- Burma: Upstream deforestation and shrimp farming are destroying the mangroves

The WRM have been denouncing the extensive destruction of forests in Burma through deforestation processes --among which commercial logging plays a major role-- resulting in serious impacts on the environment and on the livelihoods of local people.

One of those impacts is the sedimentation of rivers. Deforestation occurring in highland forests throughout central Burma triggers off several environmental alterations such as landslides and soil erosion. Once the soil is deprived of the several protective, cohesive and integral functions provided by the forest, it is prone to run off and deposit in the bed of the rivers, causing sedimentation and consequent impacts downstream. One of them is the impact on mangroves.

The Irrawaddy River (see WRM Bulletin Nº 54) has a sedimentation rate which is the fifth highest in the world behind the Yellow, Ganges, Amazon, and Mississippi rivers. The silt deposition in the Irrawaddy River has consequences on the mangroves of the Irrawaddy Delta which are one of Burma's coastal mangroves --some of the most degraded or destroyed mangrove systems in the Indo-Pacific. Previous estimates announced that if the situation between 1977 and 1986 regarding sedimentation was maintained, all the mangrove forests would disappear in fifty years.

Additionally, mangroves are being increasingly converted into fish and prawn industrial farms, mainly oriented for export. In 1990, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in office proceeded to declare Burma "open to free enterprise." For the US Commercial Service, Burma provides "good opportunities" for shrimp farming. Shwe Ayeyar Co., Ltd. and Regal Integrated Marine Resources Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding on a shrimp farming project at Kan Maw Island, in the Tanintharyi Division on May 2, 2001. It is reportedly the largest foreign investment project in the livestock-breeding sector. The development of industrial shrimp farming has been gaining momentum in Burma since 1998 and spread rapidly along the coastal zone. Government data of Fiscal Year 1999/2000 claimed over 130,000 acres of fishponds, a dramatic increase from a decade earlier.

To make matters worse, the industrialising process of shrimp production in Burma has also been allegedly connected to forced labour within an economy tightly controlled by the military. According to the Mon Information Service, the present ruling military regime has maintained a government prawn-raising project at Kyauk Minaw and Kanyawbyin villages in Lauglon township solely by means of forced labour and extortion from the local population and prawn businessmen. Local prawn businessmen have been required to contribute young prawns, according to the quotas set by the government, while several local villages have had to contribute labour for the construction of all necessary buildings and ponds.

At the other end of the chain, well-fed consumers are being served prawns imported from Burma --or offered to buy furniture made from teak unsustainably logged in Burmese forests-- unaware that they are contributing to the widespread social and environmental destruction of the country's resources and of its peoples' livelihoods. The beauties of globalisation!

Article based on information from: "Myanmar Coast mangroves", WWF, http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/im/im1404_full.html ; The U.S. Commercial Service, http://www.usatrade.gov/website/CCG.nsf/CCGurl/CCG-BURMA2002-CH-2:-0045F7E4 ; "Boycott imports from Burma", CFOB, http://www.cfob.org/CanadianPolicy/imports.shtml

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- Cambodia: Forest policy against rural communities

Of the more than 10 million Cambodians currently living in rural areas, over 8.5 million depend on natural resources to support their livelihoods. Although most rely on rice farming, they have just one crop of rice per year which they complement with a range of forest products that also play a critical role in supporting livelihoods.

As common property resources (publicly held resources to which access is open to all), forests provide households a means for diversifying their subsistence and income-generating activities, optimising their labour resources during different seasons, and "insuring" against the risks of agricultural failures. Moreover, people with no land, little money for capital investments, and few alternative livelihood opportunities can still often collect forest products for subsistence. In this manner, Cambodia's natural resources not only provide a foundation for food security, income, and employment for most of the population, but also an essential "safety net" for the rural poor.

However, over the past decade, rural livelihoods have faced increasing challenges due to a rapid decline in resources. Illegal and unsustainable logging by commercial enterprises, military, local authorities, and a growing rural population have resulted in high rates of forest loss and degradation. Forest cover data suggest that deforestation rates increased sharply between 1993 and 1997 (the last year in which data are available). Although government estimates from 1997 indicate 10.6 million ha of forest cover remaining in Cambodia, these estimates are based on interpretations of satellite images, without the "below-the-canopy" inventories of forest resources that could reveal much about the quality/degradation of remaining forests.

Case studies note that diminishing forest resources in close proximity to villages is forcing villagers to meet needs from areas farther away. The causes of the decline in available resources are reportedly illegal/unsustainable logging practices and restrictions on access to forest concession areas. As scarcity increases the costs of obtaining forest resources (in terms of time, labour, money, and risk), rural households must bear these costs because, for many forest products, there are no readily available substitutes.

Furthermore, greater restrictions have been imposed on the rural population's access to resources. From 1975 until 1989 there was no private ownership of property. In 1989 the government first permitted citizens to privately own buildings and the land that they occupied. However, ownership of non-residential land was still not permitted. The 1992 State of Cambodia Land Law extended private property rights to include rights of temporary possession, usufruct, use and easements. That enabled the government to lease out large tracts of Cambodia's most productive resources to private interests. Of Cambodia's 18.1 million hectares (ha) of territory, about 5.5 million ha are presently under concession management --including 4.24 million ha for forestry-- leading to an increase in the landless population and conflicts between commercial loggers on the one hand and subcontractors and local forest users on the other hand. Conflicts typically occur as a result of denied access to forest resources, the loss of forest resources due to logging damage, and/or the climate of intimidation associated with concession security operations.

The "public consultation" process --with deadline on November 30-- set up by the government allegedly to examine the "sustainable forest management plans" presented by 13 of the 14 concessionaires active in Cambodia and to allow discussions between different "partners", is under challenge. Some NGOs are denouncing the "mockery" of transparency they suspect is largely destined to legitimise commercial exploitation which will violate the rights of affected communities in a process that implies a forest reform which the World Bank supports --not surprisingly-- with a 5 million dollar loan.

Article based on information from: "Forest Policy: The 'public consultation' on concession management plans ends in a climate of defiance", Cambodge Soir, Nº 1653, November 29, 2002; "Natural Resources and Rural Livelihoods in Cambodia: A Baseline Assessment", Bruce McKenney and Prom Tola, RECOFTC E-letter No. 2002.20, November 21, 2002, e-mail: info@recoftc.org , http://www.cdri.org.kh/ ; "Closing address of Samdech Hun Sen, Primer Minister of the Royal government of Cambodia, At the Government-Donor monitoring Meeting, 29 January 2001, http://www.camnet.com.kh/ocm/government64.htm

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- Indonesia: The destruction of mangrove ecosystems

Mangroves are a primary coastal biologically diverse ecosystem in tropical and subtropical regions which has traditionally supported local livelihood providing food --since the mangrove area is spawning and nursery area for many marine species-- firewood, charcoal, and timber, among other products.

Mangroves also perform a flood reduction function, help to prevent erosion of the riverbanks, and serve to dampen storm surges and to a minor extent high winds, both of which are associated with many tropical and subtropical storms. While the mangrove coastal barrier may be battered and damaged in severe storms, unlike any human-made coastal protection barrier, it will grow back naturally, without cost. However, mangrove ecosystems are being purposedly destroyed for unsustainable industrial activities.

Indonesian wetlands, including mangrove forests, swamps, and peatlands, have significantly declined in total area from 42.5 million hectares in 1987 to 33.8 million hectares this year. The destruction of wetlands has caused a number of disasters in the country including annual flooding, drought, and loss of biodiversity.

Significant areas of mangrove swamps in Indonesia and other regions of Southeast Asia have been "developed" to create ponds for the commercial production of fish and shrimps. It is estimated that mangrove forest area has declined from 3.2 million hectares in 1986 to 2.4 million in 1996, due to their conversion into fish and shrimp ponds.

Results of a research reported by the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Science in the delta of the Mahakam River, East Kalimantan, show that during the period of 1982 to 1996 about 17,429 hectares of mangrove forest in the region disappeared and changed to other land uses, mainly shrimp ponds for industrial production.

