Development harms Natmataung’s World Heritage prospects

Development harms Natmataung's World Heritage prospects

By Aye Sapay Phyu   |   Monday, 23 June 2014

Recent development projects in Chin State appear to have damaged Natmataung National Park's chance of inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Hikers walk along a path toward the summit of Natmataung in southern Chin State. (Douglas Long/The Myanmar Times)

Natmataung, along with Indawgyi Lake Wildlife Sanctuary in Kachin State, were put forward for inclusion following a meeting organised by the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Nay Pyi Taw in late February.

The sites were selected from a shortlist of seven. However, Natmataung seems unlikely to be listed after a UNESCO team that visited in May concluded it had no outstanding universal value, said the official, who asked not to be named.

Their officials cited nearby human settlements, road construction and deforestation due to shifting cultivation as factors against listing.

"A state government project to build a road about 30 feet [9 metres] wide in the park resulted in trees being cut down. That damaged the habitat of the native white-browed nuthatch, a bird that is usually seen in the mountain forest up to 2500-3000m," he said.

For inclusion onto the heritage list a site of nature "must be of outstanding universal value" and "contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance", according to UNESCO criteria.

But Sardar Umar Alam, UNESCO's program manager for Myanmar, told The Myanmar Times that UNESCO was still assessing all seven natural heritage sites on the "tentative list" and none had been ruled out completely.

"All these sites have potential," he said. "UNESCO only provides technical assistance and the government of Myanmar will decide based on technical and feasibility assessments of these sites. All these sites need to be protected and conserved. For us all the sites are equal."

The five other sites are spread around the country, including, in the north, the Northern Forest Mountain Complex, home to the 5880m snow-capped Mt Hkakaborazi, Southeast Asia's highest mountain, and the Hukawng Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, the world's largest tiger reserve. In southern Myanmar, the Tanintharyi Forest Corridor, the largest remaining lowland evergreen forest in mainland Southeast Asia, and the Myeik Archipelago, a collection of 800 islands surrounded by extensive coral reefs in the Andaman Sea, were nominated. In central Myanmar, the Ayeyarwady River Corridor, home to the threatened freshwater Irrawaddy Dolphin, was also proposed.

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2014/06/23/development-harms-natmataungs-world-heritage-prospects/