2nd in the Rainforest Relief Reports Series of Occasional Papers

Burma from a democratic administration. The control of the nation has been in the hands of generals ever since. The repercussions of this and subsequent events aimed at maintaining control go far beyond who rules the people. Ne Win and subsequent military “leaders ” have had a profound impact on the environment of Burma. Human rights abuses have coincided with a large-scale sell-off of Burma’s natural heritage. Massive migrations of people fleeing repression and subsequent increases in malarial infections along the borders and an increase in prostitution, have coincided with destruction of forests, depletion of fish stocks, wiping out of mangroves, reductions in wild flora and fauna, uncontrolled mining, oil drilling and increases in pollution. The rule of the generals has brought with it a general centralization of wealth into the hands of a few, as local people are stripped of their ability to generate subsistence and small incomes from traditionally sustainable means. This report will briefly review the destruction of Burma’s forests due to over-logging and the forced labour used by the military to do so