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... [Continue]
The government of Madagascar has been accused by conservation groups of allowing the illegal trade in precious wood to flourish.
Environmental campaigners claim that an executive decree issued last month legalising the export of raw hardwood, including rosewood and ebony, has given free rein to criminal gangs who fell endangered trees to sell on the international market... [Continue]
Freetown, Sierra Leone - Sierra Leone on Thursday announced strict new rules to curb logging misuses, a day after lifting a six-month ban on the export of timber to stop alleged widespread plundering of its natural forests.
"With immediate effect, forest rangers will have to supervise the cutting of trees for logs and no tree should be cut without their supervision," Forestry Minister Sam Sessay said... [Continue]
Cameroon - Illegal forest exploitation has become an issue of great concern to environment and forestry officials in the East Province.
Statistics from the East Provincial Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife indicate that 1665 cubic meters of white wood were seized from loggers in the Dengdeng and Goyoum forest reserves between November 2007 and April 2008... [Continue]
Jakarta, Indonesia - Small-scale corruption is widespread throughout the Asia-Pacific region and is contributing to the poverty of millions, according to a United Nations report released here Thursday.
The report, "Tackling Corruption, Transforming Lives," published by the United Nations Development Program, examines the issue from the bottom up, focusing on the ways in which petty bribery and graft hinder the poor's ability to receive essential services... [Continue]
Kabul, Afghanistan - Environmentalists have warned that the illegal timber industry is threatening the future of Afghanistans woodlands, with large parts of the countrys forests already feared destroyed.
Mass logging has decimated huge areas across the lawless eastern provinces bordering Pakistan, increasing the risk of flooding and landslides while also enriching warlords... [Continue]
Indonesia - Forestry activists have warned of a sharp increase in the national deforestation rate if the government fails to deal with overlapping permits issued for forest concessions and industrial timber forests.
Greenomics Indonesia's latest study found about 18.4 million hectares of forest concession areas and production forest had mostly been occupied by plantation and mining companies thanks to permits issued by regents... [Continue]
