rehabilitation of shin-ma-taung hill in central dry zone of myanmar · 2014. 1. 29. ·...
TRANSCRIPT
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Rehabilitation of Shin-ma-taung hill in
central dry zone of Myanmar
Ba Kaung
Union of Myanmar
Workshop on
“Forest Restoration at Landscape Level in Asia-Pacific Region”
3 November 2013, Rotorua, New Zealand
FAO & RECOFTC
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Site Location
Shin-ma-taung Hill Yesagyo Township, Pakokku District,
Magway Region, Central Dry Zone of Myanmar
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• Isolated hill in central flat land
• Peak point 525 meter above sea level
• Total area 7,687 ha which includes:
7,300 ha of reserved forest areas
400 ha of un-classed forests
Topography and Landuse
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Local Climatic and Natural Environment
• Severe weather and environmental conditions
• Low rainfall, high temperature and frequent droughts
• Average annual rainfall – 450 mm for last 20 years
• Temperature:
– Highest day time – rises to 45oC in summer (March to May)
– Lowest night time temperature – drops to about 12oC (Dec to Jan)
• Soil is poor, mostly sandy gravel and rocky, unproductive
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Natural vegetation
• Dry-thorn forests
• Dominated by Acacia, Ziziphus and Neem species
• One of the most famous species from this region is Limonia acidissima, locally called Thanatkha - Myanmar ladies traditionally use it as facial and body cream
Myanmar Ladies with Thanakha
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Deforestation and forest degradation in the area
• Shin-ma-taung hill used to be covered with good dry forest until 1960s
• Since 1970s, local communities faced hardships due to economic
restrictions and poor job opportunities
• Forest resources became the last resort, fall-back option for the landless
communities
• They began to remove logs, poles, posts and fuel wood from the dry
forests; also exploited fodder, fruit, meat and all useable things
• After 30 years of such intensive cutting and over exploitation, the once
green hill became highly degraded and even turned barren
• Local streams and ponds dried up and wild animals disappeared
• With the harsh climatic and edaphic conditions, natural regeneration and
recovery of these degraded forests ceased
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Rehabilitation Efforts (Project Description)
• Shin-ma-taung hill rehabilitation was initiated
by Forest Department (FD) and Dry Zone Greening
Department (DZGD) in 1995
• The main strategies employed are:
Plantation establishment
Protection of remaining natural vegetation
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Plantation Establishment
• This method is applied in areas where natural vegetation is severely degraded, on almost bare land areas
• From 1995 to 2001, a total 2,163 ha of forest plantation have been established by digging method:
- Village fuel-wood plantation 807 ha
- Community forest plantation 31 ha
- Watershed & Hill greening 1,325 ha
Major species: Indigenous drought
resistant species:
Acacia catechu, Acacia leucophloes,
Azadirachta indica, Tamarindus indica,
Zizyphus mauritiana
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Protection of Remaining Natural Vegetation
• Areas where genetic resources (such as mother trees and
stumps) still remained were protected
• From 1998 to 2003 a total 4,926 ha of degraded forest areas
have been kept under continuous care and protection
• Major field operations include:
• forest boundary repair
• building guard house
• clearing inspection paths
• putting warring signboards
• assignment of forest guards and
• regular patrols to protect against fire, grazing, illegal
cutting, encroachment, other disturbances
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Results after 18 years
• Total rehabilitated area, combination of natural forest protection area and forest plantation reached 7,089 ha
• 92% of the whole mountain area has been rehabilitated (revegetated)
• Soil and water quality improved and natural streams recur
Shin-ma-taung Hill 2006 Shin-ma-taung Hill 2012
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Cost: • Government expenditure for greening plantation, at current price
is about 300 US$ per ha • Protection of remaining natural forests (natural regeneration) is
about 6 US$ per ha • Does not include staff salary, costs for facilities and equipment such
as office buildings, vehicles, equipment etc. Benefits: • Difficult to express benefits of project in monetary value, a rough
estimate is: – Dry land plantation can produce 10-13 tons biomass/ha/year – Dry land forests can produce 15-20 tons of biomass/ha/year – Local price for fuel-wood is roughly about 10-12 US$ per ton. – However, many intangible benefits such as soil and water
improvement, wildlife, improved micro climate conditions, aesthetic value, etc.
Costs and Benefits
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Project Benefits Short Term Benefits
Increased Job Opportunities More Fodder
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Long Term Benefits (Cont.)
Sustainable Agriculture Restoration of Local Water Resources
Wildlife Restoration Additional fuel-wood
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Lessons learned and way forward
• Never too late to rehabilitate degraded forest land even under harsh natural environments
• Rehabilitation should be people oriented
• Takes time to see the long term impacts
• Allowing forests to naturally regenerate is is most cost efficient and profitable over plantations in long term
• FD and DZGD of Myanmar are replicating similar projects in severely degraded areas
• At present, 17 severely degraded hills and mountains are being rehabilitated using this example
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Thank You