, Thay PomuPwa, and Klaw Klay. Different kinds of bamboogrew in the forests, such as Wa Mee, Wa Klay, WaShu and Wa Bway. Another type of bamboo, WaKlu, very suitable for building houses, was plantedby villagers near their communities.According to the villagers in the district, there stilllive rare animals such as the rhinoceros, tigers, gib-bons, hornbills, and Toe Khae (similar to but smallerthan the hornbill) in the forests. The most commonanimals present are various kinds of monkeys (TaUu, Wah Mae), deer, barking deer, wild buffaloes,gaurs, bears, wild pigs, and many kinds of birds.There are ten reserve forests in Doo The Htoo dis-trict. The British colonial government establishedeight of them; the other two reserve forests were setup by the KNU after Burma became independent.All of these reserve forests are in the five townships

administered by the KNU. Da Thu Lu reserved for-est is in Kyaito Township. O Kan Gyee, Bee LakanGyee and Tagaylaw reserve forests are in BilinTownship. Kyakat Chaung, Pabein, Toe Bo Gyee,and Dernu are in Thaton Township. Kyo Sein re-serve forest is located in Pa-an Township, andKalamat reserved forest in Paling Township. Toe BoGyee and Demu reserve forests were set up by theKNU. The KNU declared Kyakat Chaung a wildlifesanctuary in 2000.

Currently the status of the forests has completelychanged. The Doo The Htoo deputy district officerof the KNU, Saw Oh Shwe estimates that only about15% of the forests are left. Even the reserve forestsexist almost only in name, except for some remainsin Bilin Township. According to a Bilin Townshipofficer, the total area of the three reserved forests inhis township is about 5,252 acres, of which 20% isactually still forest, mostly in Bee Lakan Gyee re-serve forest. A small piece of forest is left in Tagay-law but O Kan Gyee reserve forest is alreadycleared.Populations of wild animals are dramatically in de-cline. Only a very few wild animals are found inKyakat Chuang wildlife sanctuary. Villagers nolonger see wild animals inside or outside the reserveforests. Rare animals such as the tiger and the rhi-noceros are gone from the wildlife sanctuary.

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Environmental conditions have radically changed.Rivers dry up in the summer, and have a lower levelin the rainy season than in the past. People travellingin these areas can no longer rest in the shades of thetrees and always have to carry their own drinkingwater.Despite the serious degradation of the forest, loggingcontinues. Together with the collection of firewood,the charcoal business, the expansion of mono-cropplantations, and regular forest burnings by SPDCsoldiers, the remaining forests are in serious danger.

2. The importance of rainforestfor local communities

The rainforest plays very important roles inthe livelihoods of the local communities in Doo TheHtoo district. Rotational farming is a vital part ofagriculture, and depends on good forest to producesuccessful yields. Traditionally, villagers let the landlie fallow for at least seven years. Another kind ofagriculture is irrigated paddy farming. The tradi-tional irrigation system is very productive becausethere are lots of organic substances like leaves andother tree litter that drops and decomposes in thecanal. This organic matter flows with the water intothe field and fertilizes the paddy fields. Forests alsoprovide good conditions and fertility for the localcommunities' orchards. Many villagers plant betelnut (areca nut), dot fruit, durian, coconut, jackfruit,plum mango (Takaw Hsi Tha), Livistona speciosa

The designated reserve forests have helped pro-tect the land, but that protection has not beenadequate. Most of the reserve forests, as muchas 85%, have been felled for timber or for per-manent conversion to cultivation. The KNUprotected areas still provide habitats for somewild animals, but these areas are inaccessible forvillagers. The only suitable logging area left inDoo The Htoo district is in Bilin Township.Here, since 1996, the SPDC has pursued a newpolicy to avoid KNU resistance to the logging.The SPDC loaned money through a stale-ownedlogging company to local Karen elites who es-tablish logging operations and sell the timber tothe Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE). Theseelites also negotiate with the KNU to safeguardtheir operations. The KNU used to ambushstate-owned logging business operating in theirareas. But DOW it grants permission and taxesthe loggers. This has caused tension between thevillagers and the KNU because the loggers haveaccess to the reserve forests while the local vil-lagers do not.

Transferring of logs to stockpile using elephant labour

(Lo Htu: have big leaves which look like palmleaves and are used for thatch), palm trees, sourgrapefruit (Shau Thee), leech lime or kumquat,(Shaunu Thee), lime, pomelo (Ma O) and other spe-cies in the forest. These orchards are not only forhousehold consumption but also provide extra in-come.In addition to agricultural benefits, forests aresources of food (wild vegetables, fruits) and medi-cines. Most of the materials for buildings and bas-

ketry come from the for-est. Forests used by thecommunity as a whole arecalled community forests.They also serve as pasturefor the cattle.Forests are very impor-tant in religious beliefsand practices. In theTaung Lweh village com-munity, every year inMay, a ritual ceremony isperformed in a sacred partof the forest. Red andwhite cloth is wrappedaround two big trees. Notrees in the sacred forestmay be cut down. Thiswould lead to illness anddeath to the members ofthe community.

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3. Social and ecological impacts ofdeforestation on environmentand local communities

Farmers face the consequences of meteoro-logical changes leading to droughts and floods.Flooding kills most of the rice. What is left of therice is destroyed by a tiny green insect. Anotherproblem is a small caterpillar that eats the leaves inthe night-time and stays under the rice in the day-time. When the rice produces the seeds, small cater-pillars cut through the branches of the seeds and eatthem. During harvest time (dry season), when itstarts raining, the seeds get wet, sprout, and growagain, which is another major problem.Since 1996, the situation has deteriorated. Accordingto the villagers this was when deforestation led tochanging climatic conditions. An average farm nowproduces 20 to 30 baskets of rice per acre, where itonce produced 80 to 100 baskets of rice per acre.The nutritious qualities of the soil have deteriorated,"When we used the water from the river there was alot of humus from the tree leaves and mud flowingwith the water into the farm. This made the soil fer-tile", villagers explained, "When the river dried upwe had to depend on rain in the rainy season. So wedo not get the fertile soil." The diminished yieldsmean food shortages, and the people have problemsto pay their taxes to the SPDC. Many farms wereabandoned and people prefer to work as casual la-bourers in the logging and other enterprises to maketheir living.Logging is not the only problem. People cut bam-boo, bamboo shoot, and firewood for commercialpurposes. Another problem is the deterioration of

Logging has caused:

* a serious threat to local biodiversity. For ex-ample traditional healers find it increasinglydifficult to find medicinal plants; this couldlead to loss of indigenous knowledge.

* water shortages. The diminishing supply ofwater available for irrigation (which is morenutritious than rainwater) has led to decliningrice yields in wet paddy cultivation.

This causes a downward ecological spiral, sincevillagers are forced by insufficient rice harveststo become casual labourers in logging operationsand other enterprises.

health care due to the logging. "My mother knewtraditional medicine. Villagers came to her to becured of their diseases, 1 assisted her and when shedied, I became traditional healer in Ta Uu Kee(Taung Lweh) village. I collect medicine from thetrees in the forest. Some patients I can cure with thismedicine. But some patients I can't cure with thismedicine. I don't charge the patients and accept any-thing they would like to offer me. Sometimes theygive me foods and sometime they give me money."This traditional healer claimed that in the past hecould find the medicine in the forest easily, but sincethe logging has started some medicine can not befound anymore. "1 replant some medicinal plants andtrees in my garden. Some disappeared medicine wenow have to buy in the city." In Ta Uu Kee (TaungLweh) village the elder is the only person who stilluses traditional medicine. For many people tradi-tional knowledge has been lost. They want westernmedicine, but it is very expensive. It is also ex-tremely dangerous to have because the SPDC doesnot allow it, fearing that the medicine will be passedon to the Karen National Liberation Army (militarywing of the KNU).

Impacts on women

In Doo The Htoo district the villagers have to dealwith three different political groups: the KNU, theDKBA, and the SPDC. They are liable to have to dowork for all three groups. Women and men have dif-ferent roles for their work. One of the women inKyakat Chaung (Ta R'weh Kee) village, ThatonTownship, said that women have more work to dobecause their men are forced to serve as porters, se-curity guards, and in other jobs for the BurmeseArmy; sometimes for 20 days a month. The remain-ing 10 days they are tired, sick, and bored to workon the farm. This changes the division of responsi-bilities traditionally shared by men and women,Although the Karen are family-based and involveboth male and female input in most decisions and incultivation practices, they are a matrilineal culture,thus the women are highly affected by changes inthe forest. Both male and females have access to theforest, however females predominately spend moretime, collecting forest products both for family-useas well as for extra income, and working on the land.With the decreasing forest products, they cannot col-lect enough to provide for extra income, and thuswith lack of income they cannot send their childrento school.Women are responsible for the housework and arethe primary house owners. Their responsibilities in-clude taking care of the children, feeding the family,

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Urban dwellers collecting timber from the forest and selling it in the city

feeding the animals, collecting water, collecting fire-wood, pounding rice, and cleaning. Additionally,they are responsible for all daily work when the menin the family have to serve for the military or be por-ters. The women also have to answer to SPDC mili-tary demand. The military will ask the women forfirewood, building materials for their camps, nightwatch duty, and other jobs which conflicts withother regular tasks.

4 a. Logging

4. Main factors that threaten thepractices of traditional forestconservation

Traditionally the local communities in DooThe Htoo district have their own system of forestmanagement. In the customary traditions each vil-lage has its own community forests with clearboundaries. Within this community forest land thereare rotational farms, irrigated farms, orchard farms,communal forest, pasture, and sacred forest. Thissystem has worked very well until recently. Nowhowever, many factors threaten or weaken the sys-tem. The main interrelated factors are logging, prob-lems of forest management and access to the forests,the civil war, and the introduction of monoculture.

