Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06RANGOON362
2006-03-17 05:29:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Rangoon
Cable title:  

VILLAGERS REVIVE THE IRRAWADDY DELTA'S FOREST

Tags:  SENV ECON PGOV BM NGO 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000362 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA; TREASURY FOR
OASIA:AJEWELL; BANGKOK FOR REO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV ECON PGOV BM NGO
SUBJECT: VILLAGERS REVIVE THE IRRAWADDY DELTA'S FOREST

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000362

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA; TREASURY FOR
OASIA:AJEWELL; BANGKOK FOR REO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV ECON PGOV BM NGO
SUBJECT: VILLAGERS REVIVE THE IRRAWADDY DELTA'S FOREST


1. (U) Summary: A Burmese domestic NGO, the Forest Resource
and Environment Development and Conservation Association
(FREDA),uses village-based programs to slow rampant
deforestation in the southern part of Irrawaddy division.
Residents have cut down 86% of the forest cover for firewood,
building materials, rice fields and prawn farms. Utilizing
foreign donor resources and careful coordination with
government officials, FREDA offers villagers a better natural
environment, new income generation opportunities,
improvements in village conditions, and experiences at
self-governance. In return, they assist locals to take
responsibility to replant and maintain the new forests. The
Irrawaddy delta is an area of deep poverty largely ignored by
the government, but FREDA shows how an independent NGO can
have a broad impact at the local level and help build
democracy from the ground up. End Summary.

It Takes the Villagers
--------------

2. (U) Located at the delta of one of Southeast Asia's
longest rivers, central and western Irrawaddy Division
produces some of the highest quality rice in Burma. Its
inhabitants, however, have cut down 86% of the division's
forests to add new rice paddies and prawn farms, and to
collect firewood and building materials. The southern delta
section of the Division, however, is an unproductive 4,000
sq. mi. flood plain criss-crossed by water channels that
carve land into parcels too small to farm profitably.
Villagers here are extremely poor and survive by selling
roofing woven from palm leaves and catching fish and crabs
from river channels. The government does not supply most
villages with any services, including fresh water or basic
education.


3. (U) The Forest Resource and Environment Development and
Conservation Association (FREDA) is a leading Burmese
independent NGO. Since 1999, FREDA has supported a growing
network of villages in the delta region committed to
reforestation. The GOB allows FREDA to operate
independently, as long as FREDA keeps officials informed
about its projects. The General Secretary of FREDA hosted
embassy reps on a recent four-day visit (spent mostly in

boats) to some of FREDA's 18 project villages, including
Byone Hmwe, Oak-Po, Wakon and Te Pin Seik.


4. (U) To find candidate communities, FREDA educates
villagers about the importance of mangroves for marine life
and erosion control, and then obtains a commitment from
village residents to stop cutting the forest and to start
planting and protecting trees instead. FREDA provides
participants with training, protective clothing, tools, rice,
and a minimal per diem to plant new trees in cleared areas
and to clear away brush choking existing natural growth.
Villagers plant mangrove varieties, important to mitigate
erosion and support local marine life, as well as other
species to avoid monoculture problems. The villagers must
care for their assigned plot of land, usually one half to two
acres in size, and protect it from encroachment and
intrusion. Some villagers also tend seedling nurseries that
supply the areas to be reforested, while others oversee the
efforts of a number of villages. After two to three years,
villagers can sustainably harvest the trees for building
materials and for crating material to
ship crabs to market. After at least five years, they can
cut the trees selectively for raw lumber.


5. (U) German and Japanese NGOs provide the majority of
FREDA's funding, at $8,000-$10,000 per village. With
additional funding, FREDA supports village improvement,
including upgrading school buildings and digging wells to
supply clean water. As residents see the forest returning
and new economic opportunities created, more families join
the efforts. Some even move from other areas in Irrawaddy
Division into FREDA-sponsored villages. Te Pin Seik, a model
village, started with only 15 participating families, and now
has over 70. As evidence of the program's success, 28 of the
families contribute to the $13 monthly salary for a private
teacher to educate the 170 primary and middle school children
living in the village.


6. (U) Although conspicuously marked, FREDA project areas do
not need signs: the difference in forest cover, tree health
and diversity is obvious. Locals say that even the native
deer are dissuaded by other animals from trespassing on the
strictly protected FREDA sites. FREDA's Secretary General
plans to slowly introduce small crab and prawn farms into the
new mangrove areas to determine whether the mangroves can
filter the water well enough to make these small-scale
activities profitable without the serious environmental
contamination caused by larger ponds.

Not Yet Clean and Green
--------------

7. (SBU) FREDA's villagers enjoy a better life than many of
their neighbors, but they still face difficulties. It takes
two to three years before they can begin to harvest building
materials, including poles and small panels for packing
crates, and five to ten years before the trees are big enough
to produce more profitable lumber. Some other villages in
the division that enjoy close contacts with local SPDC
authorities build unregulated fish and prawn farms close to
FREDA land. The contaminated water and soil encroaches into
the nearby-by land and can kill new tree growth. Local
Forestry Ministry officials, accustomed to getting kickbacks
from illegal timber sales to supplement their meager GOB
salaries, also pressure the villagers to continue payments.


8. (SBU) Many ethnic Karen live in the delta region, and the
military has tried to suppress Karen "insurgents" in the
region in the past. The GOB considers southern Irrawaddy
division a "brown" area, i.e., not fully secured, where
resistance groups are still present. Authorities watch Karen
individuals closely, including FREDA participants, and report
on all of their activities. Embassy participants felt GOB
presence everywhere on the trip, from the bureaucratic
paperwork required for visit authorization, to the police
officer who accompanied the entire four-day tour. The
British Ambassador was among the delegation, but did not
visit the projects as planned because the GOB would not allow
her tourist guests into the project areas.


9. (SBU) Comment: Even with these problems, the FREDA program
offers a good example of how a domestic NGO can successfully
benefit Burma's poor, develop communities, and protect
natural resources while working around the government.
Villagers have voluntarily come together to take
responsibility for their environment and to make decisions to
improve their villages' development. This, in turn, builds
confidence and develops villagers' leadership and management
skills to take greater control over their own futures.
Supporting these efforts thereby diminishes regime control
and builds the foundation for democracy. End comment.
VILLAROSA