Peacebuilding, Public Authority, and Forests in Myanmar

This research aims to understand everyday governance practices of land and forests in areas within Karen State and Tanintharyi Region of Myanmar. In these areas, the Karen National Union (KNU) operates a state-like system. However, in certain areas, the KNU compete with other actors including other armed groups and the Myanmar government. In 2015, the KNU signed the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) promoting the idea of Myanmar as a federal nation where ethnic groups hold high degrees of governance authority within their ancestral lands. The military coup in 2021 derailed the NCA. As a result, tensions flared up in many areas of Myanmar, including in Tanintharyi Region and Karen State, which set in motion new political dynamics and competing visions for a federal state.

In this changing context, the research aims to address the following questions:

How and by whom are land and forest resources governed and how is authority produced over forest and land resources in Karen State and Tanintharyi Region?

What outcomes does this governance produce for local people in terms of the range of benefits, physical and otherwise, they derive from land and forest resources and thus their livelihoods?

How does land and forest governance in KNU-controlled and contested areas within Karen State and Tanintharyi Region affect the post-coup political process of competing visions for a federal state and vice-versa?

Drawing on political ecology, and in particular the concept of ‘public authority’, the research contributes to a growing field of peace and conflict studies that explores the production of authority over natural resources in conflict-affected areas and the consequences thereof. Due to its history of armed conflict, authoritarian rule, and the recent military coup in 2021, Myanmar presents a critical case for studying public authority, citizenship, land and forest rights, and rural livelihoods. The project will provide insights that can help inform local, national, and international policy on actual land and forest governance in conflict-affected areas and its implications for and rural livelihoods and possibly conflicting visions for state-building.