Siberias Timber Trade: Selling Nature By Mark Frick Geog 308 Zoltan Grossman - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 23
About This Presentation
Title:

Siberias Timber Trade: Selling Nature By Mark Frick Geog 308 Zoltan Grossman

Description:

In 1992, Russia privatized State owned forest industry ... Russian Forest Service is forced to illegally log, make deals with logging firms ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:150
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 24
Provided by: CNS1
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Siberias Timber Trade: Selling Nature By Mark Frick Geog 308 Zoltan Grossman


1
Siberias Timber TradeSelling NatureBy Mark
Frick Geog 308 Zoltan Grossman
http//www.ens-newswire.com/ens/pics21/taigaloggin
g.jpg
http//www.greenpeace.org.uk/MultimediaFiles/Live/
Image/6308.jpg
2
Collapse of Russian Wood Processing
  • In 1992, Russia privatized State owned forest
    industry
  • Russian economy desired cheap, high quality
    timber and paper products from West
  • As a result, domestic demand plummeted
  • Large, obsolescent, formerly State-run wood
    processors rapidly went bankrupt
  • Processed timber production fell to 1/3 original

3
Rise of the Black Market
  • Small logging firms are created to export raw
    logs
  • Declining budgets and infighting between federal
    and regional governments led to lack of funds
  • Russian Forest Service is forced to illegally
    log, make deals with logging firms to finance
    itself
  • Corruption quickly spreads
  • Half of Siberian-Russian Far East (S-RFE) lumber
    is logged or sold illegally

4
Russian Boreal Forest Taiga
http//www.cs.rice.edu/ssiyer/cam/Banff/.small/Co
nifers20in20the20Taiga..jpg
5
http//peacecorps.mtu.edu/siberia.htmlBackground
6
Potentially intact ancient forest, 50,000
hectares Other forests    Sources Intact forest
landscapes/forest cover, Greenpeace Russia and
GFW 2001
7
Taiga Facts
http//bilder.bodenkunde.info/Siberia/assets/image
s/South_Taiga_Plotnikovo_near_profile_.jpg
http//www.mountain.ru/photo/2001/osennie_kraski/i
mg/GORNAYA20Taiga.JPG
  • Taiga represents
  • 25 of the worlds total forests
  • 57 of the worlds coniferous forest
  • 25-50 of Taiga remains pristine

http//www.nwtwildlife.rwed.gov.nt.ca/images/taiga
.jpg
8
Importance of Taiga
Above Siberian Tiger Middle Taiga Flycatcher
http//www.bnr-art.com/copple/images/tiger.jpg
  • Carbon Sink traps greenhouse gas CO2 to
    prevent global warming
  • Contains 1/7 of worlds total carbon pool
  • Green Lung absorbs 2nd most CO2 in the world,
    only behind Amazon rainforest
  • Rich biological diversity

http//www.pennington.charitydays.co.uk/pics/Taiga
20Flycatcher20420Dales20Voe20Oct2003.jpg
9
Russian Forest Service
  • Russian Federal Forest Service (RFFS) responsible
    for forest management and control
  • 81 Regional Forest Service Departments (RSFD),
    one for each administrative district
  • Each RFSD had Forest Service Districts
    responsible for oversight and management at the
    local level.

10
Reality
  • RFFS is under funded and must engage in logging
    to support itself
  • Federal and Regional governments have little
    control in forest management
  • Illegal logging operations are rampant
  • Cooperation between district government and firms
    widespread
  • Putin dissolved the RFFS to eliminate it as a
    front for the black market
  • Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) really the
    ones collecting data and regulation
  • NGOs often denied access to documents and
    inspection

11
Widespread poverty in S-RFE
  • Logging only industry in many areas processing
    factories all shut down the only place to work
  • Workers live almost as slaves
  • Wood sells for 70-100/m3
  • Loggers receive 10 cents/m3
  • Truckers receive 25 cents/m3
  • Many workers laid off
  • Boom and Bust economy sensitive to export
    prices, tastes in wood of East Asian markets
  • The profit leaves Russia, as the owners invest
    the capital gained abroad

12
Current Logging Practice
  • Extremely wasteful practices
  • 90 logging clear cutting vs. selection, thinning
  • 40-60 of timber cut lost during transport
  • All timber is cut, only the best logs are taken,
    the rest are left behind
  • Inadequate roads
  • All harvesting is done in a concentrated area
  • Destruction of old growth forests
  • Raw logs are exported vs. value added timber
  • 1992 - 41 of timber processed domestically
  • 1997 - 10 processed domestically

