"This story was produced with support from the Rainforest Journalism Fund, an initiative of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. In late 2018, ethnic Rawang in Kachin State’s northern Hkakabo Razi region turned against the Forest Department and its international partner, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and drove them out following a series of protests and the torching of a Forest Department guard post. “The communities don’t let anyone in; their minds are so wounded,” said Ko Phong Phong, a Rawang youth from Khar Lam village, in the foothills of Hponkan Razi, a mountain in Putao Township. The expulsion of the two groups marked the culmination of rising tensions over a plan to nominate 11,280 square kilometres known as the Hkakabo Razi Landscape – named after its dominant feature, Hkakabo Razi, Southeast Asia’s tallest peak – as a UNESCO World Heritage Site based on the area’s natural significance. Support independent journalism in Myanmar. Sign up to be a Frontier member. The “landscape” includes the 3,810 sq km Hkakabo Razi National Park in Nawngmun Township, designated a conservation area in 1998, the 2,700 sq km Hponkan Razi Wildlife Sanctuary in Putao and Machanbaw Townships, designated in 2003, and a proposed 4,778 sq km “southern extension” to Hkakabo Razi National Park that encompasses parts of Putao, Nawngmun and Machanbaw townships. These heavily forested areas host a scattering of remote villages, whose residents must walk for several days to purchase even basic supplies. The areas also possess a rich store of biodiversity, including endangered flora and fauna. A closer look at what led to the dramatic eviction of forestry officials and a major international conservation NGO – and the derailing of a World Heritage bid – reveals a complex battle of interests spanning international conservation, commercial exploitation, party politics and local desires to wrest back forest management..."