Mekong Region Land Governance Thematic Study Large-Scale Land Acquisitions for Agricultural Development in Myanmar: A Review of Past and Current Processes May 2018 Written by U San Thein, Jean-Christophe Diepart, U Hlwan Moe, and Céline Allaverdian Thematic Study iii Written by U San Thein, Jean-Christophe Diepart, U Hlwan Moe, and Céline Allaverdian Reviewed by: Brett Ballard, UNOPS Myanmar Paul De Wit, FAO/EU FIRST Programme Myanmar Antoine Deligne, UNOPS Myanmar Kevin Woods, University of Hawaii U Shwe Thein, Land Core Group For more information, contact U San Thein: <
[email protected]> Céline Allaverdian at GRET Myanmar: <
[email protected]> Jean-Christophe Diepart at MRLG: <
[email protected]> Suggested citation: San Thein, Hlwan Moe, Diepart J.-C. and C. Allaverdian (2018). Large-Scale Land Acquisitions for Agricultural Development in Myanmar: A Review of Past and Current Processes. MRLG Thematic Study Series #9. Vientiane: MRLG. The views, opinions and interpretations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and contributors. They should not be interpreted as representing the official or unofficial views or positions of SDC, BMZ and Luxembourg. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License iv v Contents Contents v List of acronyms vii Executive summary viii Introduction 1 Methods and data sources 3 1. A genealogy of agricultural land acquisition processes in Myanmar 5 1.1 Myanmar land history at a glance 5 1.2 Colonial legacy in contemporary agricultural