Text Box: Destruction and Degradation of the Burmese Frontier Forests Text Box: # Text Box: In 1998, the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington published a highly alarming report on the state of the Burmese frontier forests. "Burma holds more than half of mainland Southeast Asia's closed forests - forests that have caused the country to be called ‘the last frontier of biodiversity in Asia’", began the report. It concluded that this last frontier of biodiversity was seriously endangered. The findings of the report included, amongst others: Burma's neighbours, having lost virtually all of their own original forest cover, relied increasingly on timber from Burma. The rate of deforestation had more than doubled since the present military regime had come to power in 1988. Wasteful and destructive logging by the regime, some of the ethnic minority groups, and foreign companies along the borders with China and Thailand, had resulted in massive soil erosion, sedimentation of rivers, increased flooding, and acute dry season water shortages. WRI's information on the state of Burma's frontier forests, specifically on forest cover and the rate of deforestation in Kachin and Shan State (on the border with China), relied heavily on satellite data. What actually happened on the ground within these frontier states, or around forests in Burma as a whole, remained to a large degree unknown territory for the observer. Vast areas of the ethnic states in Burma remain closed to foreigners by the Burmese military. This was the result of the ongoing and disastrous political and ethnic conflicts and power struggles that have made the military regime of Burma, the State Peace Development Council (SPDC and before: SLORC), a pariah in the international community. As described in the next chapter, the problem of logging and deforestation takes place in the context of the complex political and military situation in Burma. The frontier regions, where the hotspots of biodiversity are located are controlled and contested by SPDC Army units, and a bewildering number of ethnic liberation groups and armies, some of whom have, and some of whom have not signed cease-fires with the regime. This situation has made it a point of vehement discussion whether international environmental and development organizations should and could work in the country to support more sustainable development policies. A major international conservation organization, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is presently working in SPDC-controlled areas in collaboration with the Burmese Forestry Department to establish conservation areas. For most of the international organizations, working with the regime is still out of the question as long as democracy in Burma is repressed. This dilemma has led a number of organizations over the past four years to develop alternative approaches. At the end of 2003, one of these organizations, the London-based NGO Global Witness published a report with the findings of their 'undercover' research in Burma and the frontier areas. The report gives a poignant and once again disturbing analysis of Burmese forests as a 'conflict resource'. The exceptionally valuable and high grade Burmese timbers are resources that are extracted commercially for large short-term profits, by institutions and individuals ruthlessly exploiting the conflict situation. Text Box: Chapter 1 Introduction Text Box: Logging trucks on the road to China Text Box: