Forest resources exploitation and management towards sustainable forest management the case of pale township, sagaing region, myanmar

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY  EI MOM KHIN FOREST RESOURCES EXPLOITATION AND MANAGEMENT TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF PALE TOWNSHIP, SAGAING REGION, MYANMAR MASTER THESIS IN FOREST SCIENCE Hanoi, 2018 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY  EI MOM KHIN FOREST RESOURCES EXPLOITATION AND MANAGEMENT TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF PALE TOWNSHIP, SAGAING REGION, MYANMAR Major: Forest Science Code: 8620201 MASTER THESIS IN FOREST SCIENCE Academic advisor: Assoc Prof Dr Tran Thi Thu Ha Hanoi, 2018 Abstract The management of forest resources in Myanmar falls mostly in the hands of the government although communities surrounding these resources are recognized stakeholders This study focused on assessing the forest resources exploitation and management within Pale Township, Sagaing Region, Myanmar Focus group discussions, key informant interviews and face to face household interviews with structured questionnaires were the primary data collection methods 211 households were selected randomly from eight villages at which four villages are located inside reserved forests and four villages are located outside reserved forests because their livelihoods activities are dependent on the forest resources SPSS (Statistical Packages for Social Science) Software was used to analyze the quantitative data while content analysis and SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) were used to analyze the qualitative data Results indicate that 78.2% of the respondents rely on the forest resources such as fuel wood, bamboo and other nontimber forest products for both subsistence needs and sale But only 15.6% from total respondents depends on forest resources as their main income source Chisquare analysis shows that household characteristics such as education level, household size and main income sources are influencing the forest resources extraction According to independent sample (T-test), households inside the reserved forests received more forest income than the households outside reserved forest One-way ANOVA results show that age, education and size of the household did not significantly influence the forest income Results of focus group discussions, key informant and household interviews revealed that a significantly large proportion of the respondents perceived the forest cover in these areas as declining Fuel-wood consumption was the main reason for deforestation and forest degradation Only 28% of the respondents reported that forest areas were increasing because of plantation establishment Chi-square test results show that location of villages, gender and knowledge about sustainable forest management are the factors influencing the participation of local people in forest management i Based on these findings, mitigation measures such as access to higher education, alternative income generation opportunities, reduction of household size, fuel-wood substitutes, awareness raising program for participation, sustainable policies for NTFPs and community forestry that empowers local communities in forest management were suggested to be enable the realization of the goal of sustainable forest management ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i List of Table vi List of Figures vii Abbreviations viii INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 General Introduction 1.2 Background of the Study .2 1.3 Myanmar Forest Types and Situation 1.4 Rationale 1.5 Goal and Objectives .8 1.6 Research Questions LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Sustainable Development 2.3 Sustainable Forest Management 10 2.4 Instruments for SFM Implementation 12 2.5 ITTO Global Set of Criteria and Indicator Groups for SFM .13 2.6 Forest Resources Exploitation and Livelihood of Local People 14 2.7 Participation of Local Communities in Forest Resources Management .17 METHODOLOGY 20 3.1 Description of Study Area 20 3.2 Research Design and Approaches .22 3.3 Data Collection 24 3.3.1 Primary Data Collection .24 3.3.2 Secondary Data Collection 27 3.4 Data Processing and Data Analysis .28 iii 3.4.1 Quantitative Data Analysis 28 3.4.2 Qualitative Data Analysis .29 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 30 4.1 Overview of Myanmar Forest Policy and Regulatory Framework .30 4.1.1 Myanmar Forest Policy .30 4.1.2 Forest Law (1992) 31 4.1.3 Forest Rules (1995) .32 4.1.4 Forestry Master Plan .32 4.1.5 Forest Land Tenure Reform 33 4.1.6 Community Forestry Program 33 4.2 Local Forest Management 33 4.3 Forest Cover Changes of Pale Township during 20 years (1998-2018) .36 4.4 Demographic and Socio-economic Characteristics of Respondents 39 4.4.1 Demographic Characteristics of Respondents 39 4.4.2 Main Income Sources and Monthly Income of Households 41 4.4.3 Expenditure of Households 43 4.5 Forest Resources Exploitation .45 4.5.1 Primary Categories of Forest Products