Since 1973, the Burmese military government hasbeen heavily logging the forests in Doo The Htoodistrict. This logging has targeted most of the re-served and communal forests. Logging in BilinTownship forests exemplifies the situation. In 1992,SPDC troops advanced to Bilin Township. They alsomade the area secure for logging by building roadsand bringing in trucks, machinery, and other mate-rial. Since then, the military-backed logging opera-tion exploited the three reserve forests in BilinTownship. However, continuing surprise-attacks onthe logging operation by the KNLA, the military armof the KNU, did severe damages to hardware, per-sonnel, and profits; thus the SPDC changed its strat-egy in 1996, This time it used local Karen business-men (the 'log extraction group') to do the loggingand to negotiate with the KNU, believing that theKNU would not attack their own countrymen. TheSPDC-controlled Myanmar Timber Enterprise(MTE) loaned about four million kyat to each of theKaren entrepreneurs through U Bah Than, the MTE-manager in Pa-An township. Condition of the loanwas the exclusive sale of the timber to MTE. Timberwas collected at two central stockpiles, Dun YaySeik and Tor Prah.KNU district officials saw a chance to let the log-ging be of benefit to the KNU struggle. One seniorKNU district reasoned: "The SPDC has a militaryforce and they have occupied many of our controlledareas, one after another. So even if we didn't deal

21


with the logs extraction group the SPDC will do thelogging anyway and there is no benefit for theKNU." The logs extraction group agreed to pay theKNU 5,000 Kyat taxes per each ton of timber. Thenthey could execute their operations without hin-drance. Local villagers report that the KNU allowedlogging in an area outside the reserve forests of ca,31.25 square miles.

4b Forest managementand access to forests

Granting logging permissions either inside or out-side of reserved forests by the KNU is a controver-sial issue, and has led to conflict between the KNUand villagers in Bilin Township. The areas outsidethe reserve forests are supposed to be for public use.The reserve forests and especially teak and otherhardwood trees, officially under the management ofthe SPDC forestry department, are under control ofthe KNU and are protected by forestry laws. TheKNU have forestry laws that prohibit the cutting oftrees in the reserve forest, on penalty of seven yearsjail or death for second offenders. The laws allowvillagers to collect wood for household necessitiesoutside the reserve forests. Burning forests violatesKNU forestry laws and the violator must pay a fine.The villagers in Bilin Township area said: "We haveno trees for building our house because of the log-ging, while the KNU does not allow us to cut onetree. But they allow the log extraction group to dologging." The local communities are not satisfiedwith the KNU,claiming that it isnot fair that they donot even have theright to use timberfor their domesticneeds.As a result, somevillagers started ille-gal logging whilethere were still treesin the reserve for-ests. A few of themwere arrested andtaken for interroga-tion. The villagersreported that thelower ranking offi-cials of KNU wereintoxicated by alco-hol-use and theytreated the suspects

badly. Many villagers fell very unsatisfied with this.This state of affairs was reported to a well-respectedKNLA officer, lieutenant colonel Htu Gaw, com-mander of 1st KNU brigade in Doo The Htoo dis-trict. He called for a meeting of all district officials,including the KNU forestry department, and toldthem: "If you don't give my children [the villagers]the chance to collect wood to build their houses, wecan not resolve the conflict and will be distrusted byour own people," Finally the other KNU officialsagreed to let local villagers to collect a certainamount of wood for building material in March2002. As soon as access rights were conceded to lo-cal communities, illegal logging by outsiders alsostarted to occur. Because of this, the KNU withdrewits permission after one year. The KNU district lead-ers said they would call another meeting and if nec-essary, issue another permission period. So far, theconflict between the KNU and the local communi-ties is still unsettled. Thus the attempts of local peo-ple to conserve traditional forest management aredisencouraged by the offical forest administration.

4c Civil war

As part of the SPDC 'Four Cuts policy', restrictionshave been placed on the movements of villagers,Villagers are not allowed to do rotational farmingoutside a distance of a one-hour walk. They maywork their fields only from 6 o'clock in the morninguntil 6 o'clock in the evening and everyone has to beback in their community by that time. If anybody is

Urban migration: burning of forest for easy collection of firewood in order to take back and sell in thecity

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seen walking at other hours he or she will be consid-ered an enemy and faces immediate execution. Thishas seriously limited the availability of farmland andaffected the traditional rotational cultivation, whereplots are left fallow for seven years. Fallow periodshave been reduced to three years, with detrimentaleffects on the fertility of the soil.Another curfew usually issued just before harvesttime prohibits fanners to leave their village for har-vesting. They must wait at least 7 to 15 days beforethey can start harvesting. This leads to a consider-able reduction in agricultural yields.Besides these curfews, if there is any fighting be-tween SPDC and KNLA troops near or within thearea of a village, that village has to pay a very heavyfine to the SPDC. Every year in the dry season theSPDC troops burn the forest to clear KNLA hidingareas. This fighting method is very destructive toforest regeneration, especially to the fallow plots.

Introduction of monoculture

Logging roads open access to the movement ofSPDC troops into an area, and increase their controlof local resources. In the village of Zee Woun(Saktaraw) farmlands and grazing land were seizedby SPDC troops. They set up their bases on people'slands or turned them into rubber or sugar cane plan-tations.The conversion of farmland or communal forests inmono-plantations for the production of rubber, sugarcane, cashew nut and sesame significantly changesthe traditional forest system. It also leads to a cul-tural change in attitudes of farmers from self-sufficient agriculture to market-oriented plantations.

All of these factors have destroyed the self-sufficientlivelihood of local people and forced them to changetheir traditional way of forest use and management.One of the local villagers from Taung Lweh villagesaid: "Since the generations of my ancestors, wenever thought of making money by selling the forestthat we live in. We thought that the forests we live inare for rotational cultivation, and that some forestareas are to be kept protected for wild animals tolive in and for our traditional hunting. But now sinceme logging we have started to think about makingmoney from the forest."The forest-use system is changing from commonproperty ownership to individual ownership. Thisshift encourages more and more people to go out andencroach on forest areas and causes more damage tothe already degraded forests. Many farmers have

become casual labourers in logging or on mono-plantations. More and more villagers are makingmoney by cutting down small trees for fuelwood.There is also a growing concern that the religiousbeliefs of the local people will be lost. For the TaungLweh community their sacred forest area has be-come a lot smaller than before.

5. People's concerns andpossible solutions

In May 2003, KESAN gave a workshop onenvironment training in Bilfin Township, near TaungLweh (Ta Uu Kee) village. Before this, villagers inthe Doo The Htoo district had never heard about en-vironmental awareness. But the villagers present atthe workshop, women and men, young people andelders, realized the consequences of the logging anddeforestation. Their situation, they understood, de-pends on protecting the forests and their livelihoodin their area. They planned to organize their villagesfor the protection of the villages' forest, rivers, andwildlife.In Taung Lweh village, the elder responsible formaking traditional medicine organized the youth inthe village. His objectives are to school the youth inthe arts of traditional healing, and to protect the for-est as a secure habitat for animals and medicinaltrees.The training participants from Ta Uu Kee and ForKee went back to their village and shared theirknowledge with the other villagers. They want tomark out a separate area for their community andrevive the traditional forest management system.They are now planning to form a nine-member com-mittee to take responsibility for forest protection.The committee will judge cases of violation of theforests and collect fines. The villagers decided eve-rybody has to take responsibility for this area."When we walk to go to or from our land, wheneverwe pass the village reserved forest, if we see some-one cutting or something destroyed in this area, eve-rybody has a duty to come back and report to thecommittee and the village headman." For threemonths each year there will be an open period inwhich the forest can be used by villagers, but onlyfor basic necessities, not for commercial purposes.The sale of forest products is prohibited. The villag-ers have drafted a plan and now need endorsementfrom the KNU.

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Mu Traw District (Pa Pun)

Status of the Rainforest

There are two major types of forests in MuTraw district. They are Tropical Wet Evergreen(K'ner Ko in Karen), situated in the north coveringLu Thaw Township, and Mixed Deciduous forests(Kaw Bway Ko), in the south covering Dwe Loe andBu Thoe townships.K'ner Ko is situated on a higher altitude where theweather is colder and receives more rain in the rainyseason (May - October) than in the lowland areas.There are many various valuable softwoods (such asK'mar. Nee, Bwai, Thay, Mertrue, Thermay, NahPawchaw, Noe, Thay Htaw La, and Tha Kokwee),pine trees, and a few different kinds of species fromthe Dipterocarp family (Ghaw Thu, Ghaw Theray,

Ghaw Gaw, and Gaw Wah).In lowland areas, various kinds ofhardwood trees such as teak, iron-wood, Ktaw Klay (Padauk), speciesfrom the Dipterocarp family (La Ni.La Terr. La Bar, Ghaw Thu, GhawWah, Ghaw Gaw and GhawTheray) are common.In both types of forests differentkinds of canes (Ghee Thu, GheeGaw, and Ghee Ghoe) are present.Detailed records of fauna are notavailable. However local peoplesay that Mu Traw district once wasrich in wildlife: gaurs, wild oxen,wildcats, bears, wild pigs, squirrels,different monkey species, deer,

Mu Traw district is divided into 3 townships; Lu Thaw, Bu Thoe, and Dweh LoeTownship. La Thaw and Dweh Loe Townships have 12 village tracks each while BuThoe Township has 11 village tracks. 10 village tracks in Lu Thaw Township areunder control of the KNU. In these 'black zones' warfare with the SPDC and theDKBA however remains continuous. The remaining areas in Mu Traw district arecontested for by the SPDC, the DKBA and the KNU. These areas are called conflictor 'brown' zones.Total areas involved: mid and southern Mu Traw (more than 10 villages)Habitat types: Tropical Wet Evergreen forests in mountainous regions (cool andvery wet), Mixed Deciduous forest in the lowlands (hotter climate, less rain)Wildlife present: Gaurs, wild pig, at least 5-6 monkey species, wildcats, bears, deer,barking deer, squirrel, and rabbit Large birds such as the hornbill, peacock andother bird species.

