The military regime’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation announced on 10 March that 12,342 acres of land in Thantlang Township, Chin State, where there has been intense fighting, would be designated as a national park where biodiversity will be protected.

The statement said that ‘Mi-A-Pi’ area is a prominent rocky outcrop located about 23 miles from Thantlang Township. “From that area, you can go to Mizoram in India. It could be a tourist spot, and it has been designated as a national park due to an abundance of trees, biodiversity and its unique geographical location.”

A tourism entrepreneur said, "Though the military regime is designating it as a national park it is already too late. What can we do now the town is ruined? Plans to designate the area as a national park were submitted to the previous government in 2018-19.”

The reasons for making the area a national park are because many natural symbols of Chin State are found there. Plants such as the Pine, Taung Zalap Phyu (Rhododendron), Taung Zalap Ni and different orchids grow there. Wild animals such as pied hornbills, mountain goats, leopards and pangolins, which are endangered, live there. It also has some unique geological features. There would be many opportunities for nature-based tourism if the military were not prosecuting a brutal, illegal war against civilians in the area and had not burned down nearly all of Thantlang Town.

In Chin State, Mount Victoria (a.k.a Nat Ma Taung) was designated as the first national park in the state and Kimo Mountain near Sami Town, in Paletwa Township was designated as the state’s second national park in 2016.