The Union of Myanmar, while formulating and adopting an appropriate market-oriented economic system, has identified the following four economic objectives for the national development:
· development of agriculture as the base and all-round development of other sectors of the economy as well,
proper evolution of the market-oriented economic system,
· development of the economy inviting participation in terms of technical know-how and investments from sources inside the country and abroad, and
· the initiative to shape the national economy must be kept in the hands of the State and the national peoples.
Forestry sector in Myanmar, in line with the above four economic objectives, has been constituting itself as an economically viable sector, placing emphasis on market-oriented reforms in policy and legislative framework, sustainable forest management and timber business.
In the forestry sector of the national plan emphasis has been placed on sustained production of forest products for the long run and conservation of environmental conditions and increased production of value added wood products. For the realization of these objectives, measure such as extension of reserved forest area, preservation, and conservation of nature and wildlife sanctuaries, establishment of teak and other hardwood plantations, greening of the dry zone, plantation of trees for industrial raw material, village wood lots plantation and watershed plantation are carried out extensively. A special project for Greening of Nine Arid Area in Central Myanmar commenced in 1994-95 and is gaining momentum with new greening projects. With a view of stepping up manufacturing of forest products and to promote internal and external distribution the Union of Myanmar Forest Products Joint Venture Corporation Limited had been jointly established by Myanmar Timber Enterprise, Forest Department and private entrepreneurs.
In view of the necessity to conserve the forest resource to achieve the national goal of sustainable forest management and development, and for optimization of socio-economic benefits and environmental stability, the new Forest Policy has been adopted under the basic tenets of:
· Sustainable production
· Satisfying the basic needs
· Institutional strengthening
· Efficiency through Work Audit
· Protection of Forest and Biodiversity, and
· Participatory Forestry
With the policy and legislative mechanisms already in place, the issues and conflicts affecting the forestry sector are identified on policy imperatives. They are historically structured on need driven basis to address sustainable forest management without impairing the production capacity, while meeting the social and community needs and conserving the biological diversity and environmental stability.
The issues identified are grouped according to the current scenario as:
· Protection of Forest Resource Base,
· Reservation of production and protected Areas,
· Forest Management, Participatory Forestry, and Extension Activities,
· Sustainable Utilization of Resource,
· Harvesting and Utilization, and
· Country Capacity Building.
The National Forestry Action Plan (NFAP) is now being formulated and forestry sector development will be well equipped with all the necessary instruments once the NFAP has been finalized and the vacuum filled for the realization of forestry sector development goals when the process starts functioning.
