Forest Boundaries and Forest Dwellers: Compartment and Taungya System for Large-scale Teak Production and its Influences on Forest Dwellers in Burma
Zar Zar Win Thein, Grace Wong, and Shinya Takeda
The current system of forest governance and infrastructure can be traced back to the colonial period of the nineteenth century when “scientific forestry” was introduced in the Bago region of Burma. During the British administration, teak forests were reserved and divided into compartments of sizes varying from 500 to more than 1,000 acres. “Scientific forestry” initially had three aims: (1) to ensure a permanent and sustained yield, (2) to convert the inhabitants of the forests and people in the vicinity into allies of the practice, and (3) to produce an annual surplus revenue as soon as possible for the colonial administration. Colonial government allowed long-term production permits for foreign traders. Notably, 94 percent of teak production from 1931-1939 came from five European firms. As colonial forestry institutions gained power, the forest department began to influence the customary rights of Burmese forest dwellers. Through analysis of historical data, literature, and biographies of Burmese forest officers in the colonial administration, this paper explores how the compartments and taungya system have enabled and sustained the territorialization of forests and commons for teak production and teak plantations since colonial times. Consequently, local people respond in two ways: through avoidance and resistance. On the other hand, forest administrators need local participation in labor force for forest management. To solve this problem, taungya system was introduced as a compromise, and the persistence of this infrastructure is still present in today’s large-scale private plantations.
Keywords: Colonial forestry, Scientific forestry, Teak production, Compartment, Forest dwellers, Taungya system, Burma
XIX Biennial IASC Conference
Nairobi, Kenya
19 June 2023
Panel 6.1 – Infrastructures of inequality in the transformation of forest commons for large-scale commodity production