10%

“Land grabbing is a major threat.”

One man’s fight to save Myanmar’s mangrove forests

August 22^nd, 2022

Since quitting his job as a teacher in 2012 U Myo Oo has dedicated his life to mangroves.

He was galvanized into action when a large company tried to buy 162 hectares of mangroves for a prawn farm in the Tanintharyi Region of southern Myanmar. He knew it would be disastrous for his village.

With no formal support he began his one-person campaign, visiting village after village on his own initiative, despite a disability that makes walking painful.

Realizing the risk to his community's livelihood in the face of land grabbing, U Myo Oo poured all of his time and energy towards the protection of Myanmar's mangroves. Photo: Green Network Tanintharyi Region

Subsisting on donations of food and fuel, he went door-to-door, talking to his friends and neighbours about the danger if they acquiesced.

“I knew the communities will not benefit anything from prawn farming,” he says. “Communities were not aware of their rights and the legal framework through which they can get protection for their forest.”

He was right. The company took the land and the communities got nothing in return.

But when the company came back in 2016, wanting even more land, Mr Oo was ready. He and his neighbours had laid the groundwork.

“By that time, communities already trusted me. They learned their lesson and so listened to me,” he says.

By the time the company attempted to purchase additional land a second time, U Myo Oo had gained the community's trust and was able to fight back using legal means. Photo: Green Network Tanintharyi Region

The villagers fought back with a Community Forest certificate, which preserves surrounding mangrove reserves and serves as a bulwark against deforestation.

In 2017, Mr Oo established the Green Network Tanintharyi Region, which has certified community forests in 20 villages.

Mangroves are often the unsung heroes of a healthy environment. They sequester carbon, protect against storms, and stabilize shorelines. They are also important sources of timber.

With about 500,000 hectares of mangroves along its 2,832 kilometres of coastline at the edge of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, Myanmar has the third largest mangroves in Asia after Indonesia and Malaysia.

Because of its great latitudinal range and ecological diversity, Myanmar is also home to 34 of the world’s 75 ‘true’ mangrove species—those found only in mangrove forests—a very high proportion, and in Asia second only to Indonesia.

Mangroves are highly efficient carbon sinks, so much so that they are able to suck up and store ten times more carbon dioxide than other forests. Photo: Green Network Tanintharyi Region

However, mangrove forests in Myanmar are very fragmented and are undergoing pressure both from humans and climate change, resulting in high rates of deforestation and degradation.

The triple crisis of conflict, COVID-19 and climate change is pushing even more people in Myanmar below the poverty line. It is also shifting donor focus to immediate humanitarian assistance which is disrupting climate resilience efforts.

Despite this challenging environment, which has forced many conversation groups to stop work, Mr Oo soldiers on.

In January 2022, his organization resumed its coastal forest protection work, in partnership with the UN-REDD Mangroves Technical Assistance programme.

Supported by the government of Norway, it works with five communities to develop livelihoods that are in harmony with healthy mangroves.

“Although they have been protecting their forests for generations, local communities fear that their lands will be taken if there is no legal protection. Land grabbing is a major threat to mangroves in Tanintharyi region,” he says.

Mr Oo knows that conservation in a vacuum is not enough. People need work that supports their families as well as the natural environment. So villagers will learn how to develop and run environmentally-friendly businesses such as mud-crab farming and beekeeping. UNDP will provide investment support.

Although definite figures are not available, it is evident from existing estimates that Myanmar is experiencing one of the world’s highest rates of mangrove loss.

Forests outside the legally defined ‘Forest Land’ categories are highly vulnerable to clearing, primarily for agriculture. The large area at risk, and the high deforestation rates of mangroves present significant challenges to REDD+ conservation work.

Mangrove forests in Myanmar are very fragmented and undergoing pressures both from anthropogenic and from natural disturbances, resulting in high rates of deforestation and forest degradation. Photo: Green Network Tanintharyi Region

The UN-REDD Mangroves Technical Assistance programme was designed to strengthen grassroots organizations and local communities.

In close collaboration with FAO, UNDP and UNEP, the initiative is working in six districts covering 56 percent of mangroves in Ayeyarwady, Mon, Rakhine and Tanintharyi.

The current political and economic crisis puts additional pressure on mangroves, which many fear are in danger of being lost forever.

But local communities and Indigenous people in Myanmar have protected their forests for generations. Despite the challenges, they endure and continue to protect mangroves which are critical for their livelihoods, and to prevent the worst of climate change.

Mr Oo is living proof that one person can make a difference. The work that he began a decade ago is expected to protect 2,868 hectares of mangroves, and directly or indirectly benefit more than 29,000 people.