Since 2012, land governance in Myanmar has been undergoing major changes. This article aims to capture the changes of the last year, framed through my perception of working as a consultant for a range of local NGOs, INGOs and donors. While this will inevitably be coloured by my own experience, I hope that I can present for wider discussion and reflection some of the key events and issues that I have found interesting over the past year...The Myanmar National Land Use Policy (NLUP) was published in March 2016, after 2 public consultations that took place during 2014 and 2015.

Pyithu Hluttaw Act 1, 1987

This report describes the current situation faced by rural Karen villagers in Toungoo District (known as Taw Oo in Karen). Toungoo District is the northernmost district of Karen State, sharing borders with Karenni (Kayah) State to the east, Pegu (Bago) Division to the west, and Shan State to the north. To the south Toungoo District shares borders with the Karen districts of Nyaunglebin (Kler Lweh Htoo) and Papun (Mutraw).

N. B. The title of this article, published in the April-May issue of "The Mon Forum", uses the term "Bill" which implies that the law has not been adopted. Elsewhere in the article, however, it is clear that the analysis is of the adopted Law...

Act No. 20, 1960

This article traces the revenue category and legal concept of the Waste Land in Burma/Myanmar
from its original application by the British colonial apparatus in the nineteenth century, to its
later use in tandem with Burma Army counterinsurgent tactics starting in the 1960s, and finally
to the 2012 land laws and current issues in international investment. This adaptation of colonial
ideas about territorialization in the context of an ongoing civil war offers a new angle for under-

The State Law and Order Restoration Council -
The City of Yangon Development Law -
(The State Law and Order Restoration Council Law No. 11/90) -
The 6th Waning Day of Kason, 1352 M.E.
(14th May, 1990)

Notification No 62/2012 -
14 Waxing Wagaung 1374 ME
(31, August, 2012) -
Designating the Date of Coming into Force of Farm Land Law...The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation promulgated the following rules by using the
power vested by the section-42, sub-section (a) of farm land law with the approval of
Pyidaungsu Government....
1. These rules shall be called farm land rules.
2. The words and expressions contained in these rules shall mean as contained
in Farm Land Law. And the following words shall mean as described...

(THE UNION OF BURMA REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL LAW NO. 9 OF 1963).....Repealed by the Farmland Act - Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 11/2012

The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, exercising its given rights, and with the approval of
the Union Government, has issued the following rules in accordance with Section 34, Subsection
(a) of the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law - 1. These rules shall be called the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Rules.
2. The terms and expressions used in these rules shall have the same meaning as used in the
Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law. In addition, the following expressions shall
have the meanings as stated below:

The 7th waning day of Tazaungmon, 1350 B.E.
(30th November, 1988).....Repealed by the Foreign Investment Law of 2 November 2012, The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 21/2012.

The HLP [Housing, Land and Property]choices the nation makes in the coming months will largely determine
whether this unbelievably beautiful land, and its proud and wonderful people, will
face the tumult, inequities and tragic HLP outcomes of so many other nations of
transition; or whether Myanmar can chart an entirely new HLP path, which ushers in
a truly new HLP dawn, whereby every one of the country’s 55 million citizens can –
as rapidly as possible – enjoy growing security of tenure, improving housing and