Tanintharyi Regional Oil Palm Assessment: Macro-level overview of land use in the oil palm sector

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This report summarises an assessment that was undertaken at the request of the Tanintharyi Regional Government, in response to concerns raised by civil society and other stakeholders regarding land conflicts in the oil palm sector. It provides a macro-level overview of large-scale (more than 500 acres) oil palm operations across Tanintharyi Region, based on an assessment carried out by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) as part of the OneMap Myanmar (OMM) project in 2018-2019. The assessment aimed to improve transparency regarding the land use relating to oil palm operations in Tanintharyi Region. This was achieved through documenting the total number of oil palm operations, permit areas and planted areas in a report and spatial representation on a digital, online platform. While some findings continue to be updated, most information should be considered relevant as of September 2018. This report provides the first consolidated overview of the scale of the oil palm sector in Tanintharyi Region. With the mandate from the Tanintharyi Regional Government, this assessment attempted to systematically collect land permits for all oil palm operations in the region. Planting data from plantation operators was then collected, and planting areas were determined based on high-resolution satellite imagery. This allowed the assessment to analyse oil palm plantings across Tanintharyi Region, as presented in this report.

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