Chairman of State Administration Council Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing launches pre-monsoon treeplanting ceremony of environmental greening campaign in 2022 by planting star flower seedling
NAY PYI TAW May 31
The pre-monsoon tree planting ceremony of the environmental greening movement in 2022 was held at the plot 13 of the Yanaungmyin Forest Reserve in Lewe in Dakhina District in Nay Pyi Taw at 7 am this morning, with Chairman of State Administration Council Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing planting a star flower seedling.
Also present at the ceremony were Vice Chairman of SAC Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win, council members, the secretary and the joint secretary of the SAC, the union chief justice, the chairman of the Union Election Commission, union ministers, the chairman of the Nay Pyi Taw Council, the commander of the Nay Pyi Taw Command, deputy ministers, staff and officers from ministries, students from the Forestry and Environmental University and basic education schools and responsible officials.
First, the Senior General delivered a speech, saying the ceremony is being organized for sustainability of forest resources ecosystem and active participation of the public in forest conservation activities.
It can be seen that section 45 of the constitution stipulates that the Union shall protect and conserve natural environment while section 390 states that every citizen has the duty to assist the Union in carrying out environmental conservation.
Therefore, I would like to send the message that it is necessary not only for each and every citizen but also for the entire country to participate concertedly in conservation of the natural environment.
As conservation of forests and trees is a major task for restoration of ecosystems and sustainable development of the country, it must be implemented as a national level task.
Although tree-planting ceremonies are held in June and July during the rainy season in previous years, the ceremonies are being held in respective areas in May as monsoon enters the country this year. I would like to urge all to continue to hold the ceremonies in June and July in the entire country including states and regions.
By planting trees and conserving them, many benefits can be enjoyed including the greening of the environment and forests and trees and forest eco-systems can provide food and forest products such as wood, bamboo, cane and herbal plants needed by millions of people and adjustments to the climate change while providing many environmental benefits including prevention of natural disasters, absorption and removal of carbon in the air, purification of water and air, prevention of erosion of soil and landslides, pollination, bio-diversity and evolution of soil. By planting trees, merits similar to other meritorious deeds such as building prayer halls and stairways, caves, monasteries and temples can be enjoyed.
In doing so, it is important that each plant survives. It is also important for all trees to be strong enough to survive and to get seedlings with two-year old and above and trees above 2 feet high.
It takes time, money and labour to grow from seed to 2 feet tall seedling. To keep all the plants planted, it is necessary to carry out continuous maintenance work for the benefit of the people.
Only by continuing the seasonal maintenance work, such as watering, weeding, protecting from fire, cattle and buffaloes, can the plants be fully grown and thrive.
As Myanmar is a developing country and it is well known that firewood and coal are still used as fuel. About 70 percent of the country's population lives in rural areas and most of them rely on natural forests for firewood to cook. To reduce this, village authorities have been instructed to establish at least two acres of villageowned firewood plantations in each village in the regions and states. The state has directed forest conservation activities and is promoting tree planting.
During the rainy season in 2021, 23,973,051 trees were planted on 28,715 acres of state-owned forest plantations, and the government is planned to plant about 20 million trees on 24,269 acres of state-owned forest plantations this year.
Systematic planting of forest plots in the forested areas to make the left and right side of the roads built in the country and for the travellers to travel happily, a total of 278,573 trees were planted in 663 sections of the road in 2021, and more than 250,000 trees will be planted in 859 sections of the road in the rainy season in 2022.
In addition, once planted, it is not enough and it needs to be maintained to grow. The ministry must take responsibility for the successful growing of trees after planting, and all the people need to cooperate.
According to a forest resource assessment report made by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United (FAO) in 2000, Myanmar's forest covered 51.54 percent of the country's land area, 46.96 percent of the country's area in 2010, 42.92 percent of the country's area in 2015, and in 42.19 percent of the country's area in 2020. Gradually, forest cover decreased and forests were further destroyed.
Consequences of deforestation include severe climate change, pollution in rivers, streams and lakes and drying up of fresh water, degradation of coastal and ocean, ecological degradation, Upland soil degradation and the loss of biodiversity, poses a serious threat to human survival.
On the one hand, planting trees and establishment of forest plantations are underway, and logging has been suspended in the 2021-2022 mini-budget period and 2022-2023 FY, and natural forest restoration work is being encouraged. In addition, the export of logs and sawn timber is not allowed and the export is only allowed after the finished product is produced.
Nay Pyi Taw Council Area is the capital of the country and the development activities are being focused. It is necessary to work wisely to develop into a Green City, Clean City and Smart City and to become a model area of other regions and states, and to make the Nay Pyi Taw Council area green with forests and clean and beautiful environment.
What we are doing is not only for us, but also for the next generation, to give healthy, happy, clean and good cities with sustainable forest development as an eternal heritage.
When the State Administration Council is taking the responsibilities of the State, the people and internal and external organizations are, as a national duty, to cooperate with the State to create the green land of Myanmar with tree planting festivals across the country through taking the tasks such as reducing extraction and use of natural resources above and below the ground and keeping it as the nation’s reserve resources, responding to the climate change to restore the nature, ensuring long-term existence of the Stateowned forests, establishing village firewood plantations, and ensuring sustainable mangrove forests.
Next, the Senior General planted a seedling of star-flower and the Vice-Senior General a seedling of Pyingatoe tree at designated places in No.13 Plot of Yanaungmyin Forest Reserve.
Later, members of SAC, the secretary and joint-secretary of SAC, the Union Chief Justice, the Chairman of Union Election Commission, union ministers, the chairman of Nay Pyi Taw Council, the commander of Nay Pyi Taw Command, deputy ministers, departmental officials, students of University of Forestry and Environmental Science and basis education high schools, and officials of Yanaungmyin Forest Reserve planted seedlings in designated places at No.1 Place of Plot 13 of the forest reserve.
The Senior General encouraged the people who were planting seedlings happily.
Later, at No.2 Place of Plot 13 of the forest reserve, with the students, the Senior General planted a seedling of Yinmar tree and the Vice-Senior General the seedling of Pan Meizali.
Then, those who attended the event planted seedlings at designated places.
At the event held today, 2,739 P - 20 seedlings in 35 varieties of tree including teak, mahogany, padauk and pyingatoe were planted.
It is planned to plant 30.57 million of seedlings across the country in monsoon this year as a movement to make the environment green.
As forest coverage is only 49.19 percent of the land area of the country according to FAO’s study in 2020, tasks are being carried out to boost plantations of State-owned forest reserves to meet timber requirements and ensure increase of forest covered areas in the country. To do so, the Myanmar Reforestation and Rehabilitation Programme (MRRP) was drawn and is being implemented for the 10-year period from 2016-2017 fiscal year to 2025-2026 fiscal year. According to the programme, more than 42,000 acres of plantations including valuable timber of teak, pyingatoe, padaukand pine and mangrove forests have been established. In the 2018-2019 fiscal year, more than 22,000 acres of plantations have been established. It is learnt that if commercial plantations are successfully established and maintained, the timber requirement of the State could be extracted without damaging the natural forests.