Illegal logging rampant in Kachin State since coup

As loggers cut down trees in a nature reserve north of the Kachin State capital, authorities have been turning a blind eye or profiting from the illicit timber production, according to local residents. Since the 2021 military coup, the number of groups logging illegally in the area has grown to more than a dozen, the local residents said. The groups reportedly fell the trees during the daytime and haul the timber away at night. N'Khai Bum National Park, where the illegal logging is taking place, is west of Tang Hpe village near the confluence of the Mali and N’Mai rivers, and was designated as a nature reserve in 2017. However, loggers began removing trees after bribing the personnel responsible for protecting the area, according to a local man. “There are barely any trees left. It’s that bad,” the local man said. “There are around 20 sawmills working just in the nearby village. Nobody dares say anything for fear of being terrorised.” He added that the loggers paid about 40,000 kyat (US $19) per ton of timber to the commanders of Brigade 2 of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)—the most powerful ethnic armed organisation in the state—and paid about 500,000 kyat (US $240) each time they passed through a junta checkpoint. Around 20 to 50 logging trucks pass through on the road to Myitkyina every day, the man added. An illegal logging site in N'Khai Bum National Park (Supplied) Myanmar Now received photos showing felled trees, sawmills, and trucks taking whole logs from the park. According to a local, ethnically Kachin man who requested anonymity, 10 illegal logging groups that had been removing trees from the area since before the coup had secured the collaboration of Mitung Naw Ja, a junta-appointed administrator working in Aung Myay Thar village, near the confluence area. “They only used to have elephants to haul the logs but they’re now using machines to take the timber to the sawmills,” another local man said. He added that the deforestation had noticeably harmed wildlife populations in the area. “There aren’t even any wild animals left there. There used to be so many,” he said. Myanmar Now tried to contact Mitung Naw Ja, the Aung Myay Thar administrator, but he denied any involvement in the logging business and said he was wholly unaware of any illegal logging activity in N'Khai Bum National Park. An illegal logging site in N'Khai Bum National Park (Supplied) Mitung Naw Ja added that sawmills in the area were registered and paid taxes to the military regime, and that they might be located in rural areas due to rules against disruptive noise in more populous parts of the state. “I haven’t seen anyone logging illegally in N'Khai Bum National Park nor am I connected with any such groups. There’s only one sawmill near Tang Hpe village. It’s not in N'Khai Bum. I think they have only been processing timber brought in from Putao,” Mitung Naw Ja said, referring to a town in Kachin State’s northernmost district. Kyaw Zaw, deputy permanent secretary of the junta-controlled ministry of natural resources and environmental conservation, did not respond when Myanmar Now attempted to reach him by phone. Myanmar Now also received no response after attempting to contact Col. Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), regarding the allegations that some members of the ethnic armed organisation were profiting from the illegal logging. N'Khai Bum National Park (Supplied) According to the Kachin man who spoke about the local administration’s involvement in illegal logging, the Jade Land company—owned by Kachin tycoon Yup Zaw Hkwang—claimed over 12,000 acres of land in the area for “reforestation,” but their surveying procedures only muddied and contaminated the creeks that locals use for drinking water. Yup Zaw Hkwang is reputed to have close connections with the military regime and his company is one of the largest jade-producing entities in the country. He served as a mediator during peace negotiations between the KIA and the Myanmar military in 1994, according to a report released by the monitoring group Justice For Myanmar in 2020. Local residents have also reportedly written to the KIA alleging involvement by Yup Zaw Hkwang in illegal gold mining near the confluence area. Yup Zaw Hkwang has denied any such activity, and called the allegations slanderous in an interview with the Myitkyina News Journal in February of 2022. An illegal logging site in N'Khai Bum National Park (Supplied) Locals have also claimed that the timber logged in this area of Kachin State is being exported as well as sold domestically. Since April 2021, the United States Treasury has imposed sanctions against the Myanmar Timber Enterprise, which fell under the military’s control following the coup. Despite this and other international sanctions against illegal timber production, an April 2023 report from the environmental research group Forest Trends found that Myanmar had exported over US $500 million worth of timber since the coup, of which 17 percent was sold to the countries imposing sanctions.

Illegal logging rampant in Kachin State since coup

People living near a national park north of Myitkyina have alleged involvement by junta-appointed officials and the KIA in the illegal removal of trees

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