Many illegal timber seizures in Arakan State traced to outside sources: Forest Dept.

By DMG 15 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
15 July 2022, Sittwe

A large proportion of illegal timber seized in Arakan State this year is from other parts of Myanmar, according to the Arakan State Forest Department.

More than 1,800 tonnes of illegal timber were seized in Arakan State this year from January to July 13, but not all of the wood was illegally logged inside the state, said the department’s assistant director, U Zaw Zaw Aung, who added that significant quantities came from adjacent areas such as the Bago mountain range and Magway Region’s Minbu District.

The department is still working to find out the exact amount of illegal timer smuggled into Arakan State from other parts of the country.

Broken down by month, some 495 tonnes of illegal timber were seized in January; 534 tonnes in February; 254 tonnes in March; 173 tonnes in April; 263 tonnes in May; 39 tonnes in June; and 56 tonnes so far this month, according to the department. Most of the illegal timber was seized while being smuggled via waterways, the department said.

There were 226 cases of smuggling and 111 suspects were arrested, according to the department, which said most of the timber seized was teak and ironwood.

“We are understaffed, and we will be able to make more seizures if we have more employees. We were able to arrest smugglers because of cooperation from the Tatmadaw [Myanmar military] and police,” said U Zaw Zaw Aung.

According to records, Arakan State has three reserved forests covering some 30,000 acres and seven protected public forests, covering 71,500 acres.

Deforestation remains a major concern in Myanmar, where forest cover decreased from 57.9% of the country’s landmass in 1990 to about 42.2% in 2020.