Forests as a source of livelihood

The forests have also provided an important source of revenue to the KNU, making an essential contribution to Kawthoolei state finances.
The role of the forests as a central part of the livelihood strategies of individual Karen farmers has persisted in the feature post-colonial era. Just as in pre-colonial and colonial times, Karen farmers since 1948 have pursued forest-based agrarian practices, at least in the more remote regions of Kawthoolei. Nevertheless, the ability of individual farmers to earn a livelihood from the forests has been progressively eroded in recent decades. To some extent, this may be linked to population growth among the Karen.

However, it is the growing intrusion on the lives of Karen farmers of the Burmese civil war that is the main cause of declining forest livelihoods. To begin with, the war has resulted in the displacement of thousands of Karen formerly living in the Irrawaddy and Sittang River deltas or adjacent hills. There are over 70,000 Karen refugees from Burma living in Thai refugee camps along the border alone, with many more displaced within Burma. Some internally displaced Karen have cleared forest for agriculture, thereby putting added pressure on residual forests. Further the war itself has shifted over the years, such that by the 1980s it was largely centred on the border area, disrupting local farming practices and forcing many Karen farmers to flee or face an advancing Burmese army infamous for perpetrating human rights abuses on the Karen. Karen farmers have thus been unable to avoid being caught up in the fighting between the tatmadaw and the KNU.

The significance of the forests as a source of livelihood has often been as great to the KNU as it has traditionally been to individual Karen farmers. Significantly, a Kawthoolei Forestry Ministry was created in 1950 — only one year after the start of the insurgency. Using Karen foresters trained under the British, the ministry was established on colonial lines with a hierarchy of posts ranging from guards and rangers in the field, through district and headquarters conservators, and on up to the minister. The forests of Kawthoolei were divided into districts, within which reserved forests were created — notably where teak was abundant.
The forests were a significant but not a crucial source of revenue to the KNU in the 1950s. The reasons for this reside in the political and economic context of the early years of the insurgency. The need for revenue to buy arms was then limited, as arms were still plentiful after the Second World War. During the early 1950s, the KNLA was one of the most powerful insurgent armies in Burma — in 1949 it controlled much of the Irrawaddy and Sittang River delta areas, including the outskirts of Rangoon. The revenue base of Kawthoolei was also wider at this stage than in later years.

Considerable revenue was obtained from agriculture and mining as well as from forestry throughout the extensive territory then controlled by the KNU. Finally, in terms of forestry itself, there was little work that was initially required as the KNU was able to seize logs left in the forest or at timber depots by the departing British in 1948