. The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: Asia and the Pacific. Burma (Myanmar). Tlie Arakan Yomas have siijjered exlemive moiisoon Joresis, nozv penetrated by extensive bamboo, have Ion much oj their vahi, baver Forest-type maps are being prepared by the Burma Forest Depart- ment at 1:50,000 scale for the western part of the country, encom- passing about 40 percent of the closed forests. To 1987,90 maps had been prepared, and half of them printed. The monsoon forests in the hills and foothills are of supreme commercial importance for their stands of teak and this is one o
. The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: Asia and the Pacific. Burma (Myanmar). Tlie Arakan Yomas have siijjered exlemive moiisoon Joresis, nozv penetrated by extensive bamboo, have Ion much oj their vahi, baver Forest-type maps are being prepared by the Burma Forest Depart- ment at 1:50,000 scale for the western part of the country, encom- passing about 40 percent of the closed forests. To 1987,90 maps had been prepared, and half of them printed. The monsoon forests in the hills and foothills are of supreme commercial importance for their stands of teak and this is one of the few areas where management for timber has proved sustainable over a long period. Twenty-five per cent of Burma's national revenue is still derived from the sale of teak, harvested under the 'Burma Selection System', a polycyclic silvicultural system in which low volumes of mature trees of stipulated minimum girth are harvested on a 25-40 year felling cycle. This system has been practised for longer than any other in the tropics and the forests of the Pegu Yomas, north of Rangoon, are now undergoing their third or fourth cycle of extraction. Traditionally, elephants are used to haul the logs to river banks from where they are floated to railways or ports. Post- logging silvicultural treatments include cutting of climbers and killing of uneconomic trees that are competing with desirable trees. This system has been in operation since the mid-19th century and has proved most successful in maintaining a sustained yield of top quality timber with minimum environmental disturbance. The numerous external forestry aid projects during the 1980s, however, have favoured more intensive forest exploitation, with large investment in mechanised logging equipment. This trend has been exacerbated by Thailand's 1988 ban on timber exploitation, which has intensified the pressure to exploit Burma's forests. The replacement of elephants by machines has inevitably had serious environmental cons
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