Expand greening area with the establishment of village-owned firewood plantations

July 16

ALTHOUGH Myanmar was covered with more than 50 per cent of forests in the past, today’s country is striving for the prevention of deforestation and greening of barren areas.

 

Myanmar people, most of those from the rural area, have been using a large volume of firewood and charcoal as fuel in cooking, making charcoal and baking pieces of limestone since the time of their forefathers. The statistics of the Forest Department proves the people use 76.41 per cent of the total energy consumption of the country. Hence, the Forest Department adopted a 10-year plan to grow the rural firewood plantations starting from 2017-18 financial year.

 

The plan will last for 10 years from 2017-18 financial year to 2026-27 one with the target of growing 104,563 acres of firewood plantations across the nation. Up to June in the 2020-21 financial year, a total of 21,436 acres of land has been placed under firewood plantations.

 

Thanks to the 10-year plan, local people from all parts of the country can avoid cutting trees from forests to be used as firewood for their families. They have the opportunity to set up village-owned firewood plantations as part of efforts to prevent forest depletion.

 

As such, relevant region and state administration councils are responsible for supervising the local people to grow the village-owned firewood plantations as a national duty.

 

Currently, the supply of electricity is not sufficient for most rural people. Hence, firewood and charcoal are still useful for people in their daily life.

 

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation adopted the six-point policies: to protect land, water, wildlife and natural plants, to ensure the sustainability of forest resources, to fulfil the basic needs of the people, to improve the capability to secure business profits from forest resources, to organize the people to cooperate in forest management and conservation of biodiversity, and to broaden the scope of the people on the important role of forest resources in the socio-economic development of the State.

 

While reducing the use of trees from forests as firewood, the establishment of village-owned firewood plantations will contribute a great deal to reforestation as greening the motherland. Gradual expansion of forests’ greening area will narrow the barren ones of the nation to improve the socio-economic development of the entire people.