Tenure (agriculture, forestry, fisheries, mineral deposits etc.)

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Description: Under support from the DFID PyoePin programme, Dr Kyaw Tint, the head of ECCDI, a leading Yangon based NGO led a research project to understand the current status of Community Forestry in the country, with technical support from Dr. Oliver Springate-Baginski. Field study was conducted in October – December 2010, and we presented our findings at a national workshop. The three main outputs of the project are available to download here:
Source/publisher: University of East Anglia
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-06
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Description: "This study emerged out of an identified need to document social processes leading to land insecurity, and those leading to investment and sustainable use of lands by rural populations. Focusing on the Delta and Dry Zone, the main paddy producing regions of Myanmar, this analysis unravels the powers at play in shaping rural households? relationship to land. From British colonization to the 2012 reforms, many issues have remained relatively unchanged with regards to local dynamics of landlessness, exclusion processes, local power plays, restrictions in farmers? land rights and the State?s excessive focus on rice. In the midst of a fast evolving legal context, this work provides a typology of farmers and the landless and argues that more attention needs to be paid to understand the diversity of rural households and forms of landlessness."
Creator/author: M. Boutry, C. Allaverdian, M. Mellac, S. Huard, U San Thein, Tin Myo Win, Khin Pyae Sone
Source/publisher: GRET (of Lives and Land Myanmar research series)
2017-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2017-10-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 4.11 MB 10.58 MB
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Description: "... This piece of community initiated action research reveals a number of lessons we can learn. The authors try to reflect the challenges of and opportunities for community based natural resources management in a seemingly forgotten Karen controlled area of southern Myanmar. The paper examines a number of case studies including the construction of a local water supply system, the establishment of fish conservation zones and community-driven forest conservation. An evolutionary development of community based networks such as CSLD (Community Sustainable Livelihood and Development), IRIP-NET (Tenasserim River and Indigenous People Network) and RKIP (Rays of Kamoethway Indigenous People and Nature) and their collaborative action to address emerging Natural Resources Management issues in their land are well illustrated in the paper..."
Source/publisher: Tenasserim River & Indigenous People Networks (TRIP NET), Rays of Kamoethway Indigenous People and Nature (RKIPN)
2016-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 3.13 MB
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Description: "... Since ceasefire agreements were signed between the Burmese military government and ethnic political groups in the Burma?China borderlands in the early 1990s, violent waves of counterinsurgency development have replaced warfare to target politically-suspect, resource-rich, ethnic populated borderlands. The Burmese regime allocates land concessions in ceasefire zones as an explicit postwar military strategy to govern land and populations to produce regulated, legible, militarized territory. Tracing the relationship of military?state formation, land control and securitization, and primitive accumulation in the Burma?China borderlands uncovers the forces of what I am calling ?ceasefire capitalism?. This study examines these processes of Burmese military?state building over the past decade in resource-rich ethnic ceasefire zones along the Yunnan, China border. I will illustrate this contemporary and violent military?state formation process with two case studies focusing on northern Burma: logging and redirected timber trade flows, and Chinese rubber plantations as part of China?s opium substitution program..."
Creator/author: Kevin Woods
Source/publisher: The Journal of Peasant Studies
2011-09-14
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 202.05 KB
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Description: "... Located on Myanmar?s eastern border with Thailand, Kayah State has long been isolated because of conflicts between the minority groups there and the Burmese army; as a result, little is known about its agricultural systems. As a preliminary to NGO agricultural development projects, an agrarian diagnosis of two major types of agroecosystems in the state—lowlands alluvial plains and uplands—was conducted. The objective was to identify recent agrarian changes leading to the current presence of different types of farmers in each area and understand their development potential. Both agroecosystems have followed very different evolutionary trajectories, mainly because of politico-historical factors. In the lowlands, farmers with irrigated plots are administratively obliged to grow irrigated rice, while others who are forced to grow flooded rice but unable to irrigate can diversify into vegetable growing. In the uplands, communications infrastructures allowing access to the market are a source of differentiation between villages. Farmers who have this access are growing cash crops such as maize and pigeon peas, while those who do not have access continue with upland rice-based systems. The introduction of perennial crops such as rubber, non-perishable food production in the uplands, and horticultural diversification in the lowlands are waiting for future policies at the national level..."