Collected 45 4.5.2 Fuel-wood Usage 46 4.5.3 Timber Extraction 47 4.5.4 Bamboo Exploitation 49 4.5.5 Other Non-Timber Forest Products Usage 50 4.6 Relationship between Forest Resources Exploitation and Households Characteristics .51 4.7 Income from Forest Resources Exploitation .53 4.8 Perceptions of Local People on Forest Management 57 iv 4.9 Factors Influencing the Participation of Local People in Forest Management 60 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 65 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .69 REFERENCES 70 APPENDIX I: Household Structured Questionnaire Form 79 APPENDIX II: Semi-structured Checking List for Key Informants Interview 91 APPENDIX III: Field Photos………………………………………………………94 v List of Table Table 1.1: Top Ten Countries for the Greatest Annual Net Loss of Forest Area, 2010-2015 Table 1.2: Forest Cover Change in Myanmar .6 Table 3.1: Reserved Forests and Protected Public Forest in Pale Township 22 Table 3.2: Table Numbers of Households and Sampling Intensity in each Village 25 Table 4.1: SWOT Analysis of Forest Management 35 Table 4.2: Land Use and Land Cover Types in 1998, 2008 and 2018 .36 Table 4.3: Demographic Characteristics of Respondents 40 Table 4.4: Occupation of Respondents inside and outside RFs 41 Table 4.5: Main Income Source of Households inside and outside RFs 42 Table 4.6: Main Income Sources and Monthly Income 43 Table 4.7: Monthly Expenditure of Households .44 Table 4.8: Monthly Expenditure of Household for Each Item 44 Table 4.9: Forest Resources Exploitation of Local People .46 Table 4.10: Other Non-Timber Forest Products Usage in Study Villages .50 Table 4.11: Forest Resources Exploitation and Households Characteristics Relationship .52 Table 4.12: Total Monthly Income from Forest Products 54 Table 4.13: Summary of Forest Income across Location of Households and Gender 55 Table 4.14: Test Summary of Forest Income by Different Villages 55 Table 15: Test Summary of Forest Income by Age, Education and Household Size 57 Table 4.16: Factors Influencing the Participation of Local People in Forest Management 62 vi List of Figures Figure 1: Annual change in forest area (2010-2015) (FAO 2016) Figure 2: Forested area in 2015 and forest changes over 1990-2015 in Asia (FAO 2016) Figure 3: Major Forest Types in Myanmar (Forest Department,2016) Figure 4: Forest Cover Change in Myanmar, 1990-2015 (FAO 2015) Figure 1: Location of Study Area 21 Figure 2: Location of Villages; inside and outside Reserved Forests 25 Figure 1: Land Cover Classification of Pale Township in 1998 (FD 2018) 37 Figure 2: Land Cover Classification of Pale Township in 2008(FD 2018) 38 Figure 3: Land Cover Classification of Pale Township in 2018(FD 2018) 38 Figure 4: Main Income Sources of Study Villages (Source: Field Survey, 2018)42 Figure 5: Forest Resources Exploitation of Local People (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 46 Figure 6: Energy Source for Cooking (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 47 Figure 7: Source of Fuel-wood (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 47 Figure 8: Purpose of Timber Extraction (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 48 Figure 9: Timber Extractor by Gender (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 48 Figure 10: Purpose of Bamboo Exploitation (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 49 Figure 11: Bamboo Exploitation by Gender (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 49 Figure 12: Forest Products Collection (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 53 Figure 13: Major Income Source of Households (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 53 Figure 14: Forest Income by Different Study Villages (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 56 Figure 15: Knowledge about Forest Area Changes (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 58 Figure 16: Knowledge about Forest Regulations (Source: Field Survey, 2018) 58 Figure 17: Opinion about the Management Actions of Forest Department 59 Figure 18: Satisfaction of Local People on Management Actions .59 vii Abbreviations CBD: Convention on Biological Diversity C&I: Criteria and Indicators CF: Community Forestry CFI: Community Forestry Instruction CFUG: Community Forestry User Group FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization FD: Forest Department FLEGT: Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade FMU: ITTO: MCPFE: MSS: NGO: Forest Management Unit International Tropical Timber Organization Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forest in Europe Myanmar Selection System Non-governmental Organization NTFPs: Non-timber Forest Products PAS: Protected Area Systems PFE: Permanent Forest Estate PPF: Protected Public Forest RF: Reserved Forest REDD: Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation SFM: Sustainable Forest Management SPSS: Statistical Packages for Social Science SWOT: Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats UNCED: United Nations Conference on Environment and Development