Problem overview:

     Awareness and visions: Both natural and man-made events cause the land degradation in Myanmar, particularly the dry zone. In order to prevent desertification and drought in the future, Myanmar has established a supporting mechanism that enable to create green environment and to encounter desertification in the country. It is mainly undertaken by the Government with its own limited resources, which is, the purpose of "Greening the Dry Zone".

     Policies and measures: The most significant efforts by the government on preventing land degradation and combating desertification in recent years is the rural area development programme envisaged in the current Third Short-Term Five-Year Plan (2001-2002 to 2005-2006) which includes - Ensuring smooth transport; Supplying sufficient water; Promoting education; Enhancing health care; Ensuring economic development.

Background:

     The Government has raised efforts on preventing land degradation and combating desertification in recent years. Myanmar acceded to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in January 1997. Even before in 1994, the Ministry of Forestry (MOF) launched a 3-year "Greening Project for the Nine Critical Districts" of Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay Divisions in the Dry Zone and it was later extended to 13 districts with the creation of new department, the Dry Zone Greening Department (DZGD) in 1997.

     It is estimated that altogether 2454 villages in Sagaing Division, 1469 villages in Magway Division and 4119 villages in Mandalay Division are facing water shortage.

     Under-ground water tapping projects, irrigation works and river-water pumping projects are being carried out collectively by a number of government ministries and departments. The Development Affairs Department under the Ministry for Progress of Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs is undertaking the task of providing adequate water supply in the rural areas.

Dry zone in nature

     Myanmar is a tropical country located between latitudes 928' and 2829'and longitudes 9210'and 10110'. The length from northern to southern tip of the country is about 2060 kilometers. The country has several variant climate zones ranging from the temperate region of the north to the Dry Zone in central Myanmar and the monsoonal belts in the northwest, west and south.

     The Dry Zone is a vast semi-arid low land between two higher regions, the Shan plateau on the East and the Rakhine Yoma and Chin hills on the west. Two major rivers, the Ayeyarwady and the Chindwin flow through the Dry Zone from North to South connecting it to the Deltaic region in the South. The hills in the Dry Zone with the exception of Mount Popa are low (about 1000 feet high). They serve as local watersheds. Most of the local streams have water only immediately after the rain. The original vegetation of central Dry Zone is described as Savannah woodland which consisted deciduous trees and a ground flora composed of different species of grass.

     The rainy season extends from May to late October. The weather is generally dry in the rest of the year. The coastal regions, the delta region and the northern part of the country get the annual rainfall of about 5000mm. However, the annual rainfall in the Dry Zone is between 500mm and 1000mm. According to the rainfall pattern the Dry Zone has an area of about 21,000 square miles (54,390 square kilometers) or about 10 per cent of the country. It comprises Lower Sagaing, Mandalay and Magway Divisions. There are altogether 13 districts and 57 townships in the Dry Zone. The Dry Zone suffers intense heat of monthly temperature ranging from minimum of 10C in the cool months to maximum of above 40C in dry months.

     Natural impacts

     The Dry Zone is tending to droughts. The worse drought that hit the area was during 1979 and 1980. The second worse drought that hit lower Sagaing and Mandalay was during 1982 and 1983 and the third worse drought hit the whole area of the Dry Zone during 1993 and 1994.

     Most of the soil in the Dry Zone is sandy and is vulnerable to wind and water erosion and soil erosion is high during the intensive storm.

     Man made impacts and consequences

     As a result of increased population, shifting cultivation, fuelwood extraction and other human activities, very little of original natural vegetation remains and a degraded form of trees were found in many places. In the absence of forest cover on the watersheds, severe floods sometimes occur. During 2001 several villages were swept away because of high rainfall and flash floods of the sandy streams.

     About 34 percent of the total population live in Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay Divisions. The major crops grown in the Dry Zone are cotton, sesame, pulses and beans. Seasonal vegetables such as onion, garlic, chillies, tomatoes are also grown on some alluvial soils on the banks along the Ayeyarwady river. Poorer farm families and agricultural labourers supplement their incomes by cutting fuelwood or making jaggery which contributed to overexploitation of forest resources and deforestation.

International cooperation

     UNDP/FAO project entitled "Environmentally Sustainable Food Security and Micro-income Opportunities in the Dry Zone" has been successfully implemented in the three townships of the Dry Zone namely, Chaung-U, Magway and Kyaukpadaung townships with community participation. DZGD has been implementing the following projects in cooperation with:

1. Yomiuri NGO from Japan in Afforestation Project in Nyaung-Oo District;
   
   
2. Japan International Forestry Promotion and Co-operation Agency (JIFPRO) in Afforestation Project in Nyaung-Oo District;
   
   
3. Korea International Co-operation Agency (KOICA) in Dry Zone Greening Project in Nyaung-Oo District; and
   
   
4. Organization for industrial Spiritual and Cultural Advancement International (OISCA- International) in Greening Project in Pakkoku District.
   