barking deer and rabbit. Big birds such as Toe Kawk(hombill), Toe Kay (peacock), Toe Pwa (pheasant)and many other birds and different reptiles lived inthis area. Rare species such as the tiger and the rhi-noceros were found in the deep forests. Thirty yearsago such diverse flora and fauna was found through-out the Mu Traw district forests, especially in thefour reserve forests Mae Wai, Htee K' Hsaw Mae(Sinswe), Kahilu (wildlife sanctuary) and Maw Lu(Minanwe; KNU wildlife sanctuary). These forestswere classified as reserved by the British colonialgovernment and until recently the KNU followedthis policy. But nowadays these forests and their bio-diversity are largely destroyed. In Maw Lu wildlifesanctuary one of the villagers said: "Our ancestorstold us there were a lot of big animals such as tigers,gaurs and rhinoceros in this area, but now we cannotfind them. Bird species that we know such as ToeKay, Toe Kawk, Toe Ghei, and wild fowl are nearlyextinct." However, the local communities still knowmore than 80 mammal species and 75 bird species inthis forest. Maw Lu wildlife sanctuary is a suitablehabitat for animals because of its high cliff ranges,many small streams and creeks, and thick forestswith big trees such as Ghaw (Dipterocarp family)where it is always cool and green. But now, as inter-nally displaced persons (IDPs) are expanding shift-ing cultivation in this area, forests and wild animalsare endangered. According to a local source, thereare almost no trees left in Kahilu wildlife sanctuary.Htee K' Hsaw Mae reserve forest used to have manyteaks, ironwood and other hardwood trees, but nowthese have all been logged.From 1989 to 1993, most forests along the easternside of Burma on the border with Thailand havebeen seriously degraded by logging. From 1996 tothe present, logging and charcoal production is tak-ing place in the south and moving up towards the

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central part of the district, which is one of the bestforest remaining areas.The forests in the northern parts of the district arealso degraded only because of IDPs' shifting cultiva-tion practices.

2. Importance of the rainforestfor local communities

The most important role of the rainforest forlocal communities in Mu Traw district is for agricul-ture. One senior leader of Mu Traw district esti-mated that 80% of the villagers practice rotational(swidden) cultivation and 20% practice rice paddycultivation for their livelihood. Especially the rota-tional farmers depend mainly on the good conditionsof the forest to produce satisfactory yields. Thefarmers grow rice and a variety of fruits and vegeta-bles in different seasons, Even after the rice harvest,chili, yam, taro, cassava and other vegetables can beobtained from the fallow land. In one community inLu Thaw district there are still 120 different kinds offood plants in rotational farming; in the past therewere about 180.

Women collecting Terr leaves far income and buildingroofs

Local communities not onlydepend on cultivated plantsbut there are many unculti-vated plants that they can getfrom the forests. In Ta PawDer village, northwest of LuThaw Township, villagers canget more than 150 forestsproducts as food from the for-est. Most of the villagers relyand depend on the forest,Quoting a Pah Khae Pee vil-lage elder: "We stay in thejungle and we survive fromforest products. We don'tneed to go to the city and buy things. We live in thejungle and we know that the forests are useful andimportant for our livelihood. If there is no forestwe've lost our livelihood. There are different typesof vegetables that people can eat, for example in mesummer time, bitter cane, K' Yeh (Caryota urens)and wild vegetables. In the rainy season, we get PorDu (ginger family), wild bananas, mushrooms, bam-boo shoots and wild vegetables from the forest. Ifthere is dot fruit, cardamoms and honey we can earnincome for our families."Communities use forest products in many otherways. For example, the local people know that theforests are full of herbal medicines, which they useand depend on. Na Par Kyaw and Noe trees are usedto treat malaria. Bark and leaves from one type oftree called Takuk Hor are used for pest control to killinsects that destroy rice paddies. These trees grow invery wet conditions.Building material comes from the forest. Countingthe number of different tools and materials made byTa Paw Der villagers, at least 180 different kinds oftrees and 30 different kinds of bamboo are used. Onevillager from another village said: "For building,money doesn't have to be spent for buying materialsand tools in the city. The Karen people use K' HeeLa, Lo Lah, K' Haw La, Hter La and bamboo forbuilding roofs. For other building needs, resourcesare collected from the forest. In the higher andcolder area (K'Ner Ko) pine trees are very important.Villagers use it for making light in the house and fornight travel, and to make fire for cooking."Forests are furthermore very important for the reli-gious beliefs and practices of local communities.Karen people in Lu Thaw Township are famous fortheir traditional beliefs related to forests. Rotationalcultivation alone implies many ritual ceremoniesthat are concerned with forests. If there was no for-est, there would be no rotational farming, plant di-versity, and the specific cultural identity, traditionalbeliefs and values of the Karen would disappear.

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3. Ecological and social impactsof deforestation

The continuing deforestation by logging ornon-traditional shifting cultivation in Mu Traw dis-trict has seriously affected people's livelihoods andthe environment. (Shifting cultivation constantlyshifts to new plots, while rotational cultivation usesplots that have been left to fallow for 7 to 10 years,and strictly follows customary laws and regulation.)The logging of hardwood trees caused total defores-tation. The dung of elephants and buffaloes used totransport the logs pollutes the streams. The coursesof the creeks have changed because they are used asroutes for the transportation of logs by elephants andbuffaloes. Polluted water has led to increasing deathrates among fish. In the summer season, the loss ofshade from the trees on the banks of rivers andcreeks has also caused water shortages. Furthermore,the dryness makes it easy for loggers to instigate for-est fires.Due to the extremely high security risks of conduct-ing research in villages it is not possible to give adetailed overview of social problems related to thelogging. However, it is undeniable that there aremany problems. Logging in Mu Traw area was initi-ated by the DKBA from 1997 to 2000. From DKBAterritory it spread out to other areas. A villager fromKalaw Hta, in the north of Pa Pun city, told KESAN"Now many different groups of loggers are movingtheir logging concessions step by step up towardsour village and rotational farmlands. The trees thatwe kept for building and farming have all been cut.

Clear-cut for future dam development

If you go to the logging areas you will see onlybushes and very small trees. We have no trees tobuild our houses, schools and temples in the future.Even though the logging is in our village area, itdoesn't give us any benefit. More than this, after log-ging in our village area finished, people who lived inPa Pun city came and practiced non-traditional shift-ing cultivation, chilli, and eggplant farming on purvillage land." Villagers from other areas complainedthat the elephants and buffaloes that were working atthe logging sites came into their village area and ateor destroyed their crops, betel nut trees and theplants in their orchards. Many villagers do not wantthe logging to take place in their area any more be-cause, as they said: "Logging is a kind of work thatdestroys forest and if there is no forest, we have lostour livelihood."In the west, logging takes place at Mae Wai reserveforest, which is situated on the west bank of BilinRiver. According to the information obtained from aKaren freelance researcher this logging, run by HtooCompany, is causing lots of problems for local com-munities. It has destroyed the villager's traditionalirrigation canal used for their wet paddies. The vil-lagers did not have damages repaid by the loggers.Apart from actual deforestation, logging in the southand west of Mae Wai contributes to the depletion ofnon-timber forests products. "Many people are cut-ting all kinds of cane for sale or consumption, so thecane species are nearly gone. Black cane is the onethat has a lot of liquid, so the place where black caneis growing is cool, has a lot of big trees, and theriver in this place is never dry", said a religious elderof Klaw Hta village. He added, "If the cane speciesare gone, the rivers will fall dry and the next genera-tions will not know that there were once many blackcanes here." It is clear to the villagers that after the

forest is gone the wild ani-mals will also be gone, Pati K1

Haw Bleh, from the DwehLoe township committee said"Now almost all the forestsbetween K'Ma Moe at theSouthern tip of Mu Traw dis-trict to Pa Pun city are seri-ously deforested by logging.In the past twenty years, therewere a lot of big trees andwild animals. I could see pea-cocks or hear their crows, butnow we can see nor hear themany more."People can no longer hunt liketheir ancestors because theanimals are disappearing. TheKa Law Hta village headman

26


said "In the past, people huntedusing arrows and fished withsmall nets, but now they useguns and many different toolsand techniques, so all the ani-mals are disappearing."It is important that the social andecological problems resultingfrom non-traditional practices ofshifting cultivation are ad-dressed. In the northern parts ofthe Mu Traw district, shiftingcultivation is found to be de-structive to the forest becausethe increasing population of in-ternally displaced persons can nolonger follow the traditionalmethods and practices of rota-tional cultivation due to the long

standing civil war. As a result of their unsustainablepractices, more and more pristine forests are badlydamaged causing local temperature to rise and waterlevel in the rivers to drop, even leading to dryness.Local people are losing their food security becausethe premature-used fallow plots deliver reducedyields. Pad Htoo Gay Hai, villager from Kwa MuPwa Der village said "Before when we used rota-tional farming in the mature fallow plots we couldget a variety of fruits and vegetables. Rice yield wasalso good. But now we are very tired struggling withweeds in our degraded land and can't get much fruitto eat like in the past." Due to the low yields moreand more people are facing food shortages and theyhave to go out and look for food elsewhere.

3. Impacts on women

The degradation of the forests has special impacts onwomen. When the forests are gone, the weather be-comes hotter and the rivers dry up. The plants thatgrow near the rivers shrivel and die. Traditionally itis the women, especially the mothers, who collectvegetables in the forest and prepare food for theirfamily. But when these vegetables become rare,women have to go very far searching for them. Theyhave less time and energy for their other duties suchas caring for the siblings, animal husbandry and gar-dening.Firewood collection is the responsibility of womenin the mountainous areas. They usually collect onlydried wood, bamboo, or dried branches once a yearin the dry/hot season. But as forests are disappear-ing, firewood gathering is becoming a big problemfor the women. They have to devote more time and

the returns are less. One of the women in Day BuNoh village stated that "Before we could get fire-wood very easy. We didn't need to go far to collectfirewood, but now because of more deforestation aswell as increasing population [IDPs] in our area,firewood is difficult to find," Firewood is extremelyimportant for food security. Firewood scarcity andincreased collection time can reduce the number ofmeals cooked in a day, decrease the length of timefood is cooked, and decrease the diversity of foodeaten. This then leads to decreased nutrition and in-creases susceptibility to nutritional deficiencies anddiseases.Women have important traditional and religiousfunctions. For example, they have to prepare riceand pack it in certain kinds of leaves for their hus-band to take to work or to perform ritual ceremonies.They usually use leaves such as La Klue Baw. YaBaw La (one kind of banana), and P'Dak La(Macaranga denticulata). Shay La Moe, an Auntelder, said: "Before, if we needed leaves to pack rice,we found them near our house. There were lots of LaKlue Baw leaves. But now they are difficult to findso we have to walk two to three hours to get them."When they cannot get the right kinds of leaves, theyhave to use other kinds that are traditionally prohib-ited such as Ya Wah La (one kind of wild banana),Ya Khea La (one kind of wild banana), La Kya, andLa Klue Thue. Women who disregard me traditionalprohibitions are always in fear about their fate.

4. Main factors that threaten thepractices of traditional forestconservation

In the traditional system of forest conserva-tion, forests are classified as protected forests, culti-vated forests, communal forests, and religious for-ests.Protected forests are watershed areas, wetlands, TaDay Doh (area where two ridges meet), and Tee PerChu (area between two rivers or streams). Cultivatedforests are mostly mountainous or highland areaswhere rotational cultivation is practiced. Wherethere are flatlands, wet paddy cultivation is prac-ticed. Communal forests are forests that belong tothe community. People from the community havethe right to collect their non-timber forest products,building materials and other resources they need.Religious forests are specially protected because ofanimistic beliefs. For example, flat areas on the

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mountain side which have springs and are alwayswet (Na Oo Rhoo), areas where 2 rivers meet (TeePer Cha), and areas where two ridges meet (DahDey Doe). Because these watershed areas have spir-its or souls that protect the animals and plants theyare not cultivated.The traditional forest system protects the forestsfrom unsustainable exploitation. The survival of thetraditional system depends on the survival of the ag-ricultural practices. However, there are three mainfactors that threaten traditional practices; logging,civil war and territorial zoning in the southern partof the district and civil war in black zones, mostly inthe northern part of the district. Although shiftingcultivation directly affects the forests, it is not con-sidered as a main factor since it is a consequence ofthe civil war.

Logging

In the "brown zone" areas, the villagers, DKBA.SPDC and KNU all stay in close proximity. There isconstant fighting between the groups and they gaincontrol of different areas. Since the capture of theKNU headquarters at Manerplaw by the DKBA andthe SPDC, the DKBA spread out into different areasand took control of many other territories held by theKNU. After 1996, logging began in many parts ofMu Traw district. The DKBA was the first to startlogging in Kahilu wildlife sanctuary and within one

year it expanded its logging up north through HteeK' Hsaw Mae reserve forest and to Pa Pun areas. Itsmain targets were teak, ironwood and other hard-wood trees. In 2000, after the big trees had gone,privately owned logging enterprises from the citiesheld by local elites moved in. They have to pay taxto the KNU in order to avoid conflicts between log-gers and the KNLA, the military arm of the KNU, aswell as pay timber tax to the DKBA or SPDC sol-diers. All together there are 30 small logging enter-prises operating in the area (Kahilu, Htee K'HsawMae and Pa Pun), These enterprises log the timberleft by the DKBA.In Mae Wai reserve forest, Htoo Company is a majorlogging enterprise.Their representative in the area is U Sai. Htoo Com-pany, obtained a logging concession from theSPDC-controlled Myanmar Timber Enterprise(MTE). After an initial survey by U Sai, Htoo Com-pany in November 2001 entered Mae Wai area withlogging materials. Before starting their operations,they had ensured their safety with both the frontlineSPDC troops and the KNLA. Locally, the SPDCuses the logging company's trucks for transport ofmilitary supplies, and asks Htoo Company to supplyrice, boots, and other needs to the soldiers for free.For the KNU, the logging company has to pay themtax for their security. The company brought in about30 - 42 logging trucks, 7-10 chainsaws, 1 crane, 1dozer, 1 log dragger, and 7-11 elephants. Htoo Com-pany only logs teak with over 5 feet circumferencesand 16 feet height. The company was contracted to

Wasteland area: dried out and unable to use for cultivation (consequence of logging)

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cut 10,000 tons of teak and2,000 tons of ironwoodduring the 2002-2003 log-ging season. The figuresfor the 2001-2002 seasonare not known, Htoo Com-pany has to pay tax of30,000 - 40,000 Kyats tothe KNU.In the Pa Pun areas, log-ging now encroaches uponthe different categories ofcommunal forests, withoutunderstanding of theirfunction. Villagers fromKalaw Hta village, north ofPa Pun, started to see thetrees disappearing from theforest; forests that they de-pend on for building mate-rials and rotational farming. They worry that theywill lose their livelihood. Because of the logging,poor people from Pa Pun also come in to clear landfor shifting cultivation and to plant chili and egg-plants.The building of roads by Htoo Company at Mae Waihas destroyed farmlands and orchards. The localpeople were not satisfied because they received onlysmall compensation from the company. The villag-ers from Mae Wai complained in a letter to the KNUDweh Loe Township officer that logging was of nobenefit to them. It didn't give them jobs because theHtoo Company uses its own people. They com-plained that the logging is destroying their environ-ment, and also has little benefit to the KNU.Impact on the traditional farming systems may evenbe greater because four streams that people use tocultivate rice may have become dry because of thechanged meteorological conditions.

Civil war in brown zonesin the south

During the same time the logging business in Pa Punareas began, the DKBA and the SPDC implementedthe 'Four Cuts policy' by forcing people around PaPun and Mae Wai areas to move to relocation sites,where they are held under surveillance. About 60villages were forcibly relocated and lost their tradi-tional livelihood. They also have to face forced la-bor, and torture and murder when suspected of beingKNU supporters. Moreover, the SPDC put manyrestrictions on daily activities. For example, peopleare not allowed to go out of the village to work in

SPDC camp and road causing villagers to flee and become IDPs

the fields. This SPDC policy is killing off all tradi-tional forest systems. In many cases of deforestation,the people involved are those who were forced torelocate.All the logging business in Karen State takes placein conflict areas or so-called brown zones, as classi-fied by the SPDC, which is contested for by differ-ent parties. (A brown zone is classified by the SPDCas an area where insurgents have access to. Anyonecan be punished or killed on suspicion of aiding theinsurgents.) One of the villagers in Klaw Hta, closeto Pa Pun, told KESAN: "In the past, there were nota lot of people who did logging. From 1997 theDKBA came to do logging and they also broughtweapons to protect themselves. Some villagers wereinvolved in logging with the DKBA because theytrusted them. The DKBA is fighting against theKNU so they help the SPDC in the war and whenthey have the opportunity they try to find ways toget revenue for themselves".Business in brown areas often leads to the disem-powerment of the local communities. People herehave no voice or power. There are many sad storiesrelated to logging. Some DKBA soldiers have forcedvillagers to transport logs with their cattle. In somecases people who protest are simply killed. People inthe brown areas are caught between different politi-cal groups and are always living in fear. They do nothave power to maintain their livelihood. It is also

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clear that there is a connection between the reloca-tion and the logging. After villagers were relocated,logging started.In the last two years, more and more displaced peo-ple are coming back to their homeland and trying tore-establish their livelihood. It is difficult to knowwhether they will succeed since their communityforests are gone. It is possible that people will aban-don their traditional ways of living and start to en-gage more in illegal logging, since this is a fast wayto make some money and fulfil immediate needs.

4 cCivil war in the north

In Lu Thaw Township most of the villages are con-trolled by the KNU. There is continuous warfare.Villagers have to face killing, torture, relocation,destruction of their rice storage shelters and build-ings by the Burmese military. Many villages areburned down and destroyed by SPDC soldiers, forc-ing the villagers to move to other areas, leaving theirproperties, livelihoods, land, and village. Say Day,Pwa Gaw, Htee Moo Kee, Paw Day Ko, For KheiKo, Ler Mu Plaw. Maw Poo, and Saw Hta are allvillages that have been destroyed by the SPDCarmy. Some villagers have fled to the jungle, othersto Tongoo city or Pa Pun city, and many have fled toThailand.In 1996, the SPDC started the construction of a roadfor military purposes between Ler Doh (Kyaukkyi)city and Saw Hta (Lu Thaw Township) on the Thai-Burmese border. The road passes through Mu Theh,Pwa Gaw. Gu Day, Plat Ko, Maw Poo and Saw Hta

Exporting timber in Pa Pun area

villages in Lu Thaw township. With the road con-struction, a lot of forest was destroyed and all thevillagers had to move to other areas. Due to the con-flict with the KNU, the road was only completed in1998. On the road there are army camps in K'BawTu, Pwa Gaw, and Maw Poo. Only the military canuse the road,Villagers living in the area became internally dis-placed people. Some villagers stay in the jungle ingroups of 3 or 4 families. They build small huts forshelter and always have to worry about security.When they stay in any place they have to do shiftingcultivation for their survival. They cannot use tradi-tional rotational cultivation methods.In some hiding places deep in the forest, shiftingcultivation is not successful. For example, small in-sects and wild animals destroy paddies, or the IDPsare not familiar with the specific properties of thesoil. In the deep forest, trees are very old. When theyare cut, plants and trees cannot grow well after-wards. Some other hiding places are close to militarycamps and in some places there are many landmines,so the villagers cannot safely cultivate their food.Some internally displaced persons come to stay inother villages. But this causes a lack of farmland andproblems for traditional rotational cultivation. Be-cause of this, fields that used to lie fallow for sevento ten years are now cultivated regularly, and havediminished yields. This has happened everywhere inMu Traw district. Fifteen years ago, in places suchas Bue Thoe and Kweh Play mountain in Bue ThoeTownship, and Ler Wah Ko mountain in Lu ThawTownship, there was no rotational cultivation. Butnow IDPs have to live in these areas and practiceshifting cultivation, knowing that it will cause defor-estation, and that the wild animals will come and

destroy their paddies. But asone IDP said: "If we did notdo cultivation in this area wewill not survive." The DayBu Noe village headmansaid: "In the past our familiesstayed in the village, butwhen the SPDC came wehad to move into the forest.We had to practice shiftingcultivation in the forestwhere we never cultivatedbefore. We build shelters forour families in the sameplace where we cultivate theland." The Ler Htu Poe vil-lage headman said: "If theDKBA and SPDC soldiersdid not burn down our vil-lage, cut down our fruit trees

