Over 1,300 protected forests across Myanmar require legal protection
233
Htet Nadi/Thet Paing (NP News) - August 26
Myanmar has established and designated 1,328 reserved and protected forests as of July 31, 2025, according to data provided to The Statesman by the Forest Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation.
This designation established 826 reserved forests covering 2,967,812 acres and 502 protected public forests covering 13,725,219 acres. These forests cover 25.96 percent of the country.
The Myanmar Forest Department is working on establishing forest reserves and designating forest protection areas in accordance with Section (6), Sub-section (c) of the Forest Law, 2018. The first forest reserves were established in 1870 to systematically manage and protect forests for long-term sustainability.
In addition, forest reserves and protected areas are established with the objectives of mitigating climate change, stabilizing ecosystems and enhancing environmental services. These areas aim to systematically manage and conserve natural forests including mangrove and tropical forests. They also seek to ensure the sustainable extraction of timber and forest products, meet the needs of local people for timber, firewood, bamboo and forest products, and fulfill international commitments on forests, climate, biodiversity and the environment.
A retired forestry official said that forest reserves and protected forests are being established to manage and preserve forests systematically for their long-term sustainability. He added that there is a great need for departments and the public to cooperate and comply.
“After this is determined, the departments and the people are the main focus. The departments need to perform maintenance according to the law, and the people need to follow these laws. If they can’t do this, no matter how many areas are established, they will be completely destroyed,” he said.
Currently, according to locals, officials from the Forest Department and some villagers are colluding to cut down trees in state-designated protected forests.
“They’re still logging. In the summer, they cut trees to sell as firewood. But this isn’t just for personal use; it’s commercial logging. At other times, they cut down and sell hardwood trees. Even the forestry officer in charge doesn’t stop them. Instead, sometimes they even tell people to just keep cutting, as long as the forest isn’t completely gone,” said a local from the Ayeyarwady Region.
In 2021, Myanmar submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which identified the forestry sector as a key sector to reduce carbon emissions. –