13
Effects of Deforestation
  • Loss of Biodiversity
  • Abandoned cut trees, sloppy logging cause
    hundreds of fires per year
  • Coniferous forest replaced by broadleaf forest
    .8 per year
  • Falling water levels, soil erosion on rivers,
    destruction of riparian wildlife
  • Clear cutting - River systems clogged with logs,
    reduced topsoil
  • Massive release of carbon dioxide
  • Melting permafrost in clear cut areas turns
    forest to swamp, decomposition releases methane

14
The Timber Trade
Most S-RFE timber sold to Japan, China,
Korea Hardwood Ash, Korean Pine highly
prized 40-50 of timber
logged or sold illegally
Common Illegal Activities
- Logging without a license - Logging in
protected zones - Taking protected species -
Logging outside concession boundaries - Tax
Evasion/Fraud
http//www.pacificenvironment.org/PDF/logging_fina
l.pdf
15
Black Market Strategies
16
False Documentation, Tax Evasion
  • False company names, aliases used
  • Fake contracts, logging and transport
    certificates available for about 300
  • With papers, guards at checkpoints and Chinese
    customs officers can be bought off at the border
  • False documentation avoids taxes and fees
  • When timber is traded, it appears undervalued on
    the transaction documents to evade taxes
  • If an owner is caught and cannot pay the fees, he
    simply declares bankruptcy and starts a new
    company

http//lutch.yaroslavl.ru/images/dipldgl.gif
17
Salvage Operations
  • Salvage/Sanitary logging initially designed to
    remove old and sick trees from forest
  • Salvage is exempt from tax, stumping fee
  • Was allowed in protected areas to maintain forest
  • Now, companies bribe the district government for
    salvage rights for healthy forests
  • District governments turn a blind eye to logging
    firms
  • Almost all salvage timber is high-value timber,
    especially ash
  • 10 of all logging in S-RFE is salvage logging

18
Undervalued timber export
  • Russian trucker takes high-quality timber to
    Japanese or Chinese wholesaler to sell
  • Trader officially rejects the lumber because it
    is poor quality
  • Trucker is forced to sell it as pulp wood
  • The difference is settled between the trucker and
    trader in cash, and off the tax records
  • The trucker makes black market profit for his
    firm and keeps a little for himself
  • The lumber is re-classified as high value upon
    reaching its destination

19
Logging Protected Species
  • Illegal to log Korean Pine
  • Companies bribe district for salvage rights
  • Request increased plot size which happens to
    contain Korean Pine stand
  • Official documents read only Pine or
    Coniferous

www.na.fs.fed.us/.../ uf/uts/section3/slide46.jpg
20
Effects of Corruption and Inefficiency
  • Half of logged timber is wasted, half of the
    remaining is illegal. 25 of harvest is sold
    legitimately
  • Tax which would help develop local industry is
    not collected
  • Capital flight from Russia the money made in
    logging leaves the country

21
Possible Solutions
  • Increase penalties for violations imprisonment,
    loss of logging rights
  • Launch higher government inspections, force all
    data to be available to NGOs
  • Strengthen police checkpoints and stiffen export
    goods and document inspections
  • Eliminate exemptions from salvage logging
  • Increase public awareness of illegal logging

22
Summary
  • Corruption and mismanagement is widespread in
    S-RFE forestlands
  • Environmental degradation results from careless
    logging
  • Massive black market activity promotes capital
    flight and undermines tax revenue
  • Economic recovery and development is impossible
    due to corruption in business and government

23
Text Sources Peace Corps Website Deforestation
in Siberia and the Russian Far East http//peaceco
rps.mtu.edu/siberia.html Greenpeace
International Website, Asian Russia http//www.gre
enpeace.org/international/campaigns/forests/asian-
russia/map-of-the-snow-forests Plundering
Russias Far Eastern Taiga. Research Josh Newell,
Anatoly Lebedev. Written by David Gordon.
2000 Forest Monitor Website, The Wild
East http//www.forestsmonitor.org/reports/russia/
twe1.htm East Central Europe and the Former
Soviet Union. Turnock, David, 2001 In Siberia.
Thubron, Colin. 1999
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com