A review by the World Conservation Union in 1989 showed that Burma remains one of the few countries in Southeast Asia without an effective system of protected areas: "The present coverage of protected areas in Burma is by far the lowest in Southeast Asia and is totally inadequate for the purposes of biological conservation. The wildlife sanctuaries are ineffective, being, with a few exceptions, much too small, while most have suffered serious damage through logging or agricultural encroachment." The vast majority of protected areas are understaffed and poorly managed, and many have suffered years of agricultural encroachment and settlement. Hunting with the aim of selling wildlife parts to China is particularly severe. For example, the rhinoceros population of Tamanthi, Burma's largest national park, has been almost completely wiped out since the park was gazetted (officially introduced or listed) in 1974. Tiger poaching has been intense, with Kyat 100 being offered by organized poachers to anyone reporting a pug mark. All indications point to the tiger population being very thin throughout much of its native habitat. Community relations with Forest Department staff are also poor. During the anti-government demonstrations in 1988, government-managed eucalyptus fuelwood plantations were almost completely destroyed. There are also cases of the military appropriating land in protected areas in violation of existing law.
Copyright © 1998. Logging Burma's Frontier Forests: Resources and the Regime (Washington, DC: World Resources Institute). This posting does not use the adopted name "Myanmar," given to Burma by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in 1988. The name Burma is used in accordance with the Burmese National League for Democracy, the United States Government and many other countries, and leading publications including The Washington Post, Bangkok Post, The Nation, and The Far Eastern Economic Review.