Burmese tycoon ravaging world’s largest tiger reserve

Swathes of new ‘protected' area being destroyed

October 2010: In August, Burma proudly announced that Kachin state's remote Hukawng Valley, in its entirety, would be designated as a Protected Tiger Area - a declaration welcomed by environmentalists trying to conserve the remaining 3,200 tigers that live in the wild.

DESTRUCTION: Areas of the new tiger reserve are being cleared to make way for the mono-plantations

But now, a report and video released by a network of civil society groups and development organisations in Kachin state shows that a powerful Burmese tycoons is clearing swathes of forests across the reserve to create sugar and tapioca plantations and to plant jatropha for biofuel.

The report, Tyrants, Tycoons and Tigers, published by the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) details how forests are being destroyed, and with them animal corridors, leaving only the conservation signboards standing.

Bulldozers are ripping up forests

The report says the tycoon Htay Myint is establishing massive mono-crop plantations in the world's largest tiger reserve. Htay Myint's Yuzana Company, a Burmese conglomerate with close ties to the ruling military, was granted 200,000 acres in the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve in 2006 to establish sugar cane and tapioca plantations, five years after the reserve was established.

According to the KDNG report: ‘Fleets of tractors, backhoes, and bulldozers rip up forests, raze bamboo groves and flatten existing small farms. Signboards that mark animal corridors and "no hunting zones" stand out starkly against a now barren landscape; they are all that is left of conservation efforts.

‘Application of chemical fertilisers and herbicides together with the daily toil of over 2,000 imported workers are transforming the area into huge tapioca, sugar cane, and jatropha plantations.'

KDNG spokesman Ah Nan said: ‘The destruction in Hugawng makes a mockery of the tiger reserve.'

Despite the plantations, Burma's military regime claims in its recent National Tiger Plan that it will double the country's tiger population by 2022. The plan will be submitted at the Global Tiger Summit in St Petersburg next month.