Creator/author: Audrey Aldebert & Gauvain Meulle
Source/publisher: Mercy Corps
2013-11-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.29 MB
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Description: "... Namati offers this brief in the hope that Myanmar?s national reforms and the implementation of the country?s new National Land Use Policy can grow from the lived experience of ordinary Myanmar citizens. Namati and our partners assist farmers in Myanmar to claim their land rights through a community paralegal approach. Community paralegals are trained in relevant laws, community education, negotiation, and mediation skills to work with farmers to resolve a variety of land rights issues. Dozens of data points are documented as part of each case resolution process that illustrate how the legal framework functions in practice. It is this casework data that underpins this policy brief. Focus groups and interviews with paralegals and clients further provide qualitative context and insights. Namati recommends actions the Myanmar government can take as part of implementing its new National Land Use Policy to help increase women?s engagement in land use management and access to tenure rights. This briefing also provides recommendations for civil society organizations interested in the community paralegal model, and, in particular, in increasing the number of women paralegals in the country as a means of women?s empowerment..."
Source/publisher: NAMATI
2016-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 481.24 KB
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Description: Paper prepared for presentation at the 2016 WORLD BANK CONFERENCE ON LAND AND POVERTY, The World Bank - Washington DC, March 14-18, 2016 The paper is based on the study on customary tenure for LCG in Chin and Shan States 2013-2015 in brief periods. The relevance of the topic was grounded in a wish to 1) identify statutory means to protect the livelihood of ethnic upland communities in Myanmar from losing, in particular, their shifting cultivation fallow land to agribusiness concessions; 2) based on results from fieldwork, to guide the Government towards recognizing customary (communal) tenure in the drafting of the National Land Use Policy (NLUP) with the ultimate aim of recommending procedures for customary (communal) land registration in a future new Land Law and associated Rules 3); to define how to recognize boundaries of shifting cultivation parcels in a customary system of fair but variable annual local land sharing. "... In Myanmar land issues are of paramount importance after years of land grabbing by the military and business cronies. A rapid anthropological study 2013-14 in Chin and Shan State for the Land Core Group was carried out to inform the post 2011 government. The study recorded the internal rules of customary communal tenure and identified possible statutory means of protecting untitled land, including fallows, against alienation. The Land Core Group guided the Government Committee during 2014-15 to recognize customary tenure in drafting of the National Land Use Policy, not yet endorsed. The study recommended conversion of the community into a legal entity/organization registering all its agricultural land, while keeping separate and intact its customary internal rules. The study construed a reading of existing regulatory framework in support. The study proved, though, that precise mapping of large tracts of shifting cultivation land is difficult due to annual diversity of fuzzy boundaries... Key Words: land rights, communal tenure, mapping, land registration, indigenous peoples..."
Creator/author: Kirsten Ewers Andersen
Source/publisher: The World Bank
2016-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-04-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.41 MB
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Description: Table of Contents: Mangrove Deforestation, Shrimp Farming, and the Survival of the Coastal... Land Confiscation in Burma: Whose land is it?... Shwe Gas Pro ect and the Impact on Arakan State... A Brief History of Rice Agriculture and Chemical Fertilizer Use in Arakan State
Creator/author: Khaing Dhu Wan, Katie Ryder, Khaing Dhu Wan, David Le Blanc, Aung Marm Oo, Khaing Dhu Wan
Source/publisher: Network for Enriornment and Economic Development (NEED)
2007-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-09-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.38 MB
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Description: Table of Contents: Mangrove Deforestation, Shrimp Farming, and the Survival of the Coastal... Land Confiscation in Burma: Whose land is it?... Shwe Gas Pro ect and the Impact on Arakan State... A Brief History of Rice Agriculture and Chemical Fertilizer Use in Arakan State
Creator/author: Khaing Dhu Wan, Katie Ryder, Khaing Dhu Wan, David Le Blanc, Aung Marm Oo, Khaing Dhu Wan
Source/publisher: Network for Enriornment and Economic Development (NEED)
2007-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-09-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 637.83 KB
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Description: Analysis of the social costs of large-scale Chinese-supported rubber farms in northern Burma suggests that the future for ordinary citizens will be affected as much by the country?s chosen economic path as the political reforms underway.
