Abstract

• Myanmar’s neighbors: Thai and China have much demand for timber from Myanmar. These countries suffer from deforestation and consequently seem to take up forest areas near the ThaiMyanmar border and in the Kachin State sharing the China border. There is much Logging in Myanmar, and then logs are smuggled to China, Thailand, and a few in the others. The weakness of law, regulations, management and security and the international demand for hardwoods has caused illegal timber smuggling especially, remoteness areas with a few legal compliances. It makes some kind of areas, such as Kachin, serious deforestation. There are many cases relating to illegal timber smuggling in Sagaing and followed by Bago. As a result, numerous illegal logging operations caused environmental damage such as soil erosion, river contamination, and increased flooding. To prevent it, the Government imposed the export of raw logs in 2014, and Forest Law, 2018, etc. Even though the legal framework to control the illegitimate timber trade has developed, illegal timber smuggling continues.