Almost 3,200 acres of natural forest in the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries in China have been logged illegally, according to a Greenpeace Investigation.
The amount of trees felled in the Sanctuaries, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is equal to 1,814 soccer fields.
“The extent of illegal logging in this precious area is shocking,” said Pan Wenjing, deputy head of the forest and ocean of with Greenpeace East Asia. “These findings seriously undermine the Chinese government’s efforts to preserve its and the world’s natural heritage.”
The operation was carried out via a loophole in the law. Although organizations cannot fell natural forests for profit in China, they can replace “low yield” natural forest with profitable forest plantations for forest regeneration purposes.
If the loophole is not closed, Greenpeace estimates more than a third of China’s natural forests will remain at risk of deforestation.
