This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000362 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA; TREASURY FOR 
OASIA:AJEWELL; BANGKOK FOR REO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ECON PGOV BM NGO
SUBJECT: VILLAGERS REVIVE THE IRRAWADDY DELTA'S FOREST 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: A Burmese domestic NGO, the Forest Resource 
and Environment Development and Conservation Association 
(FREDA), uses village-based programs to slow rampant 
deforestation in the southern part of Irrawaddy division. 
Residents have cut down 86% of the forest cover for firewood, 
building materials, rice fields and prawn farms.  Utilizing 
foreign donor resources and careful coordination with 
government officials, FREDA offers villagers a better natural 
environment, new income generation opportunities, 
improvements in village conditions, and experiences at 
self-governance.  In return, they assist locals to take 
responsibility to replant and maintain the new forests.  The 
Irrawaddy delta is an area of deep poverty largely ignored by 
the government, but FREDA shows how an independent NGO can 
have a broad impact at the local level and help build 
democracy from the ground up. End Summary. 
 
It Takes the Villagers 
---------------------- 
¶2.  (U) Located at the delta of one of Southeast Asia's 
longest rivers, central and western Irrawaddy Division 
produces some of the highest quality rice in Burma.  Its 
inhabitants, however, have cut down 86% of the division's 
forests to add new rice paddies and prawn farms, and to 
collect firewood and building materials.  The southern delta 
section of the Division, however, is an unproductive 4,000 
sq. mi. flood plain criss-crossed by water channels that 
carve land into parcels too small to farm profitably. 
Villagers here are extremely poor and survive by selling 
roofing woven from palm leaves and catching fish and crabs 
from river channels.  The government does not supply most 
villages with any services, including fresh water or basic 
education. 
 
¶3. (U) The Forest Resource and Environment Development and 
Conservation Association (FREDA) is a leading Burmese 
independent NGO.  Since 1999, FREDA has supported a growing 
network of villages in the delta region committed to 
reforestation.  The GOB allows FREDA to operate 
independently, as long as FREDA keeps officials informed 
about its projects.  The General Secretary of FREDA hosted 
embassy reps on a recent four-day visit (spent mostly in 
boats) to some of FREDA's 18 project villages, including 
Byone Hmwe, Oak-Po, Wakon and Te Pin Seik. 
 
¶4.  (U) To find candidate communities, FREDA educates 
villagers about the importance of mangroves for marine life 
and erosion control, and then obtains a commitment from 
village residents to stop cutting the forest and to start 
planting and protecting trees instead.  FREDA provides 
participants with training, protective clothing, tools, rice, 
and a minimal per diem to plant new trees in cleared areas 
and to clear away brush choking existing natural growth. 
Villagers plant mangrove varieties, important to mitigate 
erosion and support local marine life, as well as other 
species to avoid monoculture problems.  The villagers must 
care for their assigned plot of land, usually one half to two 
acres in size, and protect it from encroachment and 
intrusion.  Some villagers also tend seedling nurseries that 
supply the areas to be reforested, while others oversee the 
efforts of a number of villages.  After two to three years, 
villagers can sustainably harvest the trees for building 
materials and for crating material to 
ship crabs to market.  After at least five years, they can 
cut the trees selectively for raw lumber. 
 
¶5.  (U) German and Japanese NGOs provide the majority of 
FREDA's funding, at $8,000-$10,000 per village.  With 
additional funding, FREDA supports village improvement, 
including upgrading school buildings and digging wells to 
supply clean water.  As residents see the forest returning 
and new economic opportunities created, more families join 
the efforts.  Some even move from other areas in Irrawaddy 
Division into FREDA-sponsored villages.  Te Pin Seik, a model 
village, started with only 15 participating families, and now 
has over 70.  As evidence of the program's success, 28 of the 
families contribute to the $13 monthly salary for a private 
teacher to educate the 170 primary and middle school children 
living in the village. 
 
¶6. (U) Although conspicuously marked, FREDA project areas do 
not need signs: the difference in forest cover, tree health 
and diversity is obvious.  Locals say that even the native 
deer are dissuaded by other animals from trespassing on the 
strictly protected FREDA sites.  FREDA's Secretary General 
plans to slowly introduce small crab and prawn farms into the 
new mangrove areas to determine whether the mangroves can 
filter the water well enough to make these small-scale 
activities profitable without the serious environmental 
contamination caused by larger ponds. 
 
Not Yet Clean and Green 
------------------------ 
¶7. (SBU) FREDA's villagers enjoy a better life than many of 
their neighbors, but they still face difficulties.  It takes 
two to three years before they can begin to harvest building 
materials, including poles and small panels for packing 
crates, and five to ten years before the trees are big enough 
to produce more profitable lumber.  Some other villages in 
the division that enjoy close contacts with local SPDC 
authorities build unregulated fish and prawn farms close to 
FREDA land.  The contaminated water and soil encroaches into 
the nearby-by land and can kill new tree growth.  Local 
Forestry Ministry officials, accustomed to getting kickbacks 
from illegal timber sales to supplement their meager GOB 
salaries, also pressure the villagers to continue payments. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Many ethnic Karen live in the delta region, and the 
military has tried to suppress Karen "insurgents" in the 
region in the past.  The GOB considers southern Irrawaddy 
division a "brown" area, i.e., not fully secured, where 
resistance groups are still present.  Authorities watch Karen 
individuals closely, including FREDA participants, and report 
on all of their activities.  Embassy participants felt GOB 
presence everywhere on the trip, from the bureaucratic 
paperwork required for visit authorization, to the police 
officer who accompanied the entire four-day tour.  The 
British Ambassador was among the delegation, but did not 
visit the projects as planned because the GOB would not allow 
her tourist guests into the project areas. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Comment: Even with these problems, the FREDA program 
offers a good example of how a domestic NGO can successfully 
benefit Burma's poor, develop communities, and protect 
natural resources while working around the government. 
Villagers have voluntarily come together to take 
responsibility for their environment and to make decisions to 
improve their villages' development.  This, in turn, builds 
confidence and develops villagers' leadership and management 
skills to take greater control over their own futures. 
Supporting these efforts thereby diminishes regime control 
and builds the foundation for democracy.  End comment. 
VILLAROSA