Community-based Natural Resource Management in Sagaing Region, Myanmar

Charles Peters and collaborators

The work in Sagaing region is an extension of the collaborative NYBG-WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) community forestry work that has been on-going in Myanmar since 2005. The current project focuses on the Shan village of Nam Sabi in the Sagaing Region of northern Myanmar. The village is adjacent to the Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary, and a large portion of the traditional boundary area of the village is within the buffer zone of this protected area. Household surveys followed by systematic forest inventories were conducted to quantify the current demand and supply of forest resources for the village, and a management plan is currently being developed to promote the sustainable exploitation of a one hundred hectare tract of forest. The overall objective of the work is promote community forestry as a viable strategy for conserving buffer zone habitats around protected areas and for enhancing local resource security and livelihoods.

Satellite image showing Sagaing Region, Myanmar.