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Political transition and emergent forest-conservation issues in Myanmar.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Sutherland, William J 
Aguirre, Daniel 
Baird, Matthew 
Bowman, Vicky 

Abstract

Political and economic transitions have had substantial impacts on forest conservation. Where transitions are underway or anticipated, historical precedent and methods for systematically assessing future trends should be used to anticipate likely threats to forest conservation and design appropriate and prescient policy measures to counteract them. Myanmar is transitioning from an authoritarian, centralized state with a highly regulated economy to a more decentralized and economically liberal democracy and is working to end a long-running civil war. With these transitions in mind, we used a horizon-scanning approach to assess the 40 emerging issues most affecting Myanmar's forests, including internal conflict, land-tenure insecurity, large-scale agricultural development, demise of state timber enterprises, shortfalls in government revenue and capacity, and opening of new deforestation frontiers with new roads, mines, and hydroelectric dams. Averting these threats will require, for example, overhauling governance models, building capacity, improving infrastructure- and energy-project planning, and reforming land-tenure and environmental-protection laws. Although challenges to conservation in Myanmar are daunting, the political transition offers an opportunity for conservationists and researchers to help shape a future that enhances Myanmar's social, economic, and environmental potential while learning and applying lessons from other countries. Our approach and results are relevant to other countries undergoing similar transitions.

Description

Keywords

agricultura, agriculture, civil war, escaneo del horizonte, establecimiento de prioridades, forestry, gobernanza, governance, guerra civil, horizon scan, infraestructura, infrastructure, land tenure, priority setting, silvicultura, tenencia, Biodiversity, Conservation of Natural Resources, Forestry, Forests, Myanmar, Politics

Journal Title

Conserv Biol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0888-8892
1523-1739

Volume Title

31

Publisher

Wiley