Kawthoolie Tree Planting Day
On July 1st, along with tree planting activities in several areas including areas along the Salween basin and other townships, villagers from 15 villages planted over 1,000 tree species in the Kheshorter Community Forest, the largest community forest located in northern Salween Peace Park, Mutraw District, Kawthoolei. The forest is under the collective governance, protection and management of fifteen Indigenous Karen communities.
Kheshorter has been a refuge for families who fled there in 2006 due to fighting caused by Burma’s military road expansion. At that time, some forest area was cleared to fulfill emergency needs such as shelter building and farming for these displaced communities. These families have since returned to their original village, so the communities of Kheshorter Community Forest decided to reforest their area to maintain and improve the biodiversity in their forest.
This reforestation was carried out as part of Kawthoolei Tree Planting Month established by Kawthoolei Forestry Department (KFD). The activity was joined by district KFD, KESAN staffs, and students from The Nu Chet La Cultural School. Including this, the people of the Salween Peace planted over 20,000 trees in the park this year to mark the Kawthoolei Tree Planting Day.