However the reality is that, more often than not, profit not preservation has been the key factor in the management of the country’s vast natural resources. Following the Burmese Regimes crackdown on the peaceful democracy protests in August 1988, foreign aid to the country was suspended. Desperate for funds to maintain control, the junta passed a new foreign investment law. This opened up the door to joint ventures between the government companies from overseas. This law was a manifestation of the new “open” economic system. This has allowed the military government and their selected partners to conduct business deals which have contributed significantly to the increasingly fragile nature of one of Asia’s most naturally rich and diverse ecosystems.

Perhaps the most prominent example of the willful destruction of the natural environment for economic gain in Burma has been the reduction of the country’s forestry resources, which have enormous scientific and ecological value to the world. Deforestation is not a new phenomenon in Burma, after the military coup in 1962, harvesting rates of teak doubled. In 1988 the government then known as the State Law and Order Council (SLORC) signed multiple concessions with Thai logging companies, who were looking for new opportunities following the Thai government banning logging in the kingdom. In the mid 1990s ceasefire agreements granted particular territories to compliant ethnic insurgent groups. Some like the Kachin Independence Organisation took this as an opportunity to open 1,500 square miles of woodlands to Chinese companies. According to Global Witness, a non profit environmental organization, these companies have clear cut swathes of virgin forests1. In 2004 it was reported that the highest amount of teak was exported from Burma in 10 years.

Undoubtedly the situation is grave, yet the full extent of it is unknown. The unofficial economy is estimated to be several times larger than the official one and as a result much of the logging trade goes unrecorded. It is widely suspected that the ethnic rebel groups have exacerbated this state of affairs as they have reportedly used logging resources to fund their armed resistance to the regime. It is clear that sustainability is not a high priority in relation to the forests of Burma. The consequences of this could be disastrous for Burma’s and indeed the region’s biodiversity. Some of the last habitats for some of Asia’s most endangered flora and fauna are being destroyed. Once the deciduous and teak woodlands are gone, the populations of rare animals that inhabit them such as the clouded leopard, silver leafed monkey, tapirs, tigers, the Asian elephant, and the Javan and Sumatran rhinocerous can never be reestablished.

The human cost is no less stark. Having already been the victims of forced labour due to logging projects and facing extreme poverty many local villagers take employment as poorly paid labourers for the logging companies. In such instances they have no choice but to become unwitting contributors to the destruction of their homeland. On top of this they earn pitiful wages in the devalued Kyat whilst those who control the industry, the state run Myanmar Timber Enterprises, ethnic ceasefire groups and the foreign private interests, are able to generate substantial revenues in US dollars. Those villagers who remain working the land also face a perilous existence due to the increased soil erosion, inevitable climate changes and landslides which come as a result of intense deforestation.

The massive infrastructure projects to extract Burma’s reserves of oil and gas have also played a consequential role in the continued deforestation process, and are responsible for further cataclysmic effects on the environment. Once more there can be no doubt that the opportunity to earn foreign capital takes precedence over any environmental concerns.

The government agency, the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in partnership with companies from China, Indonesia, Australia, Britain and Canada has demarcated over 40 onshore oil exploration areas2. These areas are often remote and inaccessible and so virgin rainforests have to be removed to provide space for helicopter landing pads, testing sites and roads3. The actual drilling process produce toxic waste and pollute streams and rivers with mud and silt. Off shore ventures to produce natural gas such as those in the Yadana and Yetagun gas fields in the Andaman Sea bring similar problems. Waste from offshore drilling activity for natural gas in such instances contains a number of toxic chemicals. These coupled with toxic brine another by product of the drilling procedures pose a serious threat to marine life, wetland areas and other wildlife.

What is particularly worrying is that it is essentially impossible to predict what the fallout from current practices in the fossil fuel sector may be as no concrete legislation or regulations exists to monitor activity. For example in the Yadana project, constructed by MOGE in partnership with TOTAL of France and the US based UNOCAL, no independent environmental survey was made and there has been no reporting of environmental practices by any of the actors involved 4. As a result serious questions have to be asked as to whether they have taken sufficient precautions with regards to the natural environment. Companies, like the junta, have of course boasted of their environmental credentials. Within UNOCAL‘s “Statement of Principle” a section entitled “Protect the Environment” states: “we take our environmental responsibilities very seriously and promise to abide by all environmental laws of our host country”. This sounds very noble; however in Burma the laws regarding the exploration of oil and gas reserves contain no stipulations regarding the environment. Essentially potentially destructive actions can be carried out without any regard for the ecological devastation they may cause.

The above details ineffectiveness of Burma’s legal framework in enabling a sustainable and ecological administration of the country’s natural resources and the developments in the mining sector highlights this further.

The SLORC Law 8/95, also known as the Myanmar Gems Law which formally entitled foreign companies to enter into agreements with the junta to mine for precious stones officially acknowledges environmental concerns in section 12(a) of the law. It states that the ministry of mines must determine if excavation of a mining site will affect among other things “third party rights” and “wildlife and natural habitats. However this section has not prevented mining works operated by private companies in partnership with the junta causing extensive environmental damage. In Mogok, Mandalay division in Central Burma, local reports have detailed that intensive mining using hydraulic equipment has led to soil erosion, water pollution and a reduction of fish stocks. Arable fields in the area have also been ravaged5. Huge profits have been and continue to made on the back of this irreversible ruination. Indeed mining remains one of the largest foreign exchange earners for the regime6. The above clearly shows how the junta selectively applies its laws for the financial benefit of itself and its partners. The threat to the environment in Burma is reaching a critical stage. In addition to the afflictions within the sectors detailed above, massive challenges are being presented by the development of hydro electric dams and the rapid depletion of renewable resources such as fish stocks. The obstacles facing the natural world are not unique to Burma. However in a country where all debate is stifled, where the needs and wants of the population are completely ignored and mere lip service is paid to international environment treaties to which they are signatories the possibilities of such obstacles being overcome are virtually non existent. “Environmentalism” for the Burmese Government is nothing more than a PR strategy, used to gain international recognition and funding. Unless this changes it will not only be the long suffering Burmese people who will pay the price but also the rest of the world as one of the few remaining ecological paradises left on the planet will disappear forever.

Endnotes:

1. Logging Fuels Conflict in Burma, The Irrawaddy (Online), October 2003
2. Rangoon Bars new Onshore Oil Exploration The Irrawaddy (Online), March 2005
3. Environment and Law in Burma, Legal Issues on Burma Journal No.9, August 2001
4. ibid
5. Capitalizing on Conflict, Earth Rights International, October
6. ibid.

7. To go to the other articles published in the October 2005 BI Newsletter click on the links below:

   Burmese Migrant Workers: A Brush with the Law
   Land Confiscation: Killing by Default