Activists Expose Malaysia Wood-Smuggling Ring

[Guest guest]

Activists Expose Malaysia Wood-Smuggling Ring

 

John Roach

for National Geographic News

February 5, 2004

 

 

 

 

 

A dense, fine-grained wood hacked from Indonesian forests is the stuff of a

real-life tale about smugglers, crime bosses, corrupt politicians, and wildlife

teetering on the brink of extinction, according to an undercover investigation

by an environmental activist group.

 

Ramin (Gonystylus spp.), the wood in question, is used to make everything from

baby cribs and pool cues to picture frames and decorative trim found in homes

and bars around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orangutans' days in the wild may be numbered unless something drastic occurs to

halt the pace of illegal logging soon, according to researchers.

 

Photograph by Tim Laman, copyright National Geographic Society

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More News

Adventure & Exploration

 

Archaeology & Paleontology

 

Kids News

 

Animals & Nature

 

Science & Technology

 

People & Culture

 

Diary of the Planet

 

The Environment

 

Travel

 

National Geographic Channel

 

 

 

Special Series

Digital Lifestyles:

feature by Sony

 

EarthPulse

 

Emerging Explorers

 

National Geographic Out There

 

Oceans

 

Volvo Ocean Race

 

Mount Everest Expedition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trees grow only in Malaysian and Indonesian swamp lands and don't take to

plantations. Much of what is left today is found in protected areas such as

national parks.

 

Fetching upwards of U.S. $1,000 per cubic meter in international markets, the

wood lures loggers into protected areas, and once there they cut down everything

else of value, according to Sascha von Bismarck of the Environmental

Investigation Agency (EIA) in Washington, D.C. Based in Washington and London,

the EIA is an independent international campaigning organization committed to

investigating and exposing " environmental crime. "

 

Ramin habitat is home to orangutans, a great ape that recent reports suggest

could be extinct within two decades owing to the rapid pace of illegal logging.

 

" During the 1990s, we lost one third of the orangutans and the obvious

extrapolation is that two more decades like that and they are gone, " said Carel

van Schaik, a biological anthropologist and orangutan expert at Duke University

in Durham, North Carolina.

 

To help stem illegal logging, in 2001 Indonesia banned the cutting and export of

ramin, meaning that Malaysia is now the only legitimate source of the wood.

 

To help enforce its ban, Indonesia placed ramin on the global Convention on

International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Through the convention,

governments agree to restrict and fully document the trade in ramin, ensuring

that no illegal wood from Indonesia enters the global marketplace.

 

Undercover Investigation

 

According to the undercover sleuthing of EIA and its Indonesian partner Telapak,

thousands of tons of illegally logged Indonesian ramin is laundered through

Malaysia each year and sold to unsuspecting consumers around the world.

 

" This investigation has called into question the entire remaining legal source

of ramin and therefore calls into question the ramin trade, period, " said von

Bismarck.

 

EIA released its report, Profit from Plundering: How Malaysia Smuggles

Endangered Wood, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

 

Van Schaik, the Duke University orangutan expert who is familiar with the rapid

pace of illegal logging in Indonesia, said the reports of Malaysian smuggling

sound plausible but would require further investigation. " Let's see what the EIA

and Telapak evidence says and base [a serious investigation] on that, " he said.

 

Ramin Smuggling

 

One of the main hubs of the ramin laundering ring in Malaysia, according to EIA

and Telapak, is Johor Port on the tip of the Malaysian peninsula within sight of

Singapore. A port official is said to have told the undercover investigators

that an estimated 160,000 cubic feet (4,500 cubic meters) of Indonesian ramin

passes through there each month.

 

According to the investigators, they were shown how ramin arrives by boatloads

from Sumatra each day, is unloaded and stored in a warehouse where it air dries

for several weeks, and is then packed into containers for shipment to Hong Kong,

Taiwan, and mainland China.

 

The investigators were told by port agents that officials give the wood a

Certificate of Origin from the Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture and that the

Malaysian Timber Industry Board, which is responsible for enforcing the ramin

CITES listing in Malaysia and has an office near the port, knowingly allows this

activity to occur.

 

" The particular example of Johor Port indicates there may be up to 70,000 cubic

meters [2.5 million cubic feet] being laundered through that port each year, all

illegal ramin made Malaysian through false paperwork with the knowledge of local

authorities, " said von Bismarck.

 

The EIA and Telapak investigation also uncovered laundering of Indonesian ramin

through the Malaysian state of Sarawak, the birthplace of the ramin industry.

The investigators say the ramin in Sarawak has been over cut and is now

supplemented with illegal ramin from Indonesia.

 

An owner of a mill in Sarawak told the investigators how Malaysian customs

authorities are paid to allow Indonesian shipments of ramin to enter the country

through one port and given passage up a river to sawmills where CITES

authorities are paid off to certify the timber as Malaysian origin.

 

" The evidence points to significant complicity by Malaysian authorities, " said

von Bismarck. Based on this evidence, EIA and Telapak are hoping that Indonesian

and Malaysian authorities take action to arrest those involved in this illegal

activity.

 

Stopping Illegal Logging

 

Putting an end to illegal logging is difficult, say environmentalists, because

they have few effective mechanisms to control the trade in illegally cut wood.

 

According to EIA, a coalition of U.S. environmental groups, including the

Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Defenders of

Wildlife, Rainforest Action Network, Earthjustice, and Orangutan Foundation

International, joined in releasing a statement calling on the U.S. government to

raise the issue with Malaysia and impose trade sanctions unless Malaysia takes

meaningful action to resolve the problem.

 

For consumers, von Bismarck said, the best way to help is to not purchase any

ramin-based products. " Regardless of where it says it came from, this

investigation shows it was likely illegally cut in Indonesia, including in

national parks, " he said.

 

Van Schaik said another way to help is to support one of several orangutan

conservation initiatives, such as BOS-USA which is trying to protect a million

hectares of Indonesian peat swamp habitat and the Orangutan Foundation's

patrolling of Tanjung Puting National Park.

 

" Those are good initiatives by NGOs that are trying to make conservation happen

in a situation where conservation does not happen automatically, " he said.

 

 

 

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0205_040205_ramin.html

 

 

 

BT Broadband - Free modem offer, sign up online today and save £80