Myanmar Country Forest Note
Myanmar’s rich tropical forests have historically sustained a sizeable timber industry serving domestic and international markets. Rates of timber extraction rose significantly after 1990, peaking between 2010 and 2015, when controls over forests w...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/737331593329879596/Myanmar-Country-Forest-Note http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34095 |
| Summary: | Myanmar’s rich tropical forests have
historically sustained a sizeable timber industry serving
domestic and international markets. Rates of timber
extraction rose significantly after 1990, peaking between
2010 and 2015, when controls over forests were weak. Much of
the remaining forest estate in government reserves,
including areas transferred for community forestry, is now
degraded or encroached, and illicit timber harvesting
continues, despite a ban on unprocessed log exports and
other recent control measures. Ongoing sector reforms and
strong government commitments under the Myanmar Restoration
and Rehabilitation Program provide a sound basis for moving
away from an extractive and inefficient timber industry to a
more inclusive and integrated model of forest landscape
restoration with greater community ownership and private
sector engagement, to ensure that Myanmar’s forests continue
to provide sustainable economic, social, and environmental
benefits. This requires more diverse management approaches
and the collaboration with partners who can expand forest
management capacity and coverage, including commercial
plantations, community forestry, and engagement with ethnic
groups who aspire recognition of rights to forest under
customary tenure. It also requires new sources of finance.
This Country Forest Note (CFN) summarizes the status of
Myanmar’s forests and the investments and policies relevant
to the forest sector. It aims to inform a strategic,
programmatic approach for the management of forests, built
on an understanding of the cross-sectoral challenges that
the sector faces. It builds on the Forest Sector Report of
the Country Environmental Analysis by filing gaps in data
and knowledge, including from new studies on private sector
plantations, woodfuel, and forest tenure. The CFN takes a
uniquely cross-sectoral perspective that considers how other
sectors impact forests, and vice versa, and where
opportunities lie for better cross-sectoral coordination. |
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