Review of Efforts to Combat Desertification and Arrest and Reverse Land Degradation in Myanmar - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 280

cultivation techniques whose purposes are to maintain a protective vegetative cover,
to increase infiltration and to impede overland flow. For the most effective results,
a number of these approaches will generally be used in conjunction, utilizing a
combination of structural and non structural measures in an integrated fashion to
achieve optimal management results.
A range of non-structural and structural or mechanical means is available for the
avoidance of mass movement disasters and the mitigation of their effects. There is
a variety of structural or mechanical measures which can be applied to reduce the
potential for land instability in areas where occupation cannot be prohibited. These
measures might include the following:

• preventing or diverting run-off flows around critical sites

• de-watering sites using drainage systems

• planting trees or shrubs which remove sub-surface water by transpiration

• planting deep-rooted vegetation to bind sub-soil material

• underpinning foundations to stable rock

• battering slopes to stable grades

• constructing retaining walls along the toes of critical slopes

The vulnerability of watersheds to land degradation and water-related natural dis-
asters can be reduced by structural works and land treatment measures. Figure 14.4
is an example of a gully plug to stabilize the small stream. The potential impact
of these adverse developments or events can be further reduced by the imposition
of land-use controls, designed to manage degradation and minimize exposure to
the risk of disasters which cannot be avoided. To achieve this objective, legislative
controls which empower the relevant government authorities to direct land-use
planning policies and practices related to watershed management should be adopted
and implemented. These controls should strive to ensure that an effective and com-
prehensive legal and administrative system is adopted which addresses the problems
of land degradation, environmental protection, and the maintenance of ecosystems
and is consistent with the principles of sustainable resource development. Such a
system requires an integrated approach to the management and protection of natural
resources, including land, water, vegetation and human activity, undertaken on the
basis of the total watershed. This approach recognized that changes to the natural
environment in the upper watershed will influence conditions in the downstream
areas.

7 Efforts Undertaken by the Government to Deal with Land

Degradation

Since 1960, the Forest Department had established 766,000 acres of plantations, of
which 27 % are designated for fuelwood supply of the country. However, most of
these plantations were overcut and depleted due to inadequate management and the
lack of people's participation for protection.