Officials in Myanmar say they want to ban exporting wood, according to United Press International (UPI). The impetus is Myanmar's steadily falling forest area, which has declined from 51 percent of the country's total area in 2005 to about 20 percent today.
According to Myanmar's Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation Committee, the main causes of the country's forest loss are excessive cutting, illegal logging, increased use of firewood and a lack of re-planting. In the fiscal year 2008-2009, Myanmar exported $453 million in finished wood. The country's biggest wood export is teak; it supplies about 75 percent of the world market, with most of it going to neighbors India, China, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia.
Read Next
