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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 1:39 am
Time: 1:39 am
Results for timber smuggling
6 results foundAuthor: Environmental Investigation Agency Title: Borderlines: Vietnam's Booming Furniture Industry and Timber Smuggling in the Mekong Region Summary: EIA/Telapak have been probing the trade in stolen timber in East Asia since the late 1990s. Over the last decade, governments around the world have made a raft of pronouncements regarding the seriousness of illegal logging and their determination to tackle it. Yet the stark reality is 'business as usual' for the organised syndicates looting the remaining precious tropical forests for a quick profit. This report contains new information from field investigations carried out by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and its partner Telapak. It exposes how the rapid growth of Vietnam's wood processing industry is threatening some of the last intact forests in the Mekong region, especially those in neighbouring Laos. Since the mid-1990s, Vietnam has taken steps to conserve its remaining forests, whilst at the same time hugely expanding its wooden furniture production industry. Furniture exports from the country were US$ 2.4 billion in 2007, a startling ten-fold increase since 2000. It is unfortunately inevitable that due to the lack of controls on the global timber trade, illegal timber constitutes a significant component of the imported raw materials supplying Vietnam's furniture factories. Vietnam has an unenviable track record when it comes to dealing in stolen timber. In the late 1990s it was caught importing illegal timber from neighbouring Cambodia. In 2003 EIA/Telapak documented shipments of stolen logs from Indonesia entering Vietnam. As the price of raw timber increases, and some wood producing countries like Indonesia take steps to combat illegal logging, the trade in stolen timber shifts. New evidence from EIA/Telapak reveals that Vietnam is now exploiting the forests of neighbouring Laos to obtain valuable hardwoods for its outdoor furniture industry. This trade is in direct contravention of laws in Laos banning the export of logs and sawn timber. During 2007 EIA/Telapak investigators visited numerous furniture factories and found the majority to be using logs from Laos. In the Vietnamese port of Vinh, EIA/Telapak witnessed piles of huge logs from Laos awaiting sale. At the border crossing of Naphao, 45 trucks laden with logs were seen lining up on the Laos side waiting to cross into Vietnam. EIA/Telapak estimate that at least 500,000 cubic metres of logs move from Laos to Vietnam every year. It is not just Vietnam which is exploiting its neighbour. Traders from Thailand and Singapore are also cashing in. Posing as investors, EIA/Telapak investigators met with one Thai businessman who bragged of paying bribes to senior Laos military officials to secure supplies of timber worth potentially half a billion dollars. The cost of such unfettered greed is borne by poor rural communities in Laos who are dependent on the forests for their traditional livelihoods. They gain virtually no income from this trade: instead, the money goes to corrupt officials in Laos and businesses in Vietnam and Thailand. The ultimate responsibility for this dire state of affairs rests with the consumer markets which import wood products made from stolen timber. To some extent the dynamic growth of Vietnam's furniture industry is driven by the demand of end markets such as the European Union and US. Until these states clean up their act and shut their markets to wood products made from illegal timber, the loss of precious tropical Details: London: Environmental Investigation Agency; Bogor, Indonesia; Telepak, 2008. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 15, 2012 at: http://www.greengrants.org.cn/file/pub/Borderlines[1].pdf Year: 2008 Country: Vietnam URL: http://www.greengrants.org.cn/file/pub/Borderlines[1].pdf Shelf Number: 125268 Keywords: Illegal Logging (Vietnam)Offences Against the EnvironmentOrganized CrimeTimber Smuggling |
Author: Rosander, Mikaela Nilsson Title: Illegal Logging: Current Issues and Opportunities for SIDA/SENSA Engagement in Southeast Asia Summary: This report provides an overview of the issues, root causes, and driving forces behind the crimes related to illegal logging. The report includes a comprehensive review of existing initiatives to address the challenges of illegal logging in Southeast Asia. The results are derived mainly from a literature review of various publications, websites, and project documents, but also from personal communication through interviews with people working on the issues of illegal logging in the region. The paper outlines illegal practices in the forest sector, including logging, timber smuggling, tax avoidance, illegal timber processing. Illegal logging can be seen as a symptom of wider problems. In order to combat illegal logging, it is important not only to target the symptom itself, but also to understand and address the underlying causes. Details: Bangkok, Thailand: Regional Community Forestry Training Centre for Asia and the Pacific; Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia, 2008. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 18, 2012 at: Year: 2008 Country: Asia URL: Shelf Number: 125259 Keywords: Illegal Logging (Asia)Offenses Against the EnvironmentTimber Smuggling |
