Myanmar is recognizing that ambitious social forestry programs can do much more than setting up protected forest areas. They can also address poverty, livelihood development, equality issues and biodiversity conservation. The early years of CF, which can be defined as an emergent phase, were limited by legislative and institutional challenges. However, the revisions of CFI (CFI-2016 & CFI-2019) in recent years have incorporated livelihood opportunities and enterprise development in the CF program. This stemmed from the recognition that forests will only be protected if local communities are allowed and able to tangibly benefit from their forests. Therefore, the National Forest Master Plan (2001-2030) targets to establish 2.27 million acres (919,000 ha) of Community Forest areas. As of March 2019, there were 614,579 acres (248,711 ha) of CFs certified by the Forest Department, covering 4,707 Community Forest User Groups (119,355 households). However, the rate of CF handover has been far lower than that needed to meet the Master Plan’s 30-year target. Many studies revealed the underlying factors for the slow implementation, one of them being lack of tangible economic benefits to CF communities. To promote economic benefits and ensure sustainability of CFs, Myanmar first introduced the concept of Community Forestry-based Enterprise (CFE) in the revised CFI-2016 and further strengthened it in CFI-2019.

CFE development in Myanmar, however, is at its nascent stage. A 2020 study “Community Forest and Community Forest Enterprise Development Survey in Southern Rakhine” supported by UNDP Myanmar identified a myriad of challenges to the development of CFEs in Myanmar. They include constraints of accessibility to market and market information, accessibility to finance and credits, and capacity of stakeholders including communities and relevant authorities. Another major challenge is lack of easily accessible information for communities and local actors on how to develop and manage a CF without relying too much on external support. With a particular focus on mangroves, the UN-REDD Mangroves initiative supported communities in the delta and southeast Myanmar and CSO/NGOs across the country through formation and capacity strengthening of CFUGs and CF Management Committees, development of manuals and management plans and provision of equipment and initial investments. The manuals, in particular, will serve as a template for local people and CSO/NGOs to develop CF management plans and CFE business plans with minimal outsider support. Major achievements include: