Summary

Myanmar’s $31bn jade industry is widely considered to tainted by corruption and abuse, but a new initiative proposes groundbreaking reforms that will target the jade industry’s ties to circles surrounding senior figures in the country’s military.

Impact

Myanmar’s recently elected government is flexing its muscles as it starts to address the legacy of over half a century of military rule in the ethnically diverse and impoverished state.

The country’s murky jade trade came to international attention last autumn after transparency campaigners Global Witness released two reports outlining how the sector was controlled by companies tied to networks of crony businessmen, military families and drug lords.

Then in April, Myanmar’s new natural resources minister carried out an inspection of gold and jade mines in the country’s conflict-ridden Kachin state, where local residents are concerned about the environmental damage and deadly accidents their operations have caused.