Author: Sheingauz, Alexander Title: Overview of the Forest Sector in the Russian Far East: Production, Industry, and the Problem of Illegal Logging Summary: Russia and China have been bound by long-standing ties since the middle of the 17th century, with mutual trade as an important aspect. It is natural that regions such as the Russian Far East (RFE) and Southeastern Siberia developed firm links with China, because they are the closest neighbors. These relations, particularly in the timber trade, became even stronger (with some fluctuations) following World War II. Details: Forest Trends Association, 2004. 62p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 21, 2012 at http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/doc_115.pdf Year: 2004 Country: Asia URL: http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/doc_115.pdf Shelf Number: 126077 Keywords: Illegal Logging (Russia) (China)Illegal MarketsTimber (Russia) (China)Timber Smuggling |
Author: Lebedev, Anatoly Title: Siberian and Russian Far East Timber for China: Legal and Illegal Pathways, Players, and Trends Summary: The preservation and sustainable use of Siberian and Russian Far East (RFE) forests is of global importance for a number of reasons. These forests, which are the traditional environments of many endangered species and indigenous tribes, are now supplying timber to nearby regions and countries that have largely destroyed their own forests. The vast forests of Asian Russia act as reservoirs for one-seventh of the global carbon pool. Russia holds 75 percent of the carbon stored by all of the world’s boreal forests; thus, deforestation is the second largest source of carbon dioxide emissions, after fossil fuel combustion, in Russia, as it is worldwide. Details: Washington, DC: Forest Trends Association, 2005. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 21, 2012 at http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/doc_109.pdf Year: 2005 Country: Asia URL: http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/doc_109.pdf Shelf Number: 126078 Keywords: Illegal Logging (Russia) (China)Illegal MarketsTimber (Russia) (China)Timber Smuggling |
Author: Environmental Investigation Agency Title: First Class Connection: Log Smuggling, Illegal Logging, and Corruption in Mozambique Summary: Detailing the findings of EIA undercover investigations in Mozambique, and outlining timber trade data discrepancies, this briefing provides compelling evidence of how China’s insatiable demand for timber is directly driving increased illegal logging and timber smuggling in Mozambique, and robbing the impoverished country of significant revenues. Trade data discrepancies indicate that in 2012 Chinese companies imported between 189,615 and 215,654 cubic metres of timber illegally exported from Mozambique - constituting up to 48 per cent of China’s imports from the country. Further, EIA research shows that China’s 2012 imports from Mozambique dwarf not only licensed exports, but also exceed the licensed harvest by 154,030 cubic metres– generating an alarming 48 per cent illegal logging rate in the country. Such crimes are costing Mozambique tens of millions of dollars a year in lost tax revenues – funds desperately needed in what is the world’s fourth least developed nation. Expanding on a November 2012 EIA report on China’s illegal timber imports, this briefing provides detailed investigative case studies into some of the biggest companies engineering these crimes in Mozambique today, exposing the smuggling techniques and the political patronage and corruption that facilitate it. Finally, the briefing makes clear recommendations to the Mozambican Government on how to eliminate such illegal logging and trade and protect its forests from illegal timber traders. Details: London: EIA, 2013. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 28, 2013 at: http://www.eia-global.org/PDF/EIAFirstClassConnectionslores.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Mozambique URL: http://www.eia-global.org/PDF/EIAFirstClassConnectionslores.pdf Shelf Number: 128158 Keywords: Forest ManagementIllegal Logging (Mozambique)Illegal Timber TradeNatural ResourcesTimber Smuggling |
Author: Global Witness Title: Illegal Logging in the Rio Platano Biosphere: A Farce in Three Acts Summary: Honduras, a country rich in natural resources and cultural diversity, struggles against poverty and environmental degradation: it is the third poorest country in Latin America and the second poorest in Central America. Poverty is much more acute in a rural context, so forested areas largely coincide with the poorest ones. The country is well suited to forestry practices, and 41.5 percent of its territory is currently covered with forests. However, decades of agricultural colonisation and the expansion of cattle ranching have resulted in extensive deforestation and related environmental degradation, most notably the deterioration of water resources and soil erosion. In a country that is prone to hurricanes and flooding, environmental degradation worsens the impact of these natural disasters. Severe governance failure in the Honduran forest