The use of remotely sensed data particularly the NOAA AVHRR data was considered a major tool for such purpose. On a much wider scale, this kind of information could also be useful for global research and modelling, macro-economic studies, and assessment of the earth's state of environment. The harmonization of land cover categories was adopted in the interpretation of satellite data for these countries towards a comprehensive regional resource assessment and information aggregation, an important decision input for the regional and national context.

Under this volume, the land cover of Myanmar and its related information have been presented while the overall rational behind this activity and its associated methodology appeared in Volume 1-A. It is envisioned that such results will serve as a valuable information for a more direct and appropriate formulation of policies and sensible resource management strategies. [Top]

1.2 Myanmar: Study Area
1.2.1 Location and Physical Characteristics

Myanmar has an area of 676,568 sq.km. and situated between latitude 10⁰N and 29⁰N and longitudes 92⁰E and 101⁰E. It is bordered in the south by the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea and has land borders with Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. It is about 2,092 km from north to south and about 933 km from east to west.

The country is drained by a number of rivers, mostly flowing from north to south. The elevation of the land surface varies from sea level along the coasts to about 6000 m on the mountains bordering China. Over most parts of Myanmar, there are three well defined seasons, the rainy season (mid-May and ends in October), the cold season (November to January) and the hot season (February to Mid-May).

1.2.2 Present Land Cover

As a result of the great variation of rainfall, temperature, soil and topography, there are many different forest types in Myanmar. Tropical evergreen forest occur in many places of the highest rainfall zone especially in the southern part of the country. Hill and moist temperate forests are found in the eastern, northern and western regions where elevation exceeds 900 m. The forest type changes to deciduous, then to dry forests along the transect towards the middle of the country as a result of decreasing rainfall.

Myanmar, home to over 40 million Myanmars, it is endowed with one of the highest forest cover in the Asia-Pacific region. The most recent forest resources undertaken by the UNDP/FAO National Forest Management and Inventory Project in 1989 estimated that closed forest of Myanmar covers 29.33 million ha or 43.3% of the total area of the country. Degraded forest and those affected by shifting cultivations accounted for 7.5% (5.10 million ha) and 22.8% (15.44 million ha), respectively. Tract of 16.46 million ha. or 24.3% of the total area are considered as non-forest.

Forest lands irrespective of their status are affected to some extent by human interference or encroachment, shifting cultivation, etc. The lost of forest cover annually attributable to shifting cultivation and encroachment in 1989 was 220,000 ha or 0.32% of the land area (Myanmar Forest Department, 1991). However, there are still large tracts of undisturbed forests in the northern hilly region of the country.

Figure 1. Regional coverage of NOAA AVHRR satellite data showing Myanmar (northern and central part)