   

Institutional measures

     The National Commission for Environmental Affairs (NCEA) was established in February 1990 to act as the focal point for environmental affairs. It is the National Coordinating Body (NCB) for implementing the United Nations Convention to Desertification (UNCCD).

     DZGD together with the Forest Departmant, Myanma Agriculture Service, Irrigation Department, and Water Resources Utilization Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Ministry for Progress of Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs and Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries act as the principle agencies for implementing UNCCD. (See figure 1)

Implemented activities by DZGD

     Establishment of forest plantation

     Forest plantation from 1994/95 to 2000/2001 is shown in table 1

     Promotion and distribution of fuel briquette

     To substitute the fuelwood utilization, the DZGD distributed 25,856 tons of fuel briquette in 1999/2000 and 20,366.7 tons in 2000/2001. (See table 2 and figure 2)

     Utilization of agriculture residues

     As another alternative for fuelwood, utilization of residues of agricultural crops such as stalks of sesame, pea, cotton, peanut husks and etc are also encouraged. In 1999/2000 nearly 26,000 tons of agricultural residues were used and in 2000/2001 20,000 tons are used as fuel. (See table 3 and figure 3)

National budget allocation

     Annual Budgets of DZGD for the year 1997/98 to 2001/02 is shown in figure 4

Dry zone water supply programme

     Water Supply Works

     The Dry Zone Greening Department has been implementing the development of water resources programme which is one of the main tasks of the department. Under this programme it has constructed a number of ponds and check dams to collect rain water; tube wells to tap underground water; and river water pumping stations to pump water from Ayeyarwady river. From the 1997-1998 to 2001-2002, the department had been able to construct 702 ponds, 26 tube wells and 429 check dams in Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay Divisions. (See table 4)

     Drinking Water Supply

     To address the problem of the shortage of drinking water supply, the Water Resources Utilization Department has installed the following drinking water supply facilities in Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay Division till late 2000 to promote the socio-economic status of rural communities.

     Water Quality Monitoring and surveillance programme in collaboration with UNICEF currently concluded, covered 19 townships in Sagaing, 14 townships in Magway and 15 townships in Mandalay , encompassing the parameters of turbidity, Ec, pH, Fl, Cl, NO3, Fe, Ca, As, total Coliform and Faecal Coliform. A total of 765 samples in Sagaing, 643 in Magway and 578 in Mandalay Division were tested. (See table 5)

     Irrigation Water Supply

     The Irrigation Department has been implementing the construction of new dams, weirs and flood protection works showing Government's committed priority to agriculture and rural development. (See table 6)

     River Pumping Irrigation

     Water Resources Utilization Department has been implementing pump irrigation water supply programmme using high discharge capacity pumps since 1995. A tangible achievement of irrigating 153266 acres of croplands from 162 river pumping stations has been recorded by the end of 2001 in this region. (See table 7)

     Groundwater Irrigation

     The deep tube wells and irrigation water supply facilities have also been installed in places where the groundwater potential has existing access for exploitation and worthy for commercial production. These have benefited 71553 acres of crop lands to date. (See table 8)

Sustainable Management

     DZGD's targets

     Forest Plantations from 2001-2002 to 2005-2006 (See figure 5)

     Natural regeneration method

     During 2001-2002, 20,000 acres were regenerated. It is scheduled to implement natural regeneration method on 20,000 acres in 2002-2003, 20,000 acres in 2003-2004, 20,000 acres in 2004-2005 and 20,000 acres in 2005-2006. (See figure 6)

     Promotion of Fuelwood Substitute Utilization

     Total number of efficient stoves scheduled to be distributed from 2001-2002 to 2005-2006 will be 15,0000. About 22500000 of briquettes and 60000 tons of agricultural residues will also be distributed and all the necessary arrangements have been undertaken.

     Development of Water Resources

     It is scheduled to construct about 700 ponds, 680 small check dams and dig 40 artesian wells from the year 2002-2003 to 2005-2006.

     Future Plans of Water Resources Utilization Department

     River pumping and Ground water Irrigation projects have been developed as per thirty year master plan. (See table 9 and 10)

     Monitoring System

     Environmental monitoring of the Dry Zone particularly, land use changes, erosion mapping and regeneration plan mapping are done by the Remote Sensing and GIS Section of Forest Department. Deforestation rates for Myanmar have been compiled by the Forest Department. (See table 11)