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute (TNI)
2012-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-09-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: INTRODUCTION: "Myanmar?s Community Forestry programme began in with the Community Forestry Instruction of 1995. Since then over two hundred and fifty Forest User Groups have been formed across the country, and have taken responsibility for controlling, managing and sustainably using a wide range of forest. How have they faired? In an effort to answer that question this paper presents the experiences from 16 randomly selected Forest User Groups across the country. They were visited by a research team in late 2010 during a Community Forestry study conducted by ECCDI, with technical support from the School of International Development, University of East Anglia, under funding support from the Pyoe Pin programme. Full findings from the study are presented in a separate report (Tint et al. 2011 ?Community Forestry in Myanmar: Progress and Potentials?). This companion paper presents the local realities of community forestry experiences on a case by case basis. The diverse range of stories here show that Forest User groups are struggling against a wide range of challenges, with very limited support in most cases, and only some are able to overcome them effectively. Regional conditions are a key factor, with the dry zone and Shan FUGs struggling much more than the more supportive environmental conditions in Kachin and the Delta..."
Creator/author: Oliver Springate-Baginski, Maung Maung Than with Naw Hser Wah, Ni Ni Win, Khin Hnin Myint, Kyaw Tint, Mehm Ko Ko Gyi
Source/publisher: Ecosystem Conservation and Community Development Initiative (ECCDI)
2011-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.86 MB
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Description: Policy Briefing Paper..."Since Myanmar?s 1995 Community Forestry Instruction, forests have gradually been handed over to community management across the country. How are Forest User Groups performing? Are the Community Forests improving in condition? And are there improved livelihood benefits? This paper summarises findings of an assessment of 16 randomly selected Forest User Groups across 4 key regions."
Creator/author: Oliver Springate-Baginski, Kyaw Tint, Mehm Ko Ko Gyi
Source/publisher: Ecosystem Conservation and Community Development Initiative (ECCDI)
2011-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.38 MB
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Description: SUMMARY: "This paper is the main output of a research project initiated by Pyoe Pin, and led by ECCDI with support from the University of East Anglia, whose aim has been to fill the gap in knowledge over the progress of Community Forestry in Myanmar through a systematic study. This paper presents the key data and findings, and offers policy recommendations based on these. Of Myanmar‟s 67.6 m ha land area, forests currently cover around 48%, although there has been a declining trend for the last century (they covered over 65% early in the 20th Century). The declining trend is particularly dramatic for dense forests, which have more than halved in the last twenty years, from covering 45.6% of land in 1990, the single largest land use, to now just 19.9%. The long -term decline in forests, is due to a combination of factors; change of land use (especially land hunger from the growing population), commercial timber harvesting (and the indirect effect of increasing accessibility through road construction), and also intensifying pressure on remaining forests for livelihood needs especially fuelwood. Forest reservation was initiated by the British from 1856, creating a national forest estate but taking over control of many villages‟ forests in the process. Community Forestry has been a successful policy around the world for communities to protect and sustainably manage their forests and derive livelihood benefits. It was encompassed in Myanmar‟s colonial era policies to some extent through the creation of Local Supply Working Circles. However, these were under Forest Department management and have not been a success, with most becoming encroached or degraded. Returning control of the management rights and responsibilities for village forests to the villages became seen by policy makers as critically important in the 1990s both to mobilise communities to protect and regenerate adjacent forests, and also to ensure that they fulfil their forest product needs locally. Hence, the