The forest department has been undertaking the following major activities, inter alia:
1. Reservation of forest lands up to 30% of the country's total land area from the present status of about 15%.
2. Establishment of forest lands under Protected Areas System up to 10% of the country's total land area from the present status of about 2%.
3. Preparation and updating of 10-year Management Plan at the district level for efficient conservation and development of forestry sector.
4. Initiation to introduce "polluter pays" system for the protection of forest resource.
5. Initiation and practice of establishing "cess money" from commercial trade of timber and other forest products.
6. Introduction of management responsibilities sharing through adoption of community participatory forestry to rehabilitate degraded forest lands.
7. Continued practice of reafforestation programme at an annual rate of about 20,000 ha.
8. Periodical review on Forest Policy, Legislation, and Institutional Arrangement to keep pace with social preference and international priorities.
9. Continued effort to formulate and adopt multi-sectoral national land use policy respected by all parties concerned
10. Continued effort for the promotion of private sector in forestry development programmes without compromising the carrying capacity of forest ecosystems for the well-being of future generations.
11. Continued effort for the promotion of forest-based industries for increased production of value-added finished products.
12. Encouragement and liberalization of trade and tariff policies to ensure reasonable stability of the declared policies.
13. Continued endeavour to strengthen Research and Development activities.
14. Continued effort to promote human resource development and institutional capacity building.
With the above major activities, the exercise of sustainable forest management in Myanmar would become a more effective tool, providing forest goods and services to meet the increasing demand.
Estimates of future demand for timber and other important forest products up to the year 2000-2001 are as follows:
Sr.No. |
Particulars |
Measurement Unit |
Quantity |
1. |
Teak |
Thousand m3 |
396.4 |
2. |
Hardwood |
" |
2,405.0 |
3. |
Posts |
Thousand numbers |
83.2 |
4. |
poles |
" |
747.0 |
5. |
fuelwood |
million m3 |
34.5 |
6. |
Charcoal |
" |
0.6 |
7. |
Bamboo |
million nos |
1,074.9 |
8. |
Rattan |
" |
102.7 |
9. |
Cutch |
metric ton |
72.5 |
10. |
Bark |
" |
1,334.0 |
11. |
Shaw |
" |
478.1 |
12. |
Thatch roofing sheets |
million nos. |
861.3 |
13. |
Edible bird's nest |
kilogram |
1,500.0 |
Source - Planning and Statistics, F.D.
