Published
Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 18:26
Kachin peace group resumes logging against locals wishes
Massive deforestation in Kachin State is something people are being forced to live with. For instance a Kachin peace group, the Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group (LAWPG) in the State in Northern Burma has begun logging operations in a forest near a village despite pleas by locals to stop felling of trees, said locals.
Massive deforestation in Kachin State is something people are being forced to live with. For instance a Kachin peace group, the Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group (LAWPG) in the State in Northern Burma has begun logging operations in a forest near a village despite pleas by locals to stop felling of trees, said locals.
Hard and soft wood logging has been going on for over a month at the Ugang Bum (Ugang Mountain) near a Kachin village called Nawnghkying along the riverbank of the Mali Hka (Irrawaddy River) in Waingmaw Township, opposite Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, a villager told KNG.
"I see several Chinese who have got logging permits from LAWPG cutting trees with chainsaws. They have also been constructing logging roads in Ugang Bum," a villager said.
The village is being persuaded to take a commission of Chinese Yuan 50 per Lifang (1 ton = 1.3 Lifang) of wood and they are verbally told to be silent about it by leaders of LAWPG, added villagers.
But most villagers have rejected the offer because they are farmers and rely on water flowing down from several small streams in the Ugang Bum for growing rice in the hundreds of acres of paddy-fields near the village, a villager said.
Some of the mountain streams have already dried up because of the direct impact of rampant logging in the forests around the village by the LAWPG, villagers said.
At the moment, villagers are extremely worried about logging in the Ugang Bum because once the streams dry up the farmers cannot grow rice in their paddy-field without water.
Nawnghkying village has over 400 families and over 3,000 people. The village has come under development and management of LAWPG as of 2004 after being authorized by Burma's ruling junta through the offices of Commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint of Kachin State.
The LAWPG led by Lasang Awng Wa, former head of National Security Unit under Independence Organization (KIO) split from the mother KIO with over 300 men in early 2004 and the group's bases are at Lawa Yang in Gwi Htu valley, seven miles from the Nawnghking village.
Currently in Kachin State, they are about to end both hardwood and softwood logging fields, and the spectre of deforestation hangs over entire Kachin State, said local loggers.
Hard and soft wood logging has been going on for over a month at the Ugang Bum (Ugang Mountain) near a Kachin village called Nawnghkying along the riverbank of the Mali Hka (Irrawaddy River) in Waingmaw Township, opposite Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, a villager told KNG.
"I see several Chinese who have got logging permits from LAWPG cutting trees with chainsaws. They have also been constructing logging roads in Ugang Bum," a villager said.
The village is being persuaded to take a commission of Chinese Yuan 50 per Lifang (1 ton = 1.3 Lifang) of wood and they are verbally told to be silent about it by leaders of LAWPG, added villagers.
But most villagers have rejected the offer because they are farmers and rely on water flowing down from several small streams in the Ugang Bum for growing rice in the hundreds of acres of paddy-fields near the village, a villager said.
Some of the mountain streams have already dried up because of the direct impact of rampant logging in the forests around the village by the LAWPG, villagers said.
At the moment, villagers are extremely worried about logging in the Ugang Bum because once the streams dry up the farmers cannot grow rice in their paddy-field without water.
Nawnghkying village has over 400 families and over 3,000 people. The village has come under development and management of LAWPG as of 2004 after being authorized by Burma's ruling junta through the offices of Commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint of Kachin State.
The LAWPG led by Lasang Awng Wa, former head of National Security Unit under Independence Organization (KIO) split from the mother KIO with over 300 men in early 2004 and the group's bases are at Lawa Yang in Gwi Htu valley, seven miles from the Nawnghking village.
Currently in Kachin State, they are about to end both hardwood and softwood logging fields, and the spectre of deforestation hangs over entire Kachin State, said local loggers.