Community Forestry Instruction (CFI) was issued in 1995, and initiated the promotion of Community Forestry in Myanmar. Implementation of the Community Forestry Instruction began immediately, and was promoted by international donor projects (e.g. UNDP / JICA / DFID) as well as through Forest Department promotion, and in some cases self-organization by communities. Implementation received a major boost through the Forestry Master Plan (2001) which mandated that 2.27 mil. acres (1.36% of the country) be handed over to FUGs by 2030-31. Annual progress of Community Forest establishment since 1995 had averaged 6,943 acres (2,810 ha), and there are now 572 Forest Users‟ Groups with certificates, managing 104,146 acres of forest, (with more awaiting their certificate). Implementation progress has been highest in Shan, Rakhine, Magway and Mandalay, most of which have been under UNDP project support. However, the rate of CF handover has been far lower than that needed to meet the Master Plan‟s 30-year target (i.e. 2.27 million acres by 2030). For this we would need to hand over 50,000 acres (approx. 20,000 ha) per year, a rate almost ten times higher. (The FD also aims to obtain 4.13 million m3 of wood fuel from community forests, amounting to 25% of the country‟s total wood fuel requirement of 16.53 million m3 by 2030, another target unlikely to be achieved at the current rate). After 15 years of Community Forestry in Myanmar, there are a wide range of experiences which have significant implications for sustainable forest management and community and livelihood development. To understand how community forestry is working we developed a detailed inter-disciplinary research design with a range of stakeholders in late 2010. Having finalised our method we then selected two States and two Regions (Kachin, Mandalay, Shan, Ayeyawady) for study, and objectively selected 16 FUGs within these, using a statistically sound sampling method to reflect the diverse environments where CF is happening. We then conducted field work in 16 Community Forests and associated villages. This started in the second week of October and was completed by the end of December 2010. The community forests were assessed, the local Forest Users‟ Group institution researched, and a total of 272 households interviewed..."
Creator/author: Kyaw Tint, Oliver Springate-Baginski, Mehm Ko Ko Gyi
Source/publisher: Ecosystem Conservation and Community Development Initiative (ECCDI)
2011-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.34 MB
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Description: ABSTRACT: Burma (Myanmar) is currently emerging from almost half a century of severe military dictatorship. In a country comprising over 50% forested landscapes, the status of forest governance and forest rights are central to the democratisation process. Oliver will present findings from a recent study on community forestry in Burma, and seek to clarify some of the issues, opportunities and challenges in the country. A key challenge remains the reconciliation of environmental protection with local food security for the uplands, where their attempted territorialisation under colonial and post colonial forestry administrations continues to threaten the prevalent taungya forest fallows cultivation systems.....THE PROBLEMS: *One of Southeast Asia?s and the World?s poorest countries (UNDP 2007/2010). *poverty headcount: 32% across the ~59 m population *10% below the UNDP?s food poverty line. *Rural poverty is significantly higher than urban poverty (36% / 22%) *In Chin State, (upland North), 73% are poor, and 40% fall below the food poverty line. *moderately underweight children 34% nationally, 60% in Rakhine State *BUT data v. poor... Causes: *Faltering agricultural production & lack of alternate livelihood opp.s from industry *Conflict *State command economy – forced procurement – disastrous *Lack of service provision, market support, credit etc. *Tenure insecurity – state controlled land *Common Property Resource decline *Environmental degradation *Increasing land appropriation for crony agribusinesses & Chinese opportunists... 1. Does Community forestry work? 2. Is Tenure security at the Forest Agriculture Interface as Community forestry part of the solution? Or a further problem?
Creator/author: Oliver Springate-Baginski, UEA
Source/publisher: Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests
2012-02-17
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.59 MB
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