The Inspiring Model of Community Conserved Territories in Myanmar Launch of the Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park
A Myanmar Commentary by the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network
Amidst conflict and displacement, the need to preserve the lands of the people and natural environment is urgent. But visionary endeavours are still continuing. In this commentary, the KESAN network describes the recent establishment of the Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park, bringing local communities together to protect ecological systems and ways of life that are under threat. The goal is not simply conservation for today but environmental practices and reforms that will last into future generations.
private source Geba Karen dance group at Tawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park launch ceremony.
Last December 10, 2024, saw the founding of the “Thawthi Taw Oo Indigenous Park” or TTIP in a three-day ceremony and celebration. The TTIP is the second “community conserved territory” officially recognised by the central authorities of the Karen National Union (KNU). It is located in Taw Oo (Toungoo) District, the KNU’s northern-most administrative region.
The first such initiative – the Salween Peace Park(external link) (SPP) – is based in the KNU’s Mutraw (Hpapun) District and was launched six years ago in December 2018. Despite intense aggression from the State Administration Council (the current military regime established after the 2021 coup), the Salween Peace Park continues to survive and earn international recognition for its inspired vision, the resilience of its people, and its contribution to the construction of a federal future.
Now one can fully hope and expect the SPP’s sister initiative, the newly-founded TTIP, to follow suit and help carry the vision further. P’doh Saw Eh Wah, chairperson of the TTIP Steering Committee and KNU secretary in Taw Oo District, explained in his opening speech(external link):
“Born in this country known as Burma, we the indigenous people have never had our rights. There are no Indigenous Peoples’ rights mentioned in either the country’s constitution or national laws. We are regarded as stateless with no country, land and literacy. Our lands are being labelled as vacant/fallow lands which can be given to companies at any time in the name of development. This is a big threat for us. So, if the leaders of the country where we live do not recognize our rights, then we must find a way to assert our own rights. According to the United Nations and its UNDRIP,(external link) we the Indigenous People have the rights to manage our lands, territory, and practise our culture and traditions. Therefore, we must first acknowledge that we inherit these rights, and we must reclaim our rights through these international platforms.”
The TTIP’s launch, organised by the TTIP Steering Committee, brought together representatives of all the different ethnic and religious groups, village communities and organisations in Taw Oo District, along with representatives of numerous allied organisations and communities from outside the district who wanted to show solidarity and support for the initiative.
Ceremony and celebration
The mass event was attended by no less than 1,200 people, who came from far and wide within Kawthoolei, which is how Karen indigenous people name and define their homeland(external link) and which encompasses a larger area than the “Karen State” designated by the central Myanmar government. Most of the celebrants hailed from villages that are part of the new park and it was their collective efforts over the previous seven years leading up to the founding that were being honoured. The TTIP is composed of 318 villages with a population of over 113,000 and encompasses a land area of more than 1,420,000 acres.
One striking character of the TTIP is the diversity of its human population. Not only does the TTIP initiative bring together villagers from six different Karen groups (Kanyaw Wah [white Karen], Geba, Paku, Maw Nay Pwa, Bwe and Mo Pwa), but it also gathers communities of ethnic Pa-O, Shan, Karenni and Bamar backgrounds among others as well. Said Pu Dee Htoo, a TTIP committee member:
“There are not only Karen ethnic and Christian people but also other ethnic and religious people living in TTIP territory. We have been divided and have been dividing each other in the name of politics, religion and ethnicity. Now it is time to be united and live together peacefully, supporting and working together as one living in this territory.”
Participants felt particularly hopeful about this unifying aspect of being part of something bigger than themselves. A participant from a Pa-O-inhabited village in Thaw Oo District observed:
“Through this event, the indigenous people who are living in TTIP territory got to know that, as an indigenous people, we also have our rights. We came here as ethnic Pa-O to show our solidarity and willingness to coordinate and work with our Karen brothers and sisters since we are also living in Karen administrative territory. We had time to connect with each other who came to this event, sharing and listening to our experiences and difficulties, got to see KNU leaders, and listened to their speeches.”
During the celebration, attendees were not only able to listen to what TTIP leaders had to say but also to ask them questions. On the first day there was even a lively exchange between a Pa-O participant and a KNU leader on the politics of building a multi-ethnic territory. Upon being asked, the KNU leader stated that at the moment Sgaw Karen is the first language spoken at KNU departments and offices, and Burmese and English are also available as necessary. In addition, sometime Pwo Karen is also spoken. Consideration is now being given to include other ethnic languages spoken in the area since there are many other smaller groups. But this will take some time.
