Timber, Sanctions, and Conflict: Myanmar’s Forest Sector Since the Coup
By The Forest Policy, Trade, and Finance Initiative View PublicationWithin a few months of the February 2021 coup d’état against the newly re-elected Union Government of Myanmar (UGoM), the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Switzerland, and Canada imposed targeted sanctions on Myanmar’s military leadership and associated businesses. These sanctions were further expanded over the years to include measures against the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) managing the mining, oil and gas, and timber sectors, which were key sources of revenue for the military regime, the state-owned Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB), and the military conglomerates that run the major ports in Yangon.
Since 2021, Forest Trends has published regular updates on the status of Myanmar’s forest sector and the impact of these sanctions. Post coup, data have become increasingly difficult to obtain. It is clear the sanctions have hurt the military junta’s ability to financially benefit from the forest sector and continue to fund the armed conflict. Their control over the forest sector is waning. The military junta is more vulnerable than before, opening opportunities to pressure them for a peaceful transition to federal democracy in Myanmar.
However, there is still a risk that the trade continues, particularly by circumventing sanctions through indirect imports from countries such as China and India – some of which may be linked to organized crime or the war crime of pillage, defined as the trade in stolen property, including natural resources, during armed conflict.