Myanmar's government will apply a new plan for reforestation and rehabilitation of its forest across the country. The project is set to come into effect on a 10-year period.
Approximately 32,400-40,500 hectares will be covered each year, including establishing forest, nurseries and replanting of trees in forest reserve areas, as the Malaysian Forest Department reported.
According to Brinkwire, the 10-year project, which will also include training courses for forest staff and local residents, will be revised after five years of implementation. Myanmar is one of the most resource-rich countries in Southeast Asia. However, statistics show that forest coverage in Myanmar dropped to 42.92 percent over the years from over 57 percent in 1990.
Especially the Northwestern Sagaing region is the most affected by the illegal forest exploitation which is also found in Kachin and Shan states and Bago region. Thus, Malaysia has restricted wood log export, and encouraged more export of value-added wood products since 2014.
In addition to suspension of logging at the Bago Yoma mountain range for 10 years, one of the largest forests in Myanmar, the government announced in April 2016 to continue to halt logging across the country’s forest in the fiscal year 2016-17, Brinkwire reported.
In addition, the announcement added that it allows resumption of limited timber production in the present fiscal year 2017-18.