sector is threatening the country's largest protected area, the UNESCO-accredited Man and the Biosphere Reserve of Rio Platano (hereafter the Rio Platano Biosphere), and the people living in and around it. Corruption at the highest level and a complete lack of accountability have led to environmental destruction and undermined the rights of local people and their efforts towards sustainable forestry. This report makes the case for greater national and international efforts to strengthen forest governance and the rule of law. It is based on Global Witness' on-the-ground research, interviews with key actors and a review of existing official documents and other sources of information. It aims to: (i) document, expose and analyse this case, (ii) identify lessons that can be learned in Honduras and elsewhere and (iii) present a series of recommendations for the various parties involved, in particular the Institute of Forest Conservation and Development (ICF), which is the new Honduran forest authority created by the Forest Law approved on 13 September 2007. The Rio Platano Biosphere has a long history of illegal logging. This report, however, focuses on one particular case: the legalisation of so-called 'abandoned' timber in 2006-2007, and its links to state mismanagement. It illustrates how illegal logging is often not only tolerated, but also promoted, by the authorities in charge. As this report will describe in more detail: - In his inauguration speech on 27 January 2006, President Zelaya committed to eradicating illegal logging in the country, but just a few months later the Honduran forest authority at the time (AFECOHDEFOR) implemented a policy that achieved the opposite: it approved regulatory procedures to effectively legalise illegally-logged mahogany, and did so contravening the law and without any consultation or independent oversight. The implementation of these resolutions spurred a race to illegally log the Rio Platano Biosphere. - The policy was part of a carefully designed plan to launder illegal timber from the most important protected area in the country. - Two months later, the regulatory procedures were suspended as a result of pressure from civil society and an investigation carried out by the Special Environmental Public Prosecutor (FEMA). However, there remained a strong determination to legalise this timber and a new, more sophisticated plan, was rolled out. This included the establishment of contracts with local cooperatives and the subsequent auction of the timber so that the people who financed the illegal logging were able to buy that same timber, now apparently legal. - As a result, as much as 8,000 cubic metres of mahogany were illegally felled. More than 14.7 million lempiras (approximately USD$780,000) of public funds were indirectly delivered to well-known illegal timber traffickers. - Cooperatives at a local level suffered greatly from this experience. Illegal logging of mahogany decreased the value of their forests and jeopardised the opportunity to develop viable community forestry initiatives. Vested interests manipulated some of these organisations to launder illegal timber and in so doing undermined their credibility. The case presented here had dramatic consequences in the Honduran context. However, it should also be looked at within a broader context. What this report documents will unquestionably resonate in other areas around the world experiencing similar issues. What characterises such cases is the disparity between political rhetoric and the vested interests driving the actions of government institutions. Such poor governance goes unchecked in part due to the lack of a transparent and participatory process in the management of the forest resources. At a time when forests have taken centre stage in climate change negotiations, the need to tackle illegal logging and associated deforestation and degradation is more pressing than ever. Deforestation accounts for around 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and addressing this problem is seen by many as the most cost effective way of reducing these harmful emissions. A post-Kyoto agreement could help to ensure that forests are left standing so that they can be used sustainably by the people living in and around them. Good governance in Honduras and elsewhere is an essential prerequisite for the protection and sustainable use of forests. This, coupled with addressing the drivers of deforestation and empowering forest dependent communities, should be the focus of any forest and climate strategy. Sustainable forest management could play a significant role in supporting the livelihoods of local populations and fighting poverty, while at the same time maintaining the ecological value of forests. Details: Washington, DC: Global Witness, 2009. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 8, 2018 at: file:///C:/Users/AuthUser/Downloads/illegal_logging_in_rio_platano_final_en_low_res.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Honduras URL: file:///C:/Users/AuthUser/Downloads/illegal_logging_in_rio_platano_final_en_low_res.pdf Shelf Number: 153347 Keywords: Abandoned TimberCorruptionEnvironmental CrimeForest GovernanceGood GovernanceIllegal LoggingIllegal Timber TraffickersMahogonyRule of lawTimber smugglingTimber theft |