The amount of timber smuggled from Myanmar to China is in a downturn, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency.
One year ago, the EIA reported observing long lines of trucks queuing up to carry logs across the border, but this year only small amounts of wood are being smuggled via backroads on motorbikes and passenger vehicles.
At two unofficial crossings, N’bapa-Banling and Kambaiti-Houqiao, the EIA said trade has come to a virtual halt.
“The sharp fall in timber volumes being smuggled into China provides a much-needed breathing space for the precious forests of Myanmar,” said EIA Forest Campaign Leader Faith Doherty in a statement.
The downturn is likely caused by a number of factors, including a drop in the value of the rosewood species because the huge volumes that had previously flowed across the border increased the supply higher than the demand.
Last year, the EIA published “Organized Chaos,” which reported the illicit trade in logs via the land border between Myanmar’s Kachin State and China’s Yunnan Province reached 900,000 cubic meters of wood in 2014—almost $500 million worth of wood.