UNDP: United Nations Development Program UNFF: United Nations Forum on Forests viii 2.4 Which forest products you collect from forest? Forest Who Quantit Purpose of Earnings Travel Frequ products collect y collection (Kyats) ency* (1.male, Consu 2.female) mption time (hr)* Sale Timber Pole, post Fuel wood Charcoal Bamboo Orchid Fodder Medicinal plants Fruit/nuts Mushroom Honey Edible plants Edible animals Others(specify) Code for Travel time: less than 1hr _ 1, 1to2hrs _2, 2to4hrs_3, 4to8hrs_4, more than hrs_5, Other (Specify)_6 Code for frequency: Every day_1, Once a week_2, Twice a week_3, Once a month_4, Twice a month_5, Other (Specify)_99 2.5 Do you know the estimated area of the natural forest that you depends? Yes acre No 2.6 During the past years, have you noticed any change in forest products collection? Increase,because _ No change Decrease,because _ Don't know 84 2.7 During the past years, have you noticed a change in the amount of income generated from forest products? Increase, because No change Decrease, because _ Don't know 2.8 Do you face any limitations for collecting timber and NTFPs? Yes No 2.8.1 If yes, what are the limitations? _ _ _ 2.9 Have you ever seen that other villager's collection of forest products? Yes No 2.9.1 If yes, please describe _ _ _ 2.10 Does your household practice community forestry or agroforestry? Yes No 2.10.1 If yes, how much of area (acre) and which species you plant? _ _ _ 85 2.11 Is there any indigenous practice which has been used in managing and protecting the forest? Yes No 2.11.1 If yes, please explain _ _ _ 2.12 Have you ever involved in forestry operations? Yes No 2.12.1 If yes, which operations and how? _ _ _ Section (3): Perceptions of Local People on Forest Management 3.1 What you consider to be the socioeconomic and environmental values of forest? (Please Rank the most important) Plays an important role in rainfall formation and temperature moderation Controls soil erosion and landslides A source of fresh drinking water A catchment area for large water bodies and irrigation system A source of timber, fuel wood and fodder A natural habitat for wildlife A source of wild fruits and medicinal herbs A sink for Carbon dioxide A source for research, recreation and aesthetic pleasure 10 Other (please specify) _ 86 3.2 How you think about that forest areas around your village decrease or increase in comparison with those in the past years? Seriously decreased Decreased Same Increased Extremely increased 3.3 What are the reasons for decreasing of forest areas? (Please rank) Illegal logging Legal logging Fuel-wood collection Charcoal Production Forest clearance for shifting cultivation Forest clearance for human settlement Forest clearance for plantation establishment Forest fires Infrastructure development (road construction, urbanization, etc) 10 Other (Specify) _ 3.4 Do you also know the impacts of deforestation? Yes No 3.4.1 If yes, what are the impacts? (Pleas rank) Loss of forest products Changes in rainfall Changes in temperature Longer dry period/Drought Soil erosion and landslide Flood Other (Specify) 87 3.5 What are the reasons for increasing of forest areas? Plantation Establishment Better forest protection and management by forest department Traditional forest management practices Decreasing in illegal logging Decreasing in legal logging Strict regulation of Forest Laws and Rules Other (Specify) _ 3.6 Do you know any forest regulations? (eg access to land, forest products and NTFPs extraction)? Yes No 3.6.1 If yes, please describe _ _ _ 3.7 Are you satisfied with the forest management actions of Forest Department? Yes No No idea 3.7.1 Why? _ _ _ 3.8 How will you describe the forest management activities of the Forest Department in this area? Very effective Effective 88 Moderately effective Not effective at all Don't know 3.9 Do you want to participate with the government, NGOs or private companies in the management of forest resources? Yes No 3.9.1 Why and How? _ _ _ 3.10 Is there any collaboration or conflict between local community and Forest Department? Yes No 3.10.1 How? _ _ _ 3.11 Have you heard about "Sustainable Forest Management"? Yes No 3.11.1 If yes, how you understand the meaning of Sustainable Forest Management? Continue use of forest resources Protecting forest resources Reforestation Agro-forestry/Community forestry Other (Specify) 89 3.12 Is there any plan for conservation of forests around your village? Yes No 3.12.1 If yes, please describe _ _ _ 3.13 What are your suggestions for the better management of forest? _ _ _ 3.14 What are the opportunities and challenges for Sustainable Forest Management in your area? _ _ _ Thanks for taking part in this survey! 