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and try to kill and torture us, we would not havecome to the reserve forest. In the past, Mu Traw dis-trict authorities did not allow us to do cultivation orcut down trees in the reserve forest. Also they didnot allow people to kill wild animals, cut downcanes, and cut down the forest or bamboo in the re-serve forest. Since 1997, we have had to flee to thereserve forest and earn our living in this forest be-cause of the DKBA and the SPDC. We cannot goback. If we didn't earn our living in this forest, wecannot survive. In the east of Bilin River, the area ismeant to be a wildlife reservation area. But since1997, we have had to live in that forest and use itsresources".A village elder from Dweh Loe village (Dweh LoeTownship) said that "In 1998 the villagers had toface small insects that destroyed the paddies. So inthat year paddies didn't grow well. We still have asimilar problem but we don't know how to solve it.Villagers have to go to Pa Pun city to buy rice. Since2000, some villagers work in logging to be able buyrice and other basic necessities. Some people cutdown canes and sell it in Pa Pun, We have to earnour income in a difficult situation for survival."Because of the civil war and logging, the villagershave to face many difficulties to survive. Some peo-ple become internally displaced and some becomerefugees in Thailand, Many are killed or die becauseof hunger, and some become disabled; some areseparated from their families. Young people are be-coming uneducated. Even though they want to study,they do not have any opportunities. The forests thatthe villagers use and depend on are becoming defor-ested from logging, and the forests that are protectedfrom use (reserved areas) have to become the areasfor internally displaced people to use as shelter andfor survival.

5 Local people's concerns andpossible solutions

The Klaw Hta village headman said: "Thelogging areas were moved step by step up to our vil-lage so all our big trees around our village that wekept for building materials were cut down. Beforebecoming a logging area there were many wild ani-mals, various kinds of vegetable or plant specieswere growing, and the villagers could use the forestfor their livelihoods. But now you cannot see wildanimals and wild vegetables anymore. If the loggingcontinues we are faced with many problems for ourlivelihoods in our future,"

The spiritual elder of MawThay Du village: "In ourvillage we did not allowpeople to cut down caneand cardamom to sell toother areas. But they couldcut some types of cane toeat. We only allowed peo-ple to cut black canes to eatduring times when wecleared the land for rota-tional cultivation and therice harvest. Our great-grandparents said black cane has a spirit so they didnot allow their children to cut or bring black cane tothe village. If you cut it down to sell and bring it tothe village, the spirit of the black cane will be dis-turbed and you will get sick with various kinds ofillnesses, or may meet with natural disasters. In thesacred places where ashes are left of dead people wehave to make sure that mere is no fire. If there is Firein this area, the elders have to do a special ceremonywith certain offerings. Now, because of you [theKESAN researcher] coming to tell us about the envi-ronment I have more energy to share and teach theyoung people about our traditional customs for theuse of natural resources."A villager from Mau Lay Ko village in Lu ThawTownship said; "Karen Office of Relief and Devel-opment (KORD) came and taught us about commu-nity development. We decided to plan to protect andconserve the forest around our village. We formed acommittee to monitor this work. We divided the areainto two parts; one part we can use for our liveli-hoods and practice cultivation, and the other part arenot allowed to use. Because of the campaign ofKORD, we now have more confidence to work forthe future."Headman from Klaw Hta Village; "Because of warand logging, the Karen have lost their propertiesand land. Our forests are gone, and some of ushave become internally displaced people. Somehave become refugees in Thailand. If war and tog-ging still continue, we Karen people will disappear.We need a person who will take responsibility insolving the political problems and conserve the en-vironment. At the local community level we willhave a discussion with our communities, and wewill create local community forest areas for ourfuture needs. We will not allow any person to comeand cut down or take vegetables or animals in thelocal community forest area. We villagers do nothave the full power to make a local community for-est area, so we request the local authorities in MuTraw district to put pressure on the logging compa-nies."

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Toungoo district

1. The status of the rainforest

There are two types of monsoon forest inToungoo district, mixed deciduous forest (KawbwayKo) and tropical wet evergreen (K'ner Ko).Mixed deciduous forest is located in the west ofToungoo district, starting from the flat area of theSittang River (Perrenlohklo) bank and going half-way up the mountainsides. In this forest teak, iron-wood (Xylia dolabriformis), Klaw Klay, Ter tree.and some other species from the Dipterocarp familygrow.Tropical wet evergreen forest is located in an areafrom the middle of the mountainsides into the highmountains such as Thawthi Koe (Nattaung) andPworghaw Koe in the east of Toungoo district, nextto Karenni State. This forest area is colder than themixed deciduous forest and is misty in the rainy andcold season. Trees like teak, ironwood, Klaw Klay,and Ter do not grow in this area. Durian, a kind offruit tree, divides the mixed deciduous forest fromthe tropical wet evergreen forest. Durian trees can-not produce fruit if it is either too hot or too cold, butis well adjusted to weather conditions on the warmborder of the two forest types.Reserved forest areas are found in some parts of themixed deciduous forest, from the small hills down tothe flat areas near the Sittang River. The use of thenatural resources in this forest is under control ofeither the KNU or the SPDC. According to a KNUcommander, mere are nine reserved forests in Toun-

Toungoo district is located in Northern Karen State. There are two townships inToungoo district: Tantibin (Tontertu) and Thandaung (Dawpakkoe). The biggestriver in Toungoo district is the Sittang River, which is close to the Rangoon-Mandalay railway/auto road that crosses the district. There are many plains(flatland) along the river up to the bottom of the hills. The hills and streams go up tothe high mountain of Nattaung range. On the peak of Nattaung many Karen foughtwith the British against the Japanese attack in the Second World War. The watershedof Htee Wah Kee. next to Nattaung, is the best indigenous forest in Toungoo district.Total areas involved: central and southern Toungoo district (more than 20 villagesvisited)Habitat types: Tropical Wet Evergreen forest in mountainous regions, and MixedDeciduous forest in the lowlands.Wildlife present: Wild pig, deer, 2 species of monkey, gibbon, bear, rabbit, wildcats,and some tiger. Large birds such as hornbill and peacock, wild chicken, parrot, andother bird species

goo district: Matindein, Chaungmange, Pyochaungand Tonbo (in Tantibin Township), and Pade,Karenchaung, Gwethe, Mehaw and Thandaung (inThandaung Township).Unreserved forest area, which includes regular rota-tional farmlands, integrated orchards and indigenousforests (old growth forest), are supposed to be thevillagers' agricultural land but in reality is also con-trolled by the political groups. SPDC troops haveseized the villagers land for building their campslike Beryinaw military camp in Thandaung Town-ship. Unreserved forest is found in some parts of allthree forest types, from the hillsides to the top of themountains.

In 2000, commercial logging was stopped in all re-served forests except for Mehaw because of the de-forestation. In 2000, the local Lintho area ofThandaung Township KNU troops signed a cease-fire with the SPDC. Now this cease-fire group doeslogging in Mehaw reserved forest and sells the logsto the SPDC timber product enterprise (MTE).In reserved forests few trees are left, and are stillcontinuously cut for trade, building materials, andfirewood. Unofficial logging with bullock carts stillpersists in reserved forests. Today, some areas ofreserved forest have become flat farmland and tem-porary cash crop and fruit tree gardens.In 2002-2003 commercial logging moved to unre-served forest areas. For example, a commercial log-ging area not very far from Paletwa SPDC camp isin the unreserved forest of Thandaung Township.The SPDC has ordered to clear-cut this area becausea dam will be constructed on the Thaukyegat(Dayloh) stream just upriver of the Paletwa SPDCcamp.

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Some areas of unreserved forest are degraded anddestroyed because the farmers cannot practice theirtraditional rotational fanning and were forced topractice shifting cultivation because of the initiationof the "Four Cuts policy" in 1975. In TantibinTownship, fanners who have been practicing shift-ing cultivation have cleared 38,823 acres of the oldgrowth forest (Agriculture Census, 2001). The yieldfrom this forest is only about five baskets of rice foreach acre. In contrast, a good shifting cultivationplot will yield ten to twenty baskets of rice on oneacre of land.Additionally, SPDC troops burn the bushes aroundtheir camp and along their road of Kawthinder-Busharkee every year, at least three times a year.Because of the fires, eggs and habitats of fowl spe-cies are destroyed, small plants and seedlings die,and orchards of forced relocated people in many vil-lages are destroyed.Political conflict has caused forced displacement,which contributes to the degradation of the forests inToungoo. It is estimated that due to the logging andthe non-traditional shifting cultivation of IDPs, onlyaround 25% of the unreserved forest areas and 5% ofthe reserved forests remain in Toungoo district. "Inthe hot season of 2003, 3,000 bullock carts of farm-ers who are not local people of Tantibin townshipcollected about 12,000 living trees for fuel (firewoodand charcoal) and shelter (timber, post and furni-ture)" estimated a KNU local forester who gave bul-lock cart passes for people collecting firewood. Buta local villager in Aung Myin Ywa SPDC concentra-tion camp said that some urban people and a fewlocal people do not only collect wood for theirhousehold needs. They also collect wood to sell tothe sawmill.

The land of local people and the habitats of localspecies have been destroyed by the civil war and thelogging. One hundred years ago, there were numer-ous types of animals in the reserved forest of Tanti-ban Township. For example, wild elephants, severalpairs of hornbills, gibbons (Teryupwa), peacocks,the rhinoceros, gaurs and some tigers lived in thereserved forest according to an interview with theelder people in one of the villages. The fact that theforest contained these animals indicates that once theforest was rich and healthy. But now there are hardlyany of these animals to be seen in the reserved forestexcept for the peacock. The wildlife habitats aregone because of forest destruction. Peacocks are be-coming a rare and endangered species too. As theSPDC policies and landmines threaten IDPs' tradi-tional livelihoods, IDPs' agricultural practices andlogging make the peacock live in fear.

Stockpile

2. Importance of the rainforestfor local communities

Traditionally, the local people divide the for-est into land for integrated orchard gardens, land forrotational farming, land for the collection of timberand non-timber forest products, grazing land for theanimals, flat paddy farmland, and the land of oldgrowth forest. Farmers and gardeners have relied onthe forest for generations. They could not survivewithout the forest because the forest provides themwith fuel, food, herbs, fodder, and shelter. Indirectly,forests maintain the quality of water in the wells,and keep the streams flowing fresh and cool. It

keeps the weather bal-anced so the fanners getgood crops. There arethree main sources oflivelihood for the peoplein Toungoo district: flatpaddy fanning, tradi-tional rotational fanningand integrated orchardgardening. Local peopletraditionally conservedthe forest through thesethree main livelihoods.People in TantibinTownship of Toungoodistrict know very wellhow to survive in theforest and how to use theforest sustainably. Flatpaddy farmers do farm-

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ing in the flat areas and they need the water from thestreams and good weather conditions. In the hot sea-son, they collect enough fuel for the whole year forcooking and making fire. Some of them collect thewood/bamboo for making or repairing their shelters,buildings or furniture. Many of them collect supple-mentary foods, herbs, and Ter leaves (leaves formaking roofs) from the forest. Many poor peoplemake an income by the sale of Ter leaves in the hotseason.Traditional rotational farmers do farming on themountainside of forest areas. The products from ro-tational farming depend on weather conditions andwhether there is enough time to let the plots lay fal-low for at least seven years. They don't cut all theforests on the mountain. Traditionally, some forestareas such as the forest in the high mountains andcool and wet areas, the forest in the rocky valleys,and the forest near the village watersheds are keptintact. Mountain ridge is traditionally left and is be-lieved to be used as passageways for the spirits. Oldgrowth trees grow in these forest areas and manydifferent kinds of animal species live there. Localpeople collect NTFPs such as seasonal food, herbsand honey in these forests. It makes life easier if onecan get supplementary food from the old growth for-ests.Most of the rotational farmers in Tantibin districtmake their houses and roofs with bamboo. Theymake basketry or household materials from bambooand cane. Women collect sticky liquid from trees todye their woven cloth. Farmers usually make bam-boo traps around their farms. They mostly collectdead wood in the rotational farm for fuel. They donot do any logging in the forest.Integrated orchard gardeners establish their gardensin the valley along the streams. They don't need todestroy the forest to make the garden. They clearsome small trees and plants and they replant the ter-rain with local species of fruit trees. Every hot sea-son, they have to irrigate the garden so water in thestreams is very important for the orchards, especiallyfor gardens with betel nut and durian trees. The

shade of big trees isvery important to pro-tect baby plants fromthe sun in the hot sea-son. Wild banana treesare important to main-tain the water in gar-dens. The gardenersplant many differentkinds of fruit trees.They don't clear all thewild plants and trees inthe garden. They let

them grow up with the fruit trees and they let thebetel pepper vine (its leaves are eaten with betel nut)climb up around the trees. Betel nut trees, betel nutleaves, mangosteen, durian. cardamom and coffeeare fruit trees grown for income generation. Themoney generated on the market is used to buy riceand household necessities. Gardeners also collectsupplementary food in the forest and use bambooand wood like the rotational farmers.All of the farmers and gardeners are totally depend-ent on the forest because it provides them with shel-ter, food, and medicine. Bamboo and wood providesbuilding materials, household materials and fuel.The people use the bamboo shoots for food andsome trees provide traditional medicine. The forestmaintains the weather conditions and water supplynecessary for rotational farmers, flat farmers andorchard gardeners.

3. Social and ecological impactsof deforestation on environ-ment and local communities

Deforestation in Toungoo district has seri-ous impacts on the people and the environment. Itaffects the local people's livelihoods both directlyand indirectly. They are directly affected by the dis-appearance of non-timber forest products used asfood and to obtain income. They are also indirectlyaffected by water shortages caused by deforestation.For example, in the Tantibin Township deforestationhas affected the local people's livelihoods as well asthe local environment. Because of the destruction ofthe forest, it is very difficult for the local villagers toobtain building materials. One of the villagers in theAung Myin Ywa SPDC concentration camp said: "Ineeded to build a house, so I went to ask permissionfrom the KNU leader. I had permission to cut wood,but I didn't find any that was good enough to makehouse posts." In the hot season of 2003, a KESANresearcher saw the villagers in Shansinboe villagecut the Ko Ka trees, which are trees planted since atleast before their grandparents, which give shade inthe village. Now they are being used to make houseposts and are used for timber. Today, only the fewlocal villagers who have money to buy timber on themarket are able to build houses.Fifty years ago, Yinsha village was close to the re-serve forest and it was easy to collect firewood. Atthat time most people collected dead wood ratherthan living wood to use as firewood. But now mostpeople collect greenwood for firewood. Today, the

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villagers who don't have bullockcarts face the big problem of hav-ing to travel greater distances tocollect firewood, at least a mile;this takes up a lot of time. Sincethe forests are being destroyed,villagers have to go very early inthe morning to collect firewood.It gets too hot to collect the fire-wood in midday and afternoon,and then they aren't able to carrythe wood. "I don't have a bullockcart, so it takes me half a day tocollect firewood. Some days I cannot go to be hired for daily workto earn rice for my family", said awidower from the flatlands.Ter leaves play an important part in the livelihood oflocal people in the plains during the hot season. Dur-ing the summer, Ter leaves are collected for trade orused to build roofs. However, official logging before2000 has destroyed many Ter trees in the forest.Also since about 2000, the urban poor people havebeen cutting Ter trees for making bean gardens andbuilding shelters. A relocated villager said: "When Isaw urban people from Tantibin town cut the Terforest for bean gardens and shelter, 1 felt very disap-pointed. Every year loggers burn the forest and thefire burns all Ter leaves, so I get less Ter leaves."With many Ter trees being destroyed, it has affectedthe local people's livelihood.

Impacts on WomenWomen especially face the difficulty of making aliving after the destruction of the forest. The dailywork of women involves childcare, cooking, clean-ing the house, gardening, feeding the animals, andcollecting water, firewood, Ter leaves and food(bamboo shoots, mushroom, cane, small fish, crabs,and shrimps). Women are more in touch with theforest then men because of these daily activities. It iswomen that have to collect firewood. "Now it takesus half a day for me to collect firewood and it is atleast one mile away from my village to the reservedforest. It takes more time for me to collect firewoodso I don't have enough time to do other work tomake money to feed my children," said a woman inthe concentration camp Aung Myin Ywa. Manypoor women have a problem in collecting Ter leavesbecause urban poor have practiced slash and bum tomake cash crop gardens in the reserved forest. It ishard for them to collect the Ter leaves to use forroofing and to make a small income for their family.

Women collecting palm leaves for income and for building roofs

"I collect Ter and I sell 100 Ter leaves, shingle andthatch, for 700 Kyat. Sometimes I exchange themfor rice and fish paste. But because people do slashand burn to the forests, I am very upset because it isvery hard for me to collect Ter leaves and make myliving" said a displaced woman in Shansiboe village.The daily collection of food has also become in-creasingly difficult. "In the past when I went fishingI caught small fish, shrimps, and crabs enough forone or two meals. Today when I go fishing, I getonly decayed tree leaves" said a woman of Wahlohvillage in Tantibin Township.A villager in Malagoon said that after 1995 the waterlevel of his well has obviously lowered and it nearlybecomes dry in the hot season. In the flat area ofTantibin Township the quality of water from thewells has declined. This means that it takes moretime for the women to collect water. After the log-ging started, the water in the wells lowered everyseason. The villagers dug the wells deeper but thewater did not come up higher. Before 1975, the wa-ter in the well was high but now there is just barelyenough water to use. They cannot use it to createvegetable gardens and use for their animals. Somewells are nearly dried up. Poor villagers who use onewell for four or five families have to wait until thewater level rises again. Elder people in this area saidthat big trees give shelter and absorb the water.Since the big trees were cut down it is too hot andthe streams are drying up, as well as the water in thewells. Many villagers asked KESAN to give themadvice on how to get back more water in their wells.Some local villagers have their integrated orchardsor betel nut gardens along the streams. The fruittrees rely on the water of the stream. Logging leadsto the drying-up of streams and some gardens aredestroyed. When people do logging with elephants,buffaloes or cows, they pull the logs along thestreams and destroy the small fruit trees in the vil-

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lagers' garden. The villagers in Soiloh (Lunbu) saidthat because loggers pull the logs through their gar-dens, they couldn't replant the nursery trees. The ele-phants destroy the betel nut gardens. Also when thepeople who log with buffaloes and cows cannot findany more big trees, they cut down the trees in thevillagers' gardens. Villagers keep some big treesaround the garden for shelter for the small fruit treesand to use for building a house whenever they needthem. There is no security for the villagers' gardens.The loggers come and take their betel plants andtake their fruit in their gardens. "Since the logging, Icould not afford to plant the betel pepper vine", saidan elder person in Htee Loh village.Furthermore, villagers said that theft occurs wherethere is logging. Some villagers reported that theylost their properties, which they left in the huts intheir gardens and in the farms.The drying up of streams because of the loggingmeant that villagers could not water their gardens inthe hot season and their baby fruit trees died. "Halfof my betel nut garden was destroyed in 2000. )couldn't survive with my garden so I took a job as anelephant worker" said a villager in Soiloh village.The villagers have to change their lifestyle and be-come elephant workers or do small-scale mining inthe rivers.

4

Sugarcane mono-plantation

Deforestation also means less flowers and fruits.One woman in Peh Taw Day village (reserved for-est) said that people from outside come to collectfirewood even from fairy trees that Karen people areafraid of and respect. There are less of these treesthat produce fruit for the birds. Animals are disap-pearing, not because they are hunted excessively, butbecause they have less food and shelter due to thelogging.

