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Organized Crime Plagues Logging Industry
http://hetq.am/eng/news/19106/organized-crime-plagues-logging-industry.html
00:15, October 3, 2012
Illegal logging is on the rise, as organized crime groups develop more
advanced systems of stealing or forging permits, concealing criminal
activities, and even `laundering timber,' according to a new report.
The report, "Green Carbon, Black Trade," which comes as a joint effort
of Interpol and the United Nations Environment Program, estimates that
illegal logging now accounts for 50-90 percent of the volume of all
forestry in key producer countries in the Amazon Basin and Indonesia
and is worth between US$30 and $100 billion annually.
Most methods of illegal logging fall into three categories: forging
documents of authorization, laundering illegal wood - in other words,
obscuring its origins, or bribing officials to ignore a blatantly
illegal operation.
One other strategy the report mentioned involves constructing roads in
protected areas under the guise of an authorized operation like
mining, and deliberately targeting high-value timber in planning the
route for that road's construction. That happened in 2008 in Sumatra,
Indonesia, and when a local mayor complained, the local timber mafia
put a price on his head, according to the UNEP's report.
This booming criminal industry wreaks havoc on local economies as well
as the environment, the report said. It leeches at least $10 billion
in revenue and tax income per year from the legitimate economy,
according to the World Bank, and much of that comes out of
compensation owed to the communities indigenous to foresting regions.
Those communities don't have many options for alternatives income
sources.
Meanwhile, the environmental impact is clear. Advances in regulating
foresting and carbon emissions are of little use if such a robust
shadow economy exists to undermine them. As the report stated, "if
illegal logging cannot be controlled, it is inevitable that the global
community's efforts to reduce and offset carbon emissions will be
undone."
To address the phenomenon, the UNEP and INTERPOL in their report
advocated creating multidisciplinary law enforcement teams,
centralizing national licensing and permiting processes, and
implementing an international system of rating companies based on the
likelihood of their complicity in illegal logging activities.
At the same time, the organizations noted that enforcement could be
counter-productive, as stricter regulation sometimes only enhances the
power, influence, and profitability of corrupt officials. This has
already come to pass in Romania, Albania, and Vietnam where
politicians have taken bribes to circumvent or ignore recently
strengthened environmental regulations, the report said.
https://reportingproject.net/occrp/index.php/en/ccwatch/cc-watch-briefs/1653-organized-crime-plagues-logging-industry
http://hetq.am/eng/news/19106/organized-crime-plagues-logging-industry.html
00:15, October 3, 2012
Illegal logging is on the rise, as organized crime groups develop more
advanced systems of stealing or forging permits, concealing criminal
activities, and even `laundering timber,' according to a new report.
The report, "Green Carbon, Black Trade," which comes as a joint effort
of Interpol and the United Nations Environment Program, estimates that
illegal logging now accounts for 50-90 percent of the volume of all
forestry in key producer countries in the Amazon Basin and Indonesia
and is worth between US$30 and $100 billion annually.
Most methods of illegal logging fall into three categories: forging
documents of authorization, laundering illegal wood - in other words,
obscuring its origins, or bribing officials to ignore a blatantly
illegal operation.
One other strategy the report mentioned involves constructing roads in
protected areas under the guise of an authorized operation like
mining, and deliberately targeting high-value timber in planning the
route for that road's construction. That happened in 2008 in Sumatra,
Indonesia, and when a local mayor complained, the local timber mafia
put a price on his head, according to the UNEP's report.
This booming criminal industry wreaks havoc on local economies as well
as the environment, the report said. It leeches at least $10 billion
in revenue and tax income per year from the legitimate economy,
according to the World Bank, and much of that comes out of
compensation owed to the communities indigenous to foresting regions.
Those communities don't have many options for alternatives income
sources.
Meanwhile, the environmental impact is clear. Advances in regulating
foresting and carbon emissions are of little use if such a robust
shadow economy exists to undermine them. As the report stated, "if
illegal logging cannot be controlled, it is inevitable that the global
community's efforts to reduce and offset carbon emissions will be
undone."
To address the phenomenon, the UNEP and INTERPOL in their report
advocated creating multidisciplinary law enforcement teams,
centralizing national licensing and permiting processes, and
implementing an international system of rating companies based on the
likelihood of their complicity in illegal logging activities.
At the same time, the organizations noted that enforcement could be
counter-productive, as stricter regulation sometimes only enhances the
power, influence, and profitability of corrupt officials. This has
already come to pass in Romania, Albania, and Vietnam where
politicians have taken bribes to circumvent or ignore recently
strengthened environmental regulations, the report said.
https://reportingproject.net/occrp/index.php/en/ccwatch/cc-watch-briefs/1653-organized-crime-plagues-logging-industry