Thousands of New Trees Planted in Hakha

06 June 2012: Thousands of new trees are being planted along the Hakha-Falam and Hakha-Matupi roads, and around the Zion Green Hill near the Nawi river in Hakha township of Chin State.

The Zion Baptist Church organized a one-day voluntary activity of planting about 1,900 trees on the Ngauthu Hill with 76 members on 22 June 2012 while Hakha-based UNDP (United Nations Development Program) is collaborating with local communities on reforestation.

A source from UNDP told Chinland Guardian that the tree-planting project, planned to be completed by the end of this month, is being implemented with 52 villages in Hakha Township.

“The UNDP works together on this project with villages mainly situated along the main roads and asks them to plant at least 10,000 trees. And it also provides necessary supports for the implementation,” added the Chin from Hakha.

Pu Siang Mang, of UNDP in Hakha, was quoted by the Hakha Post as saying that indigenous tree saplings such as rhododendrons, cherries and vaurawng are being picked up for the project.

A Chin reporter, who asks not to be named, told Chinland Guardian that other Chin individuals, churches and local groups as well as government employees have also taken the initiative to reforest the land.

Last month under the leadership of the Hakha Youth Fellowship, a group of youths planted nearly 200 new trees on Mount Rung, where Burma Army soldiers have military bases since the 1990s.

Other fast-growing and flowering trees planted in the Hakha areas include padauk, khadawmi, eucalyptus, and teak.

One of the leaders from the Zion Baptist Church stressed the importance of putting strict restriction policies in place to prohibit hunting and setting fire on trees in order to preserve the environment for animals to inhibit.

Last year, iLoveMyanmar, a non-profit Christian organization led by Dr. Levi Sap Nei Thang, said thousands of cherry and teak saplings would be planted in Chin State in a bid to help combat deforestation.

Majority of people across Chin State still depend on cultivation carried out by means of an age-old traditional ‘slash-and-burn’ farming which results in massive depletion of forests in the government-ignored northwestern region of Burma.

Reporting by Thawng Zel Thang
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