Amilitaryjunta has ruled Myanmar, commonly known as Burma or the Union of Burma, ever since General Ne Win gained power in 1962. His successors have ruled the country with an iron fist ever since. A tropical country in the path of seasonal monsoons, Burma is about the size of the state of Texas. Its population of 50 million people lives under one of the most oppressive governments in the world.

Although Myanmar's official environmental policy is good (it signed the Kyoto protocol and various other international agreements), high levels of corruption and mismanagement have exposed large swaths of Myanmar's jungles to rampant deforestation. The highly secretive and controlling nature of the Myanmar government makes it difficult to find reliable environmental statistics.

The French oil company Total has ...