Intersections of land grabs and climate change mitigation strategies in Myanmar as a (post-) war state of conflict

TitleIntersections of land grabs and climate change mitigation strategies in Myanmar as a (post-) war state of conflict
Annotated RecordAnnotated
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsWoods K
Pagination1-38
Key themesDispossession-grabbing, Environment, FDI, Policy-law
Abstract

Myanmar has recently positioned itself as the world’s newest frontier market, while simultaneously undergoing transition to a post-war, neoliberal state. The new Myanmar government has put the country’s land and resources up for sale with the quick passing of market-friendly laws turning land into a commodity. Meanwhile, the Myanmar government has been engaging in a highly contentious national peace process, in an attempt to end one of the world's longest running civil wars. The Myanmar government has aggressively pushed for foreign investment in large-scale private agribusiness concessions through the introduction of a new supportive legal framework, with regional, and to a lesser extent, global corporations signing concession deals, some of which are meant for biofuel production. Meanwhile, REDD+, Readiness, and other similar forest conservation funds have been committed by IFIs and UN agencies, targeting (post-) war high-value conservation forest areas. Climate change mitigation projects and large-scale land deals can instigate conflicts over land and resources, but not just as separate processes occurring in discrete geographies. Working at the intersections of large-scale land acquisitions and climate change mitigation strategies viewed through a landscape perspective, this research project and analytic provides a lens through which to study complex interactions among land-based deals within and across socio-cultural, ecological, conflict and institutional arenas. The Myanmar country case study clearly demonstrates the dynamic interplay of, and the social and ecological spill-over effects from, multiple layers of competing land conflicts — in this case, land grabs and climate change mitigation strategies. These conflicts are firmly embedded in the historical processes, institutional agendas, and environmental particularities in which they take place.
URLhttps://www.iss.nl/sites/corporate/files/CMCP_74-Woods.pdf
Availability

Available for download
Countries

Myanmar
Document Type

Working Paper

Annotations

Overall relevance: 

This article discusses the intersection of land grabs and climate change mitigation strategies in a post-war setting for Myanmar. There is a special focus on cases from Kachin State and Tanintharyi Region, using a landscape perspective. Along with the transition to a neoliberal market economy, achieved through laws supporting the commodification of land and resources, there has been a break in long-running ethnic conflicts with armed groups through a tangible peace process. The government promoted foreign investment, including large-scale agribusiness production of biofuel. Meanwhile, the government has attempted to implement the REDD+ project for climate change mitigation. The report delivers a lens through which to study complex interactions among land-based deals within and across socio-cultural, ecological, conflict and institutional arenas. These conflicts are also connected to historical processes, the plans of institutions and environmental particularities in which they take place.

Key Themes: 
  • Land policy and land law - One of the most important laws during the economic transition is the 2012 Vacant, Fallow and Virgin (VFV) Land Law. This allows legal allocation of land by the government, even if it has been cultivated for decades by local users. The 2012 Farmland Law introduces land use certificates through which land can be legally bought, sold, and transferred. Land without legal certification become VFV land. These laws strengthen tie in to a 30-year Master Plan (2000-2030), put forward by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, to convert 10 million acres of wasteland for industrial, commercial, and agricultural use, involving large-scale deals for domestic companies (of military cronies) and Foreign Direct Investment. These conditions facilitate neoliberal investment at the expense of dispossession for local farmers and ethnic communities. Therefore, it serves as a new source for conflicts, especially in its lack of recognition for the customary land practices of ethnic groups.
  • Land and the environment: pollution, deforestation, climate change, conservation zoning - New laws and policies facilitated new forms of market-based climate change mitigation strategies, especially in the creation of conservation areas, the granting of concessions for palm oil, cassava, and sugarcane in the name of biofuel production, and dam construction in ethnic areas. In the name of REDD+ for carbon sequestration, permanent forest estate including national parks were proposed. Conservation activities have also resulted in agriculture land concessions as well as logging concessions benefitting the military and investors. Such conservation activities have encountered resistance.
  • FDI and land access: economic land concessions, contract farming, short term and long term renting - As the state opened to foreign investment, millions of hectares of land were granted to military-backed companies, Chinese and foreign investors for large-scale agriculture plantation such as oil palm in Tanintharyi region and sugarcane and casava in Kachin state for biofuel production. Investors include Malaysia, Chinese, and Thai companies (particularly for palm oil), Chinese and European investment for both agriculture and dam construction, and International Finance Corporations for developments in the energy sector.
  • Land dispossession/land grabbing - The combination of market economy and land reform resulted in concessionary land grabs for domestic and foreign companies. In the two study areas (Kachin State and Tanintharyi Region), conservation schemes, large-scale agribusiness and dam construction took place by displacing ethnic communities as well as ethic armed groups. The dispossession of local ethnic peoples from their land and resources was also a tactic used for counterinsurgency. In the case of Tanintharyi, concessions and conservation activities prevented local Karens, who had fled due to war, from returning to their lands.
Research basis: 

The report is analytical, based upon the extensive experience in Myanmar of the author. It is not a reporting of case-based fieldwork per se. However, it does contain a geographical focus on the intersection between land grabbing and climate change mitigation strategies such as conservation, dam construction and agricultural production (in the name of biofuel) in Kachin State and Tanintharyi region. The landscape approach is used to examine these overlapping, competing land and resource uses that converge as sustainable alternatives to a carbon economy, but which themselves trigger old and new forms of contestations over equity and justice. (Provided by Ling Huong)