Taming the Generals to Save the Tigers

A conservationist enters the jungle of Burmese politics to protect the country’s wildlife

Life in the Valley of Death: The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed by Alan Rabinowitz. Island Press, Washington, DC, 2008. P 230

Alan Rabinowitz’s latest book, “Life in the Valley of Death,” describes the controversial efforts of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to establish the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve in northern Burma’s Kachin State. In 1993, WCS became the first international nongovernmental organization to establish a project inside Burma. Rabinowitz is the executive director of the New York-based organization’s Science and Exploration Program.

The book offers readers a rare look at how large-scale conservation programs unfold in Burma, where efforts involve cooperation among military officials, ethnic army commanders, dedicated local staff, foreign nature conservationists and local villagers. Instead of opening a window onto the Burmese regime’s decision-making process and the country’s complex environmental politics, however, the book strays far too often into Rabinowitz’s personal struggles. Passages detailing the author’s childhood speech impediment, which he rose above by turning to animals as an escape, his struggling marriage and his diagnosis with cancer, add little to readers’ understanding of Burma’s environmental issues.

The reader can only wish that Rabinowitz had focused more on his hard-working Burmese colleagues, the poor villagers dealing with new hunting and access regulations, and the junta leaders and government ministers who ultimately made the final decisions. Giving a voice to these groups, which are either too marginalized to be heard or too powerful to gain access to, would have helped to give a clearer picture of the state of environmental governance in Burma.

Unfortunately, the book also lacks insight into Burma’s culture and politics and says little about the diverse ethnic minorities who inhabit the Hukawng Valley. Given Rabinowitz’s privileged access to this restricted area of the country, it is a pity that he didn’t reflect more on the socio-cultural factors of his conservation work. One exception is his brief description of the fascinating religious beliefs of the Naga regarding tigers.

Rabinowitz’s claim that the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve represents “a pivotal conservation model for our time” demands closer inspection. Rabinowitz now eschews the outdated “people-less” approach to conservation in Burma that had earlier earned him and WCS-Burma much criticism: “I would be courting failure if I did not consider the lives and livelihoods of the local people who live with that wildlife.” But some readers will remain skeptical about the ability of the WCS to put its newly branded rhetoric into practice.

Although it is commendable that WCS has managed to get the Burmese regime and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)—which controls part of the valley, with headquarters at Aung Leuk—talking about conservation, it is doubtful that a multi-stakeholder approach is possible in Burma. For example, the park got the go-ahead from the government before the KIA was properly consulted. When Rabinowitz tried to get the KIA to sign off on the reserve, he did so without telling them about new restrictions that would be placed on their territory and then tried to convince them that it would ultimately help to “preserve their land and their cultural heritage.” When the KIA continued to hesitate, the regime’s northern commander simply told them that they “had to accept the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve.” Thus the world’s largest tiger reserve—paraded by WCS-Burma as a new model of conservation—was established.

Another significant issue is the relationship between the establishment of the tiger reserve and the increasing militarization of the area. Rabinowitz denies that WCS is directly aiding increased militarization in nature parks in Burma. But WCS—through its repeated meetings with military officials—has inadvertently raised the profile of specific high biodiversity areas as a new resource-rich territory for the military to exploit.

Despite Rabinowitz’s denial, he notes that there are now more Burmese military bases being established along the Ledo Road through the Hukawng Valley, more military activities around Tanai, and increased military presence in Naga areas in the valley.