Mourning Wood
The felling of trees has become tradition for human kind world wide and as a resource, wood has been essential in every civilization around the globe. With population growth, advancements in technology, and globalization in the past century, the need for lumber and wood products has increased exponentially. Yet as deforestation seemed a viable option just a century ago, the rate of felled trees today has reached pandemic proportions. Illegal logging crews in Indonesia, China, Brazil, and Cameroon have been clear cutting at such an alarming rate that local governments and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have had to take a stand. Organizations, such as the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), have been battling improper logging practices and the preservation of forests since the early 1990s by informing local communities of the atrocities and potential harm that deforestation can procure. The illegal logging industry has become so wide spread that most shipyards are oblivious to where the lumber originated, making it hard to trace and control. Through the efforts of EIA and curbing the demand for oversea wood products, this industry could potentially be harnessed, but until developed countries take a stand, these lumberjacks will continue to raise their axes.
The demand for lumber in developed nations has kept this industry thriving, the United States and Japan being at the top of imported illegal timber in the world. Even though these top consumers have the means to source legal wood, the low prices from underdeveloped countries is highly attractive. For example, in one area of Indonesia, lumber is obtained from small indigenous communities that are fooled by these loggers into trade agreements. In Moises Naim's Illicit he describes the situation: “timber traders lured villagers into signing a cooperation agreement that granted them access to tribal lands in exchange for small payments—a motorcycle, a church for the town—dwarfed by the immense profits of the trade.”(Naim 199-200). This is just one instance in this area, but annually Indonesia exports around 600,000 cubic meters of illegal timber each year, amounting to over $365 million. The effects have been devastating, between “1990 and 2005 the country lost more than 28 million hectares [1 hectare = 10,000 square meters] of forest, including 21.7 hectares of virgin forest” (Mongabay online).What makes this this trade so difficult to control is the fact that the groups cutting the trees have almost no contact with the buyers. The timber is harvested with almost no pattern to the selection and then moved with discretion. Fake documents helps get the lumber past borders and into shipping yards, with almost no way to trace the originating location. Once the lumber is out of the forest the buyers could care less where it came from, profits become their only incentive. Without being able to trace the source of the timber, Japan and the U.S. simply become purchasers of an illegal product without knowledge of its origin. The U.S. alone is considered the driving force behind illegal logging, being the highest consumer of wood products and one of the top importers of tropical trees in the world. Even with sanctioned areas for legal timber production, the amount lost to illegal deforestation is “About 5 billion USD [United States Dollars] per year...to uncollected taxes and royalties on legally sanctioned timber harvests due to corruption.” (Ahlenius online). With the continued demand and rampant deforestation around the globe, it seems that there is almost no stopping this illicit trade, yet progress is being made.
The Environmental Investigation Agency has been battling deforestation since the early 1990s, attempting to curb demand by informing the public of the devastating practices of the industry. The EIA has been working tirelessly with the European Union and the United States by exposing the illegal practices in certain regions to help control the situation. In Indonesia the industry thrives, so the EIA works with its geographic neighbors, Singapore and Malaysia, by informing their governments of the illegal activities, hoping that the knowledge of the timbers source, the laundering and high demand of these trees will be suppressed. The EIA is also pushing regulation in the EU and US by the “introduction of new laws to make it an offense to import illegally-sourced timber.” (EIA online). One such method dates back to the US Lacy Act of 1900, a bill that protects wildlife and the poaching of plants while also restricting the sale to neighboring states. In 1988 the Lacy Act was amended with two levels of violation of the Act: “for misdemeanor level crimes the maximum sentence could be up to one year in jail and a $10,000 fine. For felony level violations the maximum sentence could hold up to two years in jail and a fine of $20,000.” (Wikipedia online). Even though restrictions were made, illegal timber continued to find its way into the US. Then in 2007 a proposed amendment to the Lacy Act would have expanded its definition to cover “harvesting, cutting, logging, or removing of a plant” (Wikipedia online) which would have essentially halted the importation of illegally-sourced lumber into the US. Although the amendment failed in Congress, the Democratic party and other conservation groups are still pursuing some sort of collective agreement to help stop the importation of illegal timber. There have also been technological advances in DNA testing of trees to pinpoint where they were harvested which would help halt the movement of timber in shipyards. Currently this method is being used in Europe with the construction of data bases to help regulate where trees originate, so that illegal lumber can be turned down by buyers and put an end to illegal logging. Although this method would be highly effective, the sourcing and documentation of every region world wide would be necessary to have a major impact.
While the demand for timber remains constant and the supply continuously being felled, it seems that eventually there will be an auto correction to this illicit trade. But in the mean time it is completely necessary that the demand for illegally-sourced timber be attacked immediately. Deforestation and the illicit trade of timber has become a plague on some of the most beautiful, and endangered regions of the world. With the help of the EIA it is apparent that the demand could be stopped if governmental restrictions are made, yet it is at each countries discrimination and progress is slow. Had the Lacy Act been amended in 2007, the US could have taken a step back from its addiction to wood consumption, and been a global leader in the preservation of forests world wide. Even though the construction of a DNA database could potentially strangle the supply side of felling trees, it is the demand side that must be suppressed to help deter loggers from harvesting. Until the world progressively rehabilitates itself and converts to legally sourced timber, it is almost certain that the corruption and illicit trade of lumber will continue to thrive. It is a terrible shame that profits outweigh the morals for these guerrilla-lumberjacks while their industry strips the world of some of the most unique habitats on the planet. Slowly but surely steps are being made with the help of the EIA, but until proper action and restrictions are made, NGOs will undoubtedly be mourning wood.
Works Cited
Ahlenius, Hugo. “Trade in illegal wood products and corruption” 2008. United Nations Environment Programme. Accessed: 9 November 2010.http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/trade-in-illegal-wood-products-and-corruption
“Forests for the World Campaign” Environmental Investigation Agency Online. 26 October 2010. Accessed: 9 November 2010. http://www.eia-international.org/campaigns/forests/
“Illegal Logging” Wikipedia Encyclopedia Online. 12 November 2010. Accessed: 9 November 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_logging
“Indonesia Logging” Mongabay. 6 Feb 2006. Accessed: 9 November 2010. http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20indonesia.htm
Naim, Moises. Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy. Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc. New York 2005.