Hajrul Junaid of the Indonesian NGO Network for Forest Conservation (SKEPHI) agreed that the country's wetlands were severely damaged, and that it needed an integrated policy from the central government. "The government must move quickly, however, because there are obvious threats to the wetlands," he said.

Article based on information from: "The Late Friday News, 107th Edition", Mangrove Action Project, e-mail: mangroveap@olympus.net , http://www.earthisland.org/map/index.htm ; "The world of mangroves", http://www.mangroveweb.net/html/mangrov.htm ; "Monitoring Mangrove Forests using Remote Sensing and GIS, Yousif Ali Hussin Mahfud M. Zuhair Michael Weir, http://www.gisdevelopment.net/aars/acrs/1999/ps5/ps5126pf.htm

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- Malaysia: The environmental impacts of draining peat swamps

Southeast Asian countries --particularly Indonesia and Malaysia--, have over 20 million hectares or 60 percent of the world's tropical peatlands. Peat swamps occur inland just beyond coastal mangroves and often spread over some 3km to 5km on the floodplain of rivers. They are characterised by an 8m to 20m thick layer of peat, which is mainly semi-decayed plant material accumulated over some 8,000 years. As long as the peaty soil is saturated with water, the swamp ecosystem is in balance. Peat swamps are like sponges that absorb and soak up excessive rain and river water, thus controlling floods during the rainy season and releasing much needed water supplies during the dry season.

Draining peat swamps for oil palm, rubber, logging, aquaculture, industrial and residential development, or to mine tin and peat, spells trouble. Canals dug into the peat bleeds the swamp of its water content. When the water level recedes, the upper layer of plant material dries up, thus becoming combustible fuel especially during the dry season.

Lowering water tables and opening up the forest canopy promotes the risk of fire in peat soils. In October 1995, 16 hectares of the Bukit Tunggal Forest Reserve, adjacent to the North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest in Batang Berjuntai, went up in smoke. In early 1989, a fire at Batang Berjuntai raged for three months. In 1997, Wetlands International noted four blazes in Malaysia in Southeast Pahang Peat Swamp Forest, Raja Musa and Sungai Karang Forest Reserves, which make up the North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest in Sabak Bernam, Selangor, and parts of the Kuala Langat North Peat Swamp, also in Selangor. The most publisized peat fire was the Kampung Penadah in Pekan, Pahang, where 160 hectares of forest were razed. It took two weeks for fire fighters to douse the flames. Peat fires produce many times more smoke per hectare than other forest fires, and they are almost impossible to extinguish without restoring the water levels in the swamps.

Drained peat swamps will lose their ecological functions of soaking and storing water to mitigate floods and as a water catchment; buffering coastal lands from the intrusion of salty marine water; filtering pollutants which will otherwise degrade lakes, rivers and groundwater; providing timber and non-timber products; and providing critical wildlife habitat, particularly for the endangered Sumatran rhinoceros. Once dried, the peat will oxidise and break down, causing the soil to collapse. Peat swamp also functions as a carbon store. The semi-decayed vegetation locks up large amounts of carbon, preventing it from escaping into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, the main contributor to global warming. If peat swamps in Malaysia continue to be drained, the peat fires here coupled with the Indonesian peat fires, would worsen the haze situation. Prolonged peat fires release massive amounts of carbon dioxide, contributing to global warming and long-term climate disruption.

Nearly all state-owned peat forests are earmarked for farms, plantations, residential estates or industrial sites, all of which require the peat forest to be drained. Of the 800,000ha of peat swamp in the peninsula, only 340,000ha remain today. Of this only about 200,000ha are protected as forest and game reserves. The largest remaining peat swamps are found in Pahang and Selangor.

In Perak, the Melintang and Teluk Intan Swamp Forests have been almost totally converted to oil palm plantations.

Article extracted from Sahabat Alam Malaysia's web page: "Peat Swamps." http://surforever.com/sam/a2z/content4.html