Illegal log trade between Myanmar and China, after a period of de-escalation starting in 2006, is now increasing back to peak levels and accelerating deforestation, according to a report from the Environmental Investigation Agency.
Click to read the report online.
“Organized Chaos: The illicit overland timber trade between Myanmar and China,” released last week, paints a dire portrait.
Forest loss has nearly doubled from 97,000 hectares a year pre-2009 to an average of 185,000 hectares a year today. By 2030, projected forest loss could total 30 million hectares, the report said.
Much of the forestland is lost to illegal logging, and the majority of illegally logged wood goes across the border into China. In 2013, the report said, 938,000 cubic meters of logs entered China, 94 percent of which came into China illegally.
The illegal trade is happening despite a log export ban issued by the Myanmar government in 2014 and a regulatory framework for controlling the timber trade developed in China in 2006.
In fact, while the regulations China introduced did temporarily dampen log volume across the border (only 270,000 cubic meters of logs were exported in 2008), the Myanmar-enforced log export ban has had little to no effect, according to the report.
“The smuggling of timber in this year is worse than last year,” an unnamed forestry official told the EIA.
The full EIA report can be viewed online.
