Illegal logging in Siberia

By Alfonso Daniels
BBC News, Dalnerechensk, Russia

"Wagons brimming with logs accumulate in the Siberian railway station of Dalnerechensk, more than 8,000km (4,971 miles) east of Moscow. They are waiting to cross the nearby Chinese border.Once in China, they will be processed and used for construction or turned into garden furniture and other products to be sold in European and US shops.More than a third of all Russian logs are smuggled by mafias, a practice that doubled between 2005 and 2007, according to official figures.

It is a huge business. China imports nearly six out of 10 logs produced in the world, after banning logging in its own territory following devastating floods a decade ago.

In total, 10m cubic metres of wood, equivalent to nearly a third of all logging in the Amazon, is harvested every year from Russian soil.This fuels a massive illegal business that threatens to destroy the largest forest on the planet in 20 to 30 years, according to Forest Trends, an international consortium of industry and conservation groups.

"“ My boss has a guy who shuts up anyone creating problems or speaking too much ”"Yevgeni", illegal logger"

Alexander Vitrik, a local senior inspector, says that in the few cases where someone is arrested, pressure to stop trials is huge from the top levels of government."'I can't give names, but they're protected by very influential people,' he says.

Mr Vitrik admits that corruption among inspectors is rife, but declines to go into detail.Despite these problems, some inspectors vow to keep on fighting.""'Since March, I've only been given 600 litres of gas to patrol seven million hectares,' he says.""Mr Samoilenko says those behind the illegal logging set fire to his car and then tried to burn down his parents' house, but failed.

His colleague Anatoly Kabaniets, sitting in the driver's seat, smiles when hearing this: 'All this small stuff doesn't perturb us.

My son worked as an inspector and was murdered, but we'll never give up.'"

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/8376206.stm

As I remember, Japan is also saving their forests and buying in. I saw recently that China is planting millions of trees. This is truly having your cake and eating it too.