Chinese Logging Menace World’s Hottest Biodiversity Spots

The Kachin Post

February 12, 2004 — Chinese logging project in northern Burma has threatened one of the world’s most biodiversity spots, said experts.

“One of the world's most exceptional biodiversity hotspots 2 is being plundered by two of the parties, Burma and China,” said in a statement released from the 7th conference on the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2,000 experts on biodiversity and sustainable development attend the conference which is being held from February 9 to 20.

Destructive logging industry under the corrupt deals brokered between wealthy Chinese businessmen and cash-strapped armed insurgent groups are the main culprit of threatening one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the world due in large part to its forests, but also to its jade, gold and mineral reserves, said the statement.

“Logging in the Kachin State is severe and chaotic, and it is clear that local population has benefited little in economic terms,” said Jon Buckrell from Global Witness, a British-based non-governmental organization, which focuses on the links between natural resource exploitation and conflict.

The particular concern is the forests of the N’Mai Hku area, which form a critical watershed for the Irrawaddy River, which is of strategic importance to both Burma and China. Chinese companies are carrying out large-scale, unregulated logging and mining operations on the Burma side, because Chinese government only protect natural resources on its own side, said the statement.

“It is crucial that the N’Mai Hku Project is halted immediately: people's livelihoods are being destroyed,” said Buckrell. “China has started to protect its own environment. We simply call on them to apply the same principles to their activities in Burma.”

Global Witness’ report ‘A Conflict of Interests: The uncertain future of Burma’s forests’ points out the estimate timber export from Kachin State to China’s Yunnan province is 600,000 m3 a year, worth approximately US$150 million. The number shows Chinese companies carry out rampant logging in pristine forest in Kachin State.

The exploitation of Kachin's forests has risen to alarming levels as a consequence of ceasefire arrangements between the Burmese military government and local insurgent groups, combined with a growing demand for timber in China and a countrywide logging ban in China, which has increased the demand for Burmese timber.

“China must suspend logging activities in Burma immediately and place a moratorium on the cross border trade in timber,” said Buckrell. The action will give time for proper planning to ensure the preservation of the area's outstanding biodiversity and it is vital that the forest are used for the benefit of the people of Kachin State, he explained.

In last October, UK based environmental organization Global Witness released a report ‘A Conflict of Interests: The uncertain future of Burma’s forests’. The reports revealed the first time in detail the history of logging in Burma, the reality of current logging by the ruling military regime, logging by insurgent groups, rampant logging in ceasefire areas, and the cross-border trade in particular with China.