Paper short abstract:

Outside efforts to manage economically and ecologically valuable species have been central to indigenous dispossession and livelihood deprivation in northern Myanmar for more than a century. This paper draws on local conservation traditions to explore paths to indigenous biodiversity sovereignty.

Paper long abstract:

Indigenous sovereignty often appears as a struggle over territory and lands. Yet in Myanmar’s northern forests, outside efforts to manage commercially and ecologically valuable species have long been at the center of indigenous dispossession and livelihood deprivation. This paper reconsiders indigenous sovereignty in terms of control over—and access to—traditionally important species, exploring pathways to indigenous biodiversity sovereignty. From Colonial Burma’s first teak and big game reserves to present-day Myanmar’s largest mass of national parks including the controversial Hukaung Tiger Sanctuary, the exploitation and conservation of specific species has often entailed the confiscation of indigenous lands and the prohibition of traditional subsistence strategies. Moreover, indigenous interactions with species that have served as medicines, foods, and sources of trade income for centuries have been disrupted by inter/national efforts to regulate the traffic in endangered biodiversity (CITES) and cartels who seek to manage these emerging black-to-gray market trades. Drawing on Kramer’s ethnographic fieldwork and Sønwal’s experiences in community-based research and advocacy in the region, this paper first offers a remapping of the stakeholders and agencies involved in the struggle over species in northern Myanmar. Second, it draws on local traditions of resource management to consider the different ways in which indigenous communities can collaborate to reassert biodiversity sovereignty and reclaim access to, and control over, traditionally important species. Lastly, it considers how efforts to regain biodiversity sovereignty can integrate with indigenous land activism and the broader ICCA movement as well as the ongoing work of inter/national conservation agencies.