The Union of Myanmar remains well endowed with forests cover with about half of the total land area (676,777 square kilometers) yet the country has one of the highest rates of forest loss on Earth. Between 1990 and 2005, Burma lost an average of 466,000 hectares of forest per year—or 18% of its total forest cover during that period. The deforestation rate has increased by 13.5% since the close of the 1990s. Deforestation and forest degradation in Burma largely results from agriculture, logging, fuel wood collection, and, to a lesser extent, development for energy infrastructure.

Myanmar joined the UN-REDD Programme in November 2011.  Discussions on how the UN-REDD Programme could support Myanmar had already begun in 2010, and Myanmar had attended several UN-REDD regional meetings.  In collaboration with RECOFTC, UN-REDD is developing a REDD+ Readiness Roadmap and will be seeking to mobilize resources for its implementation.  In a country undergoing rapid political change, the challenges of preparing for REDD+ are significant, but there are also unique opportunities to ensure that REDD+ is fully integrated into new planning and governance systems.

Myanmar Joins the UN-REDD Programme
December 2011