It is now hoped that the cultural exchanges and political interactions that the TTIP initiative is envisioned to bring will cultivate mutual learning, belonging, support and solidarity. These are very much the kind of social relationships that participants yearn for. A male villager from the Geba Karen group said:
“I am so proud to be involved in organising this launch and so happy to see all the Karen people as well as other ethnic groups together here. I am so surprised seeing and knowing that ethnic Pa-O people are also living here in TTIP territory because we thought that Pa-O people are living only in Shan State. Seeing different peoples together, I think we can all be united and work together, exchange our languages and literature, and we can even support each other by working for a small ethnic group whose language we cannot speak in order to discover and practise their literature, traditions and culture.”
Some participants journeyed to the event from outside the TTIP area, including an impressive number of representatives from two other territories conserved by communities: the already-mentioned SPP in Mutraw District and the Thawthi Karenni Indigenous Park, which is in the process to be established in Karenni (Kayah) State. Both of these parks share boundaries with the TTIP. And all three, as a KESAN briefer explains(external link), “are linked by the mutually significant and powerful spiritual mountain Thawthi Kho which sits at their confluence.”
One group travelled for ten days from a more distant territory in the south to take part in the ceremonies, to share their cultures through song and stories, and to show solidarity. One Paku Karen female participant mentioned that this is the first time to see different Karen groups together.
“We knew that there are many different Karen tribes out there in different areas but had never seen and met as much as this. We also got to meet small groups whose existence we had never been aware of. I’m so happy that I’ve come, and it’s very good to organise this kind of event. We could exchange our traditional cultures, such as costumes, music and literature.”
The venue itself had been specially-built for this occasion. It was complete with decentralised accommodation, several eating areas, a health clinic and a large exhibition area sweeping around the centre stage. The whole campus was nestled in a majestic, mountainside bamboo forest with a free-flowing river nearby. The great efforts made by the organisers to construct and prepare a venue that could accommodate so many people so well – backed up by the determination of so many participants to arrive – made the event all the more meaningful.
The opening ceremony, led by TTIP spiritual leaders and elders, set the tone for a mutual reverence for all life witnessed holistically.
private source Karen leaders sign declaration to establish the Tawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park.
Community conserved territory
“While their cultural taboos are distinct, local communities have long been connected through their shared holistic worldview in which humanity and nature are deeply intertwined. The health and prosperity of a community mirrors that of the natural world, and local cultural practices are built on reciprocal relationships with the land, forests, rivers, plants, animals and spirits.” Karen Indigenous Community Conserved Territories, pamphlet produced by KESAN, TTIP and SPP.
According to the “Statement on the Establishment of the Thawthi Taw Oo Indigenous Park and the Ratification of the Thawthi Taw Oo Indigenous Park Charter”, issued by the park Steering Committee on 15 December 2024, “the TTIP will protect a globally important natural ecosystem, and our indigenous Karen cultures that have stewarded the landscape for generations.” The TTIP is situated in the Indo-Burma Global Biodiversity Hotspot and the Dawna Tenasserim Landscape. According to the TTIP statement, it covers about 5,700 km2 (over 1,400,000 acres) of “healthy forests, free flowing rivers, and towering mountains” and is “home to more than 100,000 indigenous Karen peoples, alongside a cornucopia of plant and animal species.”
The initiative has also gained strong support from the central KNU. In a statement signed by KNU Joint Secretary-1, P’doh Saw Thaw Thi Bwe, the KNU declared its:
“full and unwavering recognition of the Thawthi Taw Oo Indigenous Park, as described and specified by the Charter, and all the entities and processes leading up to its creation and enactment, including all the participating Kaw(external link)and their unifying structure, and the park boundary which brings and binds them, and the territories and landscapes therein, based on mutual recognition and a shared respect of Nature.”
Through this conservation, the TTIP is an inspiring example of how villagers, supported by their allies, are taking matters into their own hands to ensure that their ways of life – and the material and social conditions that make these ways of life possible – are recognised, respected, protected and cared for in ways that are truly regenerative ecologically. Said the Brigadier General Saw Ghee Nwee, the KNU 5th Brigade Commander for Mutraw District:
“Now we are launching this TTIP, we must ensure that it will last and grow. Therefore, we Karen people must firstly think of the ways forward and speak out for the growth of the TTIP. Secondly, we must live and practise in this supportive way. And thirdly, we must carry on with the work and gain more knowledge so that we can accomplish this task properly. It is also very important to include youth and the new generation in the TTIP. They need to gain more knowledge about TTIP and how to protect it, and also gain relevant international knowledge, in order to contribute in their work to make the TTIP sustainable.”
