China destroys Myanmar's virgin forest
The illegal logging of entire forests is carried out with the complicity of ethnic militias controlling the land. The charge is levelled by Global Witness, an environment organization which is calling for the immediate intervention of Beijing.
Bangkok (AsiaNews/Agencies) Chinese companies are logging entire forests in northern Myanmar, with the complicity of local ethnic militias and central government indifference, says Global Witness (GW), a private organization for safeguarding of the environment
Ninety-five per cent of timber which China imports from Myanmar is cut in violation of Burmese laws for the protection of forests, said GW in its report, "A choice for China: ending the destruction of Burma's frontier forests", published yesterday in Bangkok.
The forests in the northern State of Kachin, on the border with China, present according to UNESCO the most extensive bio-diversity anywhere in the world. The heavy deforestation underway is threatening these forests. On China's side, in the province of Yunnan, most of the region is a national park and cutting wood is forbidden. According to GW, illegal logging is costing Myanmar around 250 million US dollars per year.
"It's a trade that is completely out of control," Susanne Kempel, a Global Witness researcher. The organization is calling on the Chinese government "to close down this border for the timber trade until it can be sure" that all business is carried out legally. International agencies have been urging Beijing to intervene for years; it is estimated that between 2001 and 2004, more than one million cubic metres of timber were exported to China from Kachin, when the legal limit was of 18,000 cubic metres. It has been observed that the illegal trade guarantees work to hundreds of thousands of Chinese, who are employed in the cutting, transport and working of the wood.
The area is under the control of ethnic militias, like the Kachin Independence Organisation, following an agreement with Yangoon reached over 10 years ago to end a secessionist war. It is the ethnic militias, claim GW, who give Chinese firms the green light to log forests.
Since 2001, Beijing has made international commitments to launch intense efforts to protect forests from illegal logging. But China is the world's second largest importer of wood (after Japan), and it uses wood not only to satisfy internal demand but also for exported products. In 2003, China exported wood products worth three billion dollars to the United States alone. From Myanmar is imported at such a high cost of severe damages "only" two to three per cent of wood.
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11/11/2021 11:42
