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.

Northern Burma’s borderlands have undergone dramatic changes in the last two decades. Three main and
interconnected developments are simultaneously taking place in Shan State and Kachin State: (1) the increase
in opium cultivation in Burma since 2006 after a decade of steady decline; (2) the increase at about the same
time in Chinese agricultural investments in northern Burma under China’s opium substitution programme,
especially in rubber; and (3) the related increase in dispossession of local communities’ land and livelihoods

Paper prepared for presentation at the 2016 WORLD BANK CONFERENCE ON LAND AND POVERTY, The World Bank - Washington DC, March 14-18, 2016

Forestry Water Management, Landscape Approach and Land Management in Kachin State, northern Myanmar.

Over 7,800 acres of farmland in Salingyi Township, Sagaing Division, has been confiscated for a copper mine project with landowners forced out of their villages, according to local sources. A number of concerned residents told The Irrawaddy that grabbed lands belong to people in Salingyi’s Hse Te, Zee Daw, Wet Hmay and Kan Taw villages and authorities ordered residents to leave the area earlier this year. Most of the villagers do not want to relocate but some have already left, they claim.

While foreign governments heap praise on the Burmese government’s liberal tilt, land theft appears to be increasing as state agencies and powerfully placed domestic firms position themselves to welcome foreign investment.

Farmers across the country are being muscled out of their fields with little hope of appeal to the law. This is because despite all the trumpeting in the West about President Thein Sein’s “reforms,” the rule of law in Burma is closer to 12th Century Europe than the 21st Century.

... 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.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Burma today is experiencing a crisis in security of land tenure, which includes the widespread abuse of human, economic, social, cultural, and political rights. This report, Displacement and Dispossession: Forced Migration and Land Rights in Burma focuses on land confiscation by Government forces, responsible for Burma’s most acute Housing, Land and Property (HLP) rights abuses. Among the most vulnerable populations are more than one million internally displaced people in Burma, most from ethnic nationality communities.

... 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.

This website contains mainly news reports about the global rush to buy up or lease farmlands abroad as a strategy to secure basic food supplies or simply for profit. Its purpose is to serve as a resource for those monitoring or researching the issue, particularly social activists, non-government organisations and journalists.

Several articles on land grabbing in Burma/Myanmar

Table of Contents:-
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND MAJOR FINDINGS …
2. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ...
3. NATIONAL FOREST STRATEGY, POLICIES AND REGULATIONS:
3.1 The Myanmar Selection System and Annual Allowable Cut;
3.2 Forest Law and Policy ;
3.3 Forest Land Categories;
3.4 Community Forestry;
3.5 Impact of Forest Law Enforcement on Local People...
4. DEMAND: DOMESTIC DEMAND AND WOOD EXPORTS:
4.1 Domestic Demand ;
4.2 Exports ...
5. TIMBER SUPPLY: DOMESTIC PRODUCTION AND WOOD IMPORTS:
5.1 Domestic Wood Production;