Main factors that threaten thepractice of traditional forestconservation

Logging and civil war are the main, interre-lated factors that threaten the practice of traditionalforest conservation.

Logging

Logging started under British rule and continuedunder independence, but wasn't as destructive as it isnow. The KNU commander of Toungoo districtsaid: "Before 1975, the KNU controlled all the re-serve forests of Toungoo district, Karen Slate. Since1975-76, when the Burmese government initiatedthe 'Four Cuts policy' in Toungoo district, we lostcontrol over the reserve forest." Logging destroyedsome parts of the reserve forests, which are in thefiat areas, and near the car road. Logging which be-gan in 1962 has since destroyed the lower part of theforest of Tantibin Township. In 1988, the SLORC

gave out logging licenses tocitizens of Toungoo district.Many rich people/elephantowners applied for logginglicenses. For example, SawPwe Lah's son got a licensefrom SLORC. To practicelogging officially and with-out disturbance, he alsowent to get permission fromthe KNU. After he had per-mission from both sides, hemade a truck road into theChaungmange reserve for-est that is close to Met-indein reserve forest, in1991. He had to transportthe teak trees to SLORC

stockpiles for free and had to pay SLORC 2000 Kyatfor one ton of wood. He also paid the KNU 1000Kyat for one ton of wood. During one year (1991-1992), he sold 2000 tons of wood privately. Afterone year, the SLORC changed his logging licenseand he was ordered to sell only to MTE which paidhim less. He did logging in Chaungmange forest andlater he moved to Metindein forest. From 1992 to1997, he produced another 6000 tons for SLORC.Other elephant owners such as Aung Htun, MaeK'taw, Kwa Po, Po Ton, Thawkya, Paya, and Pado-

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hko, continued to practice logging in Chaungmangeand Metindein reserved forests until 2000. One ele-phant owner said that if you did logging officially,you had to pay many groups which cut deeply intoyour profits, "When I had a logging license, I paidSLORC 2000 Kyat, KNU 1000 Kyat, woodcutters200 Kyat, elephant workers 700 Kyat, road makers600 Kyat, crane drivers 500 Kyat, and truck drivers2000 Kyat per one ton of wood. A total cost of about7,000 Kyat. I sold one ton of Group One (highgrade) wood for 8000 Kyat, and 1 made 1000 Kyatprofits for one ton of wood. But when the SPDCtook back the logging license. I paid less to theworkers and the KNU so the total cost was 3500Kyat. But the government pays me only 4000 Kyat.So I make only 500 Kyat per one ton of Group Onewood. The SLORC sells the wood to Singapore$300 US dollars per ton."After 2000, good trees became rare and could onlybe found in hard to reach places. All elephant own-ers stopped logging. But since then people from vil-lages close to the cities have practiced unauthorizedlogging of the remaining trees. They use buffaloesand cattle to pull down the logs from the mountain-side into the flat area, and then they use bullock cartsto carry the logs to the sawmill or to their village.Normally, local farmers are allowed by the KNU tocollect fuel and timber in the hot season for theirshelters. Most of the farmers collect wood for theirprivate needs but a lot of urban people also collectwood for commercial purposes. The KNU local for-ester of Tantibin Township, who gives out bullockcart passes, said that about 3000 bullock carts col-lected wood in the forest of Tantibin Township in2003. He estimated that nine thousand big treeswould be cut down if one bullock cart didn't takemore than three living trees. Trees are cut every yearso the forests can not recover, and the condition ofthe forest become very poor. Both official loggingand unofficial logging overexploit the forests lead-ing to major deforestation. One of the villagers inthe Htaw Ma Aye concentration camp said that somevillagers collect wood and they send it to Nat Ywasawmill, Peryahwya saw mill, and Zeryasgyi saw-mill. Some people make firewood or charcoal andthey sell it in the city. The bigger trees in the forestare disappearing quickly because of the people col-lecting wood to sell. Every hot season trees arechopped down and the forests are burned so thesmall wood can not recover in the forest. Some ur-ban people come and cut Ter trees for short-termvegetable gardens.Conflicts have risen between loggers and local vil-lagers. One of the elephant masters said that at firstthe villagers didn't allow him to make a truck roadthat crossed their orchards. He went to consult with

Women weaving palm for building roofs for income

the headman and paid compensation. But the villag-ers couldn't survive without their gardens."Elephants of the loggers destroyed my orchard gar-dens", said Saw Cigray in Soiloh village. The ele-phants ate and destroyed the fruit trees and plants inme gardens. Moreover loggers pulled the logs overthe baby fruit trees so the villager's gardens weredestroyed. Some loggers stole the villagers' fruittrees, betel nut and betel pepper vine. They also cutdown the wood that the villagers keep in the gardento shade their gardens.When unauthorized logging started with bullockcarts, loggers burned the rotational farms of the vil-lagers in Soiloh. For example two loggers burnedNaw Ku Ku Paw's rotational farm in the afternoonof March 18, 2003. She has to clear another plot inthe forest to get enough rice for next year. It wastesher energy.

Civil war

Logging and political conflict are interrelated in thisarea. Almost all villagers in Toungoo district wereforcibly relocated to the military camps many timesfrom 1975 to 2003. 52 villages of Tantibin Town-ship have been forcibly relocated to the SPDC con-centration camps near the military camps. "In 2000,my village was burned by the SPDC army Light In-fantry Battalion 39 and we were forced to move thir-teen miles to a concentration camp near the SPDC

37


army camp" said a villager in Soiloh. Villagers inthe concentration camp are restricted in their move-ments by the SPDC and cannot come back to workin their garden. The villagers have to abandon theirvillages, their orchard gardens, and their rotationalfarming areas. Some of them follow the orders andgo to the concentration camps, but some of themhide in the deep forest. Both the relocated peopleand displaced people cannot practice their traditionallivelihoods anymore. Most of them became shiftingcultivators, but some of them became casual labour-ers in logging or mining. They are afraid to return towork in their villages because SPDC troops willshoot them on sight.

KESAN forestry campaign

In the concentration camps, villagers have to doforced labor. For example, the SPDC ordered aroundone hundred villagers of Klerlah village to clean thebushes along the dusty truck road in the frontlinefrom Kawthinder to Buhsar Kee. A thirteen-year-oldboy in Mawpader village said; 'I have to carry myown food to go clean the SPDC Kler La-Mokchietruck road. I am very afraid of the landmines be-cause I heard that some porters were injured anddied because of the landmines."In March 2003, the SPDC built a new camp near

Kerserdoh village. The SPDC troops demandedfood, made villagers from Kerserdoh, Hteeloh, Yin-sha, Shansiboe. Zeepyugoon, and Tawgon do forcedlabor, and tortured some villagers. Moreover, villag-ers in the concentration camp also have to pay porterfees and have to pay for security at night. One vil-lager said "I have to pay 100 Kyat per month fornighttime security." Another villager stated; "I haveto pay 500 Kyat per month to the SPDC for porterfees." One of the villagers in Soiloh said that beforehis village was burned he had to pay 2,500-5000Kyat per month to the SPDC for porter fees. Flat

paddy farmers have to sell their rice, 12 basket ofrice per 1 acre. The SPDC pays the villagers only300 Kyat per basket, while the market price is 1500Kyat. For this reason, many farmers don't haveenough rice to survive and have to do logging to getextra money,The SPDC also sets a curfew for the villagers andlimits the time they can spend outside the camp. "Ihave to pay 100 Kyat per month for a pass to workoutside" said a villager in Soiloh who is now stayingin a concentration camp. Food in the concentrationcamps is scarce. Some become casual labourers; oth-ers practice shifting cultivation or set up short termvegetable gardens. Curfew, forced labor, requisition-

ing of food and supplies, unofficialtaxes, torture, and extra judicial kill-ing makes the villagers stay in fearand has changed the villagers' tradi-tional livelihoods.

Many internally displaced peoplehave fled into the deep forest on themountains of Tantibin Township,These internally displaced peoplehave practiced shifting cultivationsince 1975, so a lot of old growth for-ests have been destroyed. Since 1992,to now, the villagers of 25 villagesnear the Kawthinder-Buhsarkee roadwere ordered to move to the concen-tration camp at Kawthinder.Most of them were afraid to go be-cause they had seen and heard about

bad experiences in the concentration camps done bySPDC soldiers. They preferred to flee into the deepforest. There are now six thousand LDP's in the deepjungle of Toungoo district who degrade the oldgrowth forest by shifting cultivation more and moreevery year (Estimate of the Federation of Trade Un-ions of Kaw Thoo Lei (FTUK)). But, even thoughthey destroy the forest, a villager of Seidowko re-flects that they "do not get good crops from theirfarms because there are many kinds of pests in theold growth forest that destroy the crops".Another problem is the landmines that SPDC as wellas KNU troops lay in the forests near abandoned vil-lages. This upholds many villagers to return to theirfarms and gardens in their own village.In the hot season, the SPDC burns the terrain alongtheir roads for security at least three times during theseason. The fire spreads to the forest and destroysorchards and rotational farms near the truck roadareas. Some villagers in Playhsarloh said that whenthe SPDC set up a camp near their village, theyburned the bushes around the camp and the firespread through the forest. The fire burned the topsoil

38


of the forest and burned their orchard gardens.Moreover, the villagers noticed that erosion of thestream occurred in the rainy season after the burn-ings. The fires also destroy many bird nests.

