Form Submission: Participation Entry

Production of betel nut, a stimulant and cash crop harvested from the Areca catechu palm, is booming among indigenous Karen communities in a proposed national park in Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar. Karen villagers see expanding betel agroforests as a crucial strategy to claim land tenure and earn income during an uncertain ceasefire period. However, international conservationists blame Karen betel cultivation for causing deforestation and aim to restrict it. This paper asks why conservationists are targeting smallholder betel nut expansion with such urgency, rather than other threats such as industrial oil palm plantations. Drawing on interviews and participant observation with Karen villagers and conservationists in Myanmar, I explore contested constructions of betel nut. I find that political constraints imposed on conservationists in Myanmar lead them to target interventions towards Karen villagers, reifying an existing narrative of blaming the Karen for deforestation, and becoming entangled with broader struggles over territory and sovereignty.