EIA’s Forests team has been working on the ground in Myanmar since the country began to emerge from under the shadow of brutal military dictatorship in 2011, exposing illegal timber trade and helping to provide the tools for meaningful reform of its natural resources sector – but all that changed with the coup on 1 February
On 1 February, the Myanmar military (also known as the Tatmadaw) overthrew the Government of the country and arrested its leadership, events which radically altered the context for addressing the problem of illegal timber sourced from the country
With grave concern that the profits from Myanmar timber exports are going into the pockets of the military junta responsible for the country’s ongoing violent coup, new analysis has now identified a pattern of timber tax evasion by exporting companies