90 APPENDIX II: Semi-structured Checking List for Key Informants Interview Semi-structured Checking list for Staff Officer, Range Officers, Ranger, and Forest Guards Do you know the word "Sustainable Forest Management"? How you understand it? Are the existing forest policy, laws and the enforcement mechanism of the Forest Department helpful in sustainable forest management? How? What are your perceptions about sustainable forest management? What are the strengths of today management actions of Forest Department towards SFM? What are the weaknesses of today management actions of Forest Department towards SFM? What are the opportunities for SFM? What are the threats for SFM? Do you think community participation in the management can bring SFM? How? How you integrate local communities into forest operations and management activities? 10 How you think about that whether community forestry programs are successful or not? Why? 11 How encourage the local people to participate the forest management? 12 What administrative constraints you face in the management of forests? 13 Is there any encroachment or conflict posed by the local forest communities? 14 If so, what could be the reasons for encroachment or conflicts? 15 How you solve these constraints, conflicts & encroachment etc.? 16 What kinds of forest resources (including NTFPs) are exploiting in your administrative area by official government organization? 17 What kinds of forest resources (including NTFPs) are exploiting in your administrative area by local community? 18 Are you in charge of monitoring illegal logging? If you are, have you ever came across an illegal logger? 19 How the government to stop illegal logging? 20 How you think about that forest covers are increasing or decreasing in your township/ beat area? Why? 21 If forest covers are decreasing, what is your opinion to increase forest areas? 22 What else you want to say more? 91 Semi-structured Checking list for Community Forestry User Group What you know about the CF? Why we need CF? Do you know the name of your FUG? Can you explain how your CF has been formed? How many members are in your user‟s group? …… How many women? How the user group has been formed and why? How far is your forest from your village? Do you know boundaries and total area of your CF? Is there any other CF nearby your village? 10 Do you know what CF management plan is? 11 Do you have management plan in your group? If yes, who and how did it? 12 Why you need management plan? What does it really do? 13 Have you ever read management plan? 14 Do you think management plan really been implemented and every users are following the rules that written in the management plan? 15 Who usually involve in forest product collection from forest? 16 How are you being involved in protection of the forest? 17 Do you agree with existing protection system? If not, have you ever try to improve? 18 What types of forest products you need for your daily need? 19 Are you regularly getting your needs from your CF? Is that sufficient? 20 If not how are you managing your need? 21 How you collects different types of products? 22 Is there any systematic ways of collecting products? …… If yes what are they? 23 Do you know about thinning, pruning, selective cutting etc.? 24 If yes, what types of operation have already been done and why? 25 Have you ever been trained on the techniques of such operation? 26 Are there regular meeting in your CFUG? 27 If not what might be the reason? 28 What types of discussion, debate and decision usually make in meeting? 29 Have you regularly go to the meeting? 30 How much users usually participate in meetings? 92 31 How decisions are made usually? Have you ever participate? 32 What about women? Do they have different interest? If yes, how are they considered? 33 From where usually CFUG get income? 34 Are there any income generating activities going on? If yes what are they? 35 Are all users benefiting? If not, can you explain the reasons? 36 Do you think you have some responsibilities towards the better management of your CF? 37 Are there any conflicts in your CFUG? If yes, with whom and why? 38 Have any conflict been resolved so far? If yes how? 39 What changes you think happened after formation of your CFUG comparing before? 40 Do you think forest condition is improving? Can you give some example? 41 What types of effect might have being in surrounding government managed forest? 42 Have you realized any problems regarding illicit cutting, grazing, encroachment and boundary dispute? 43 What may be the threats for sustainability? Government? User themselves? Because of bad management? Because of more demand than the productivity? Or any reasons other? 44 What else you want to say more? Thank you for taking part in this survey! 93 APPENDIX III: Field Photos (24 to 31, July, 2018) Household Interview, Aye Chan Thar Village, 25 July 2018 Focus Group Discussion, Kyet Yin Village, 27 July 2018 94 Key Informant Interview, Kyet Yin Village, 27 July 2018 Fuel wood Usage, Aung Nyein Chan Village, 27 July 2018 95 Bamboo Exploitation, In Taw Pyant Village, 27 July 2018 Bamboo Exploitation, Kyee Pin Village, 26 July 2018 96 Illegal Timber Confiscation by FD, Beat Station, 24 July 2018 Bamboo and Poles Exploitation, 58 Mile Village, 28 July 2018 97 Field Observation, Khin Aye Village, 30 July 2018 Researcher, Range Officer and Interviewers for Surveys, 25 July 2018 98