This kind of grassroots and collective effort, which is hands-on, is what KESAN calls an “indigenous community conserved territory”. The TTIP is an especially exciting example of this compelling approach to conservation. And it is taking shape at the very moment when real solutions are needed to address the problems that are potentially driving life on our planet to extinction. In this respect, the TTIP, the SPP and the Thawthi Karenni Indigenous Park are important and strategically-innovative examples of the kind of conservation that is needed today amidst environmental destruction, deepening ecological collapse and climate crisis. Real solutions to these problems are urgently needed.
But it is an uphill battle, and these projects are swimming against the current.
Swimming against the current
There are many initiatives taking place all over the world today that label themselves as “conservation”. But they are not all the same. Globally, environmental sustainability and the crucial role of conservation is an accepted and valued idea. Yet the actual practice of conservation is as diverse and contentious as many of the other human activities that are causing the problems.
On the one hand, different people and entities handle conservation differently. As P’doh Junice, a TTIP committee member, explained during the opening ceremony:
“We would like all of you to understand that the TTIP is different from the way of dictators in creating a park. If they had announced that this area is a preserved forest and heritage-reserved national park, they would then chase out all the people who had been living there for many decades or for their whole lives. In contrast, the purpose of the TTIP is for all the indigenous people who are living in this park to work together collectively in protecting their territory, nature and their traditions.”
P’doh Junice went on to highlight the link between ecological and social regeneration and the importance of the TTIP in fostering both.
“Also it’s a moment to discover about ourselves for those who are not self-aware as an indigenous people and to hold the responsibility of protecting and preserving ours lands and nature in the ways that the older generation of our people did. For the sustainability of the TTIP, we must have unity, a shared sense of identity and good leaders who can make decisions in both politics and development. We need to develop a new generation of leaders who can lead the TTIP development. To develop new leaders, we need to provide our new generation with a higher education that can connect them to international experiences and learning.”
On the other hand, any and all conservation initiatives have very real consequences for people and ecosystems and landscapes. Not all the effects are immediately visible since they play out in many ways that may be initially unseen across multiple land and water-scapes and on multiple scales over time. According to P’doh Saw Thaw Thi Bwe, KNU Joint Secretary-1.
“We need to protect our lands from outsiders as well as from ourselves. We should be careful not to destroy nature and our environment due only to individual development and wealth. We must preserve and protect our lands, forest, rivers and should not allow these to be destroyed by logging, mining and deforestation.”
The dominant approach to conservation emerged historically alongside the objective of exploiting and extracting nature to make profits and accumulate wealth. This objective animated historical “regimes of dispossession”’ dating back to at least the beginning of the 19th century. This kind of conservation evolved to serve various functions within such a regime. This could be in two ways:
whether to ensure that a specific resource in a particular place would be available en masse for extraction by an authorized entity in the future (e.g., to generate the raw materials needed to keep capitalist industrial enterprises up and running, often in distant metropoles):
or to ensure that the “captains of industry” living in the cities, whose businesses depended on natural resource extraction in one place, would still have access to nature in another place for their recreation and leisure (e.g., by creating “national parks” of “pristine nature” emptied of “backward” villagers where rich people could relax in peace).
Conservation in both cases historically involved state coercion, backed up by armed force, whether of an administrative or judicial kind. This kind of conservation went, and still goes, hand-in-glove with natural resource extraction. They are two sides of the same coin. They are both part of what Michael Levien called(external link) the “socially and historically specific constellations of state structures, economic logics tied to particular class interests, and ideological justifications that generate a consistent pattern of dispossession.”
Throughout history this approach to conservation has been rolled out in close association with colonialism and capitalist expansion. It has been rolled out, too, in this corner of the world that eventually came to be known as Myanmar. The country’s landscapes and territories have been artificially stitched together or ripped apart, reworked and revalued, patched and re-patched, with many suffering the consequences – then as now.
“They thought they could bury us, but they didn’t know we are seeds”
Would Myanmar be in the difficulties it is today without the particular political-economic and institutional contributions that the coercive kind of conservation has made, hand in hand with colonialism and capitalism, over the past two to three centuries? It is an interesting question.
But there is an even more relevant and pressing question. We know what kinds of human activities and enterprises – along with land-grabbing and green-grabbing ushering them in – are among the key drivers of environmental destruction, ecological collapse and climate crisis. So how can these harmful activities be rolled back? And, what’s more, now that we know that many projects and programmes that may call themselves “conservation” are actually part of the problem, we must therefore ask ourselves where the real solutions are and what do they look like?
And it is here that we can come full circle back to the TTIP and its sister “community conserved territories” rising quietly and steadily from the soil like saplings despite the decades of conflict and adversity that surround them. May these initiatives, and others like them, live long and prosper for their sake and for ours too. Let’s celebrate and support them along with the many more to come.
