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| Saving forest Lands |
= Maung Than Weik =
Forests can ensure a balanced climate as the two have interrelations. Many experts believe that forest depletion and degradation are one of the main contributors towards global warming that is changing the weather patterns in many places and affecting wildlife habitats around the world.
During our school days we learn geography and came to know that over 50 percent of Myanmar was covered with forests. Some records even say that roundabout 90 percent of the country’s territory was home to flora and fauna during the pre-independence period.
Sadly, those figures have already left behind in history as our motherland now is no more a place where forest lands are in safe hands.
Latest records indicate Myanmar’s total forest cover at 46 percent of the total land surface. But if we look into this latest figure in detail the results are alarming. Of this 46 percent close forest or thick jungle is only about 19 percent of the total land area, while the other 27 percent is just an open forest where trees are not dense.
As time goes by, we turned more forest lands into livestock and crops farms to feed the growing population. We also established industrial zones, mineral extractions, human settlements such as towns and villages to employ and accommodate new comers. A number of these projects also ate up some forest land.
Another thing is that we used wood as fuel for households and cottage industries which is one of the major causes of forest diminution. In some places, locals unaware of the consequences cut trees indiscriminately never thinking about the long-term cause of their action.
But the worst is illegal logging as these flora poachers do not know anything more than profits. Unlike licensed lumberjacks who usually conduct extraction and regeneration in parallel, they care only for their short-term benefits while always ignoring the long-term ill consequences. And there were even foreign criminal gangs committing large-scale illegal logging of priced woods in Myanmar’s forests.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry has been exposing and curbing illegal logging all around the country. During the period from fi scal 2011-2012 to fiscal 2014-2015, the ministry seized 138,649 tons of teak, hardwood and other wood species together with over 130 foreigners and 22,673 locals involved in this illegal business, revealed the Forest Department, adding, 3429 log trucks, 477 tawlaji vehicles, cranes, excavators and bulldozers totaling eight, six tractors, 688 mechanized boats, 422 units of chain saws and many related equipment were also included in the seizure.
Naturally, we must give something first in return for something. And if the gain is higher than pain, it is worth making a sacrifice. So, we understand that we must sometimes give up our trees in making way for prospective regional for national development undertakings.
As for the work of reducing wood fuel consumption and ending indiscriminate felling of trees, it requires broader public knowledge, especially among the rural folks. Accordingly, we must launch awareness programs effectively particularly in rural areas with the participation of the departments concerned, volunteers, civil societies and non-governmental organizations. And then we must teach them and encourage them to use fuels such as solar, gas and farm byproducts in place of wood. Some institutions are already doing this job.
Moreover, we must put more energy to the country’s fuel wood plantation, reforestation and forest regeneration programs.
But as for the illegal logging it is an unpardonable crime not only against our nation and people but also against the whole mankind and the Mother Nature. As these criminals are plundering and stealing our natural treasures at an alarming rate our image as a lush and green country is tarnishing. Then again it is a clarion call for us all to take punitive action against these tree poachers swiftly and effectively and to save our invaluable forests as faithful citizens of the country.
#Themyawadydaily
Forests can ensure a balanced climate as the two have interrelations. Many experts believe that forest depletion and degradation are one of the main contributors towards global warming that is changing the weather patterns in many places and affecting wildlife habitats around the world.
During our school days we learn geography and came to know that over 50 percent of Myanmar was covered with forests. Some records even say that roundabout 90 percent of the country’s territory was home to flora and fauna during the pre-independence period.
Sadly, those figures have already left behind in history as our motherland now is no more a place where forest lands are in safe hands.
Latest records indicate Myanmar’s total forest cover at 46 percent of the total land surface. But if we look into this latest figure in detail the results are alarming. Of this 46 percent close forest or thick jungle is only about 19 percent of the total land area, while the other 27 percent is just an open forest where trees are not dense.
As time goes by, we turned more forest lands into livestock and crops farms to feed the growing population. We also established industrial zones, mineral extractions, human settlements such as towns and villages to employ and accommodate new comers. A number of these projects also ate up some forest land.
Another thing is that we used wood as fuel for households and cottage industries which is one of the major causes of forest diminution. In some places, locals unaware of the consequences cut trees indiscriminately never thinking about the long-term cause of their action.
But the worst is illegal logging as these flora poachers do not know anything more than profits. Unlike licensed lumberjacks who usually conduct extraction and regeneration in parallel, they care only for their short-term benefits while always ignoring the long-term ill consequences. And there were even foreign criminal gangs committing large-scale illegal logging of priced woods in Myanmar’s forests.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry has been exposing and curbing illegal logging all around the country. During the period from fi scal 2011-2012 to fiscal 2014-2015, the ministry seized 138,649 tons of teak, hardwood and other wood species together with over 130 foreigners and 22,673 locals involved in this illegal business, revealed the Forest Department, adding, 3429 log trucks, 477 tawlaji vehicles, cranes, excavators and bulldozers totaling eight, six tractors, 688 mechanized boats, 422 units of chain saws and many related equipment were also included in the seizure.
Naturally, we must give something first in return for something. And if the gain is higher than pain, it is worth making a sacrifice. So, we understand that we must sometimes give up our trees in making way for prospective regional for national development undertakings.
As for the work of reducing wood fuel consumption and ending indiscriminate felling of trees, it requires broader public knowledge, especially among the rural folks. Accordingly, we must launch awareness programs effectively particularly in rural areas with the participation of the departments concerned, volunteers, civil societies and non-governmental organizations. And then we must teach them and encourage them to use fuels such as solar, gas and farm byproducts in place of wood. Some institutions are already doing this job.
Moreover, we must put more energy to the country’s fuel wood plantation, reforestation and forest regeneration programs.
But as for the illegal logging it is an unpardonable crime not only against our nation and people but also against the whole mankind and the Mother Nature. As these criminals are plundering and stealing our natural treasures at an alarming rate our image as a lush and green country is tarnishing. Then again it is a clarion call for us all to take punitive action against these tree poachers swiftly and effectively and to save our invaluable forests as faithful citizens of the country.
#Themyawadydaily
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