Mapping household-level land use in a mangrove forest of the Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar

抄録

Household interview surveys were conducted using semi-structured questionnaires in a village in a mangrove forest of the Ayeyarwady Delta during November and December 2014. Participatory mapping was carried out to identify land use at the household-level. Paddy cultivation had become a dominant land use since around 1992. 96.4% of household respondents were engaged in farming. Of those households, 21.8% were cultivating paddies on secure land, and 78.2% of households were doing so on insecure land located in mangrove forest protected by the Forest Department. Although most households had been involved in agriculture inside the protected mangrove forest, they were recently forced to stop paddy cultivation. Those households have not yet been given support via provision of alternative land from the Forest Department. Farming inside the protected mangrove forest became unstable for this village and consequently may have resulted in future livelihood constraints.