Many villagers of Toungoo district have faced con-fiscation of their land. The SPDC has confiscatedland for mono-plantations, for building their camps,and for construction of a dam. Land confiscationdestroys local people's traditional livelihoods andforces many people to become daily workers. Ac-cording to KESAN interviews, every year the liveli-hoods of people in the reserve forests are gettingharder and harder since logging has destroyed theforests, and the villagers' lands have been confis-cated for mono-plantations by the military govern-ment.In Tonbo reserve forest of Toungoo district, the mili-tary government gave out logging concessions. Afterthe logging the villagers in the forest created orchardgardens. Later the military government confiscatedthe gardens and planted teak and other mono-plantations.Many villagers lost their farmland with the buildingof SPDC military camps in Beryinaw, nearThandaung Gyi town, and Kawthinder. The SPDCalso seized land for building dams. When the SPDCbuilt the Perthi dam from 1993-97, two villages wererelocated and their land was destroyed. "After theSPDC seized my land. I became a daily worker and Igot 250 Kyat a day. I didn't get enough money tofeed my family. Rural development projects that aredone by the SPDC also include land confiscation somany people are afraid of these projects. Every year,my livelihood is harder to obtain, so in 2000 I wentto be a logger at Merhamyen, Moywa Township.But timber fell on my shoulder, and I had to go tothe nearby hospital" said a villager in Tonbo reserveforest. Currently the SPDC plans to build a new damon Thaukyegat stream above Paletwa SPDC camp.The dam area is now in process of being cleared. Ifthe dam is constructed, six villages will lose theirgardens and the villagers are very worried.

5. People's concerns and possiblesolutions

A youth leader from Tantibin Township saidthat if they wait until Burma gets democracy and themilitary government changes, the forests will begone and there will be no forest for the coming gen-erations. He recognized that something needs to be

done now to save the forests.The villagers said that theyneed empowerment frompolitical groups to conservetheir forest One of the elderpeople in Playhsarloh whoparticipated in the forestcampaign recommended that"What the KESAN trainertalked about forest conserva-tion is fit to our communityand the young people in myvillage need to learn aboutthis issue." Another personin Klerlah village said:"Thulei Kawwei magazine[published by KESAN] re-minds us how the elder peo-ple used the forest with care.It is very useful for theyoung people to read this to get more knowledge fora positive way of living in harmony with the envi-ronment In Burma the SPDC government censuresoutside information."KESAN held an environmental workshop in Tanti-bin Township. The participants in this workshopsaid that the environmental knowledge and forestconservation ideas are not new knowledge. "Theelder people practice this knowledge and the work-shop reminded us of this knowledge." Some partici-pants said that in the current situation, they couldn'treplant trees in the forest, but each family couldplant one or two trees in their garden to use for fire-wood, "In the forest, we need to stop logging andtake the wood that is just enough for our householdneeds. We need to protect our forest from fire, somore trees can grow up and more animals will comeback to the forest."According to all interviews, local people want topractice their traditional livelihood peacefully. Theycan not suffer the oppression and discrimination bythe military government anymore. Many peoplehope that a democratic government will come toBurma soon. A Karen civilian in Tantibin Townshipof Toungoo district, who was accused and torturedby SPDC soldiers in March 2003. expressed that "Iam not the only person that the SPDC tortured.Many Karen civilians faced the brutal abuses fromSPDC soldiers. As we are Karen civilians the SPDCalways accuses and abuses us. We cannot suffer thisanymore. We hope the dictatorship of Burma willstep down. We need a democratic government verysoon." If the civil war in Burma ended, the villagerswould be able to practice their traditional livelihoodsand the forest will come back again because therewill be no fear in people's lives

Chapter 5

Conclusions andRecommendations

By KESAN

In conducting this preliminary research KESANsought out to find the people's perspective on forestissues. Not only finding the status of Karen State'srainforests, but also determining the local peoples*main concerns and their ideas for possible alterna-tives to resource management.

Throughout the three districts that the research hascovered, it has been found that the forests are disap-pearing at an alarming rate, leaving the majority ofboth the reserved and unreserved forests bare. Localcommunities are witnesses to a huge decline infauna and flora in their forest areas. Water levels aredecreasing and the small streams are drying up. Thelocal climate has changed with a significant rise inlocal temperature.

The ongoing civil war, commercial logging (bothofficial and unofficial), uncontrollable migration andencroachment of the non-local poor into the forest-land, routine setting of forest fires by the SPDC,charcoal production, and land confiscation by theSPDC to use for commercial mono-plantations, theirmilitary camps and to develop infrastructure (i.e.dams), are undeniably the main factors to blame.

These factors are not only destroying the rainforestsbut also creating environmental and social problemsthat are completely ruining and eroding the tradi-tional livelihood system of the local people. Farmersare forced to abandon their land, becoming daily la-bourers; many for the logging businesses. Their in-come is sporadic and provides so little wages thatthey can barely feed their family. Many youth areleaving to seek jobs in the cities and in Thailand,becoming exposed to problems such as drugs andhuman trafficking.

These changes in the socio-economic structures ofthe local communities have had great affect on thetraditional forest conservation practices of the Karenpeople. Once a system which purpose was to main-tain the lives of the forests and its dwellers has now

become greatly disrupted and abused. More andmore people are disregarding their traditional knowl-edge in forest conservation; most have little choice.Traditional knowledge is increasingly becoming dif-ficult to pass on from me elders to the younger gen-erations.

Despite all these problems, all is not lost. The re-search has gained some light of hope from the localpeople. The communities are aware of the problemsand want to try and protect their forests. They al-ready have environmental knowledge and knowabout sustainable forest conservation. They havetraditional forest management systems with desig-nated protected, cultivated, communal, and religiousforests, and despite difficulties some farmers canstill practice sustainable traditional methods.The communities are willing to restore their forestmanagement practices and have been asking for therecognition and respect of their rights. "If they[leaders] wait until Burma gets democracy and themilitary government changes, the forests will begone and there will be no forest for the coming gen-erations." They recognize that action must be takennow, and that it cannot wait until the political situa-tion is stable.

In some villages they plan to mark out a separatearea for their community and revive the traditionalforest management system. "For 3 months each yearthere will be an open period in which the forest canbe used by villagers, but only for basic necessities,not for commercial purpose". "In the current situa-tion, we couldn't replant trees, but each family couldplant one or two trees in their garden to use for fire-wood". "In our forest, we need to stop logging andtake the wood that is just enough for our householdneeds. We need to protect our forest from fire, somore trees can grow up and more animals will comeback to the forest".These small-scale environmental initiatives by thelocal people are essential for successful changes inforestry management practices.

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Local community empowerment is very important.Campaigning and activities which KESAN has donein these communities, has proven to have sparked aninterest with the local people, raising awarenessabout the importance of the environment, their for-ests and the need to manage forests sustainably."What the KESAN trainer talked about forest con-servation is fit to our community and the young peo-ple in my village need to learn about this issue"."Thulei Kawwei magazine [published by KESAN]reminds us how the elder people used the forest withcare. It is very useful for the young people to readthis to get more knowledge of positive living in har-mony with the environment. In Burma the SPDCcensures outside information".

Karen forests are rich in biodiversity and it is impor-tant that they are conserved and utilised sustainably.Prevention of cultural and biological erosion is es-sential and the revitalization and restoration of thetraditional forest conservation system is the begin-ning of an end to the destruction of the remainingforests. "If war and logging still continue, we Karenpeople will disappear. We need a person who willtake responsibility in solving the political problemsand conserve the environment".

Recommendations

rights in the context of forest use, manage-ment, and conservation.

* Environmental and social values protectionmust be prioritized before granting loggingconcessions. It means the authorities mustconduct reliable Environmental Impact As-sessments and Social Impact Assessments,and then if areas must be logged then it mustbe done in a sustainable way, which strictlyabides by the forestry guidelines.

* The KNU must formulate or reform their for-estry policy. At the same time an effort tohelp people develop their own forestry pol-icy, management and operational plan is agood way to make the KNU forestry policyreflect the real need of the local communities,

* Documentation by local forestry officials onthe status of the forests (community forestmapping).

* More participatory research on the forestryissues must be done to gain deeper under-standing and to provide precise informationto concerned parties in order to take effectivemeasures.

* Campaigning and awareness raising usingmaterials such as environmental magazine,workshops, and seminars, to inform the localcommunities about environmental issues andallow them to express their ideas through thisforum.

* People empowerment: small scale, local de-velopment and training.

* Small-scale environment initiatives run bylocal people are an important, good beginningfor successful forest management. The use oflocal knowledge and traditional practices insustainable management is essential.

* Leaders and policy holders are needed, whoare knowledgeable about forest managementand are sensitive to the local people's needsand practices.

* SPDC, cease-fire or non cease-fire groupsneed to recognize and respect local custom-ary rights, land rights and common property

To the SPDC:

* Let local people practice their traditionalfarming livelihoods in peace without restric-tions or curfews.

* Stop land confiscation and hand it back to therightful owners.

* Stop burning the forest or forest fire protec-tion and precautions must be taken beforeclearing land or bushes around their camps,

* Withdraw the names of the deforested forestreserves from the forest protection list andgrant land rights to those who have been us-ing forestland for sustainable agricultural pro-duction.

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Burma / Myanmar: National State & Division Boundaries

KEY TO THE MAP

1. Arakan State

2. Irrawaddy Division

3. Chin State

THAILANDKachin Slate

Karen State

Karenni State

7. Mergwe Division

8. Mandalay Division

9. Mon StateANDAMAN SEA

Pegu Division

Rangoon Division

Sagaing Division

Shan State

Tenasserim Division

THAILAND

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Map of Kachin State

Map of Karen State

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Destruction and Degradation of the Burmese Frontier forests

Abbreviations

BSPP Burma Socialist Programme Party

CPB Communist Party of Burma

CRPP Committee Representing People's Parliament

DAB Democratic Alliance of Burma

DKBA Democratic Karen Buddhist Army

IDP Internally Displaced Person

KDA Kachin Defence Army

KIA Kachin Independence Army

KIO Kachin Independence Organization

KNLA Karen National Liberation Army

KMT KuoMinTang

KNPP Karenni National Progressive Party

KNU Karen National Union

LIB Light Infantry Battalion

MNDAA Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army

MTA Mong Tai Army

MTE Myanmar Timber Enterprise

NDAA National Democratic Alliance Army

NDA-K New Democratic Army - Kachin

NDF National Democratic Front

NDL National League for Democracy

NMSP New Mon State Party

NTFP Non-Timber Forest Products

SLORC State Law and Order Restoration Council

SPDC State Peace and Development Council

SSA Shan State Army

UWSA United Wa State Army

PKDS Pan Kachin Development Society

KESAN Karen Environmental and Social Action Network

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