RELAXATION OF LEGAL TIMBER SCHEME WEAKENS FOREST GOVERNANCE REFORM

LONDON/JAKARTA: The last-minute exemption of 15 product groups from Indonesia’s timber legality verification system threatens to block EU market access for these products, to delay or sabotage a long-negotiated EU-Indonesia timber trade agreement and undermine Indonesia’s forest industry reputation, NGOs have warned.

 

The alert from Indonesia’s Independent Forest Monitoring Network (JPIK) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) followings the October 19 passage of Trade Minister Regulation No 89/M-DAG/PER/10/2015, which substantially weakens the SVLK.

 

Under Indonesia’s Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu (SVLK), all wood products exporters’ operations must be audited for compliance against a legality standard covering raw material inputs and factory or trade practices. Positive audit results are rewarded with so-called VLK certificates enabling them to acquire a “V-Legal document”, an export license legally required to export wood products.

 

While this system applies to exports to all markets, it is also the foundation of a long-negotiated Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between Indonesia and the EU. Once the VPA is activated, timber products without associated V-Legal documents will be rejected at EU ports, and cannot be sold on the EU market. Similarly, products accompanies by V-Legal documents will also be exempted from the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), which prohibits illegal wood in the EU and requires EU companies to conduct due diligence on wood products purchases. As such, V-Legal documents are the crucial key for Indonesian exporters seeking to unlock EU market access.

 

The new regulation permanently exempts all exporters of 15 wood product customs codes (HS Codes) from the requirement to undergo SVLK audits, while maintaining their ability to export. Exempted companies – many of which have multi-million dollar exports – must still use SVLK certified wood but no checks that they do so will be required, providing significant opportunities for laundering uncertified or illegal wood into supply chains. 

 

The Ministry of Trade exemptions have been vociferously opposed by Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry and have similarly prompted the EU’s Ambassador to Indonesia to raised concerns in an October 23 letter to the Trade Minister.

 

“The Trade Minister Regulation introduces structural inconsistencies in Indonesia’s long-term efforts to improve forest governance through implementation of the SVLK and threatens the proposed scope and timeframe for the implementation of the Indonesia-EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA),” stated Zainuri Hasyim, JPIK National Coordinator.

 

Faith Doherty, EIA Forest Campaign Team Leader agreed, saying: “The Trade Ministry Regulation introduces an eleventh-hour back door exemption for an elite group of companies with friends in high places. It violates the aims and mechanisms underpinning both the SVLK and the VPA. The consequence is that either the VPA must be re-negotiated, the SVLK licensing system must be re-designed or the exempted companies are structurally blocked from accessing the EU market. This bad regulation – ironically produced to hasten de-regulation – needs to be ammended immediately.”

 

The Indonesian Government is planning to announce VPA implementation as a headline offering at the UN climate change talks in Paris in December at a time when major forest fires in Indonesia have produced more carbon emissions than Japan does in a year and which have on occasion surpassed the daily emissions output of the entire US.  

ILLEGAL LOGGING: THE HUGE TRADE IN STOLEN TIMBER BETWEEN MYANMAR AND CHINA

In late July, Myanmar sentenced 153 Chinese nationals to life in prison for illegal logging, shining a spotlight on an issue that has been a problem for decades.

 

As China’s rabid demand for teak, redwoods and other timber has grown, so too has the market for stolen wood from Myanmar’s frontier forests. The trade is worth hundreds of millions of dollars every year, making it one of the single largest bilateral flows of illegal timber in the world.

 

The new report from the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Organised Chaos: The illicit overland timber trade between Myanmar and China, will be launched at a special event in Beijing, where a short film on the issue will be screened. EIA investigators will be discussing the report and taking questions.

FORESTS BENEFIT LOCALS- China

The locals of Tashihang village, Nyingchi, Tibet Autonomuus Region, southern China have benefitted by the nearby forests. The area is dubbed the "Switzerland of the Orient" by Chinese netizens because of its abundance of trees.
August 17
http://eng.tibet.cn/2012sy/xw/201508/t20150817_3846751.html
India-Himalaya
China Himalaya

ANTI-ENCROACHMENT DRIVE - INDIA

The Ramnagar Forest Department had removed 2.03 ha land in Uttarakhand, northern India under an anti-encroachment drive. They removed barbed wire and brush wood fencing put up by the encroachers.

July 22

http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/forest-department-retrieves-41-kanal-land/

MAGNIFICENT LULANG FOREST SEA

The Lulang forest sea observation deck situated at an altitude of 4,300m has become one of the perfect places at Bayi township of Nyingchi city, Tibet autonomous region, southwest China. The local and international tourists come here to enjoy the sea of forests, clouds, flowers and the Namjiagbarwa peak.

June 2 2015

http://eng.tibet.cn/2010hb/xw/201506/t20150602_3100568.html Celebrating 25 Years of Excellence ……www. resourceshimalaya.org 5

PLANTATION DRIVE

The green Guwahati drive has been launched aimed in planting saplings at Guwahati, Darjeeling district, north-eastern India. The forest department will initially plant trees across 15 ha of land and later will take the count to over 200,000 saplings in 106 ha.

June 2 2015                

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150603/jsp/northeast/story_23602.jsp#.VW6sJVL5Hcs

FOREST FIRES

The fire in chure region of Banke National Park, mid-western Nepal has created havoc in many national forests along Celebrating 25 Years of Excellence ……www. resourceshimalaya.org 4

with the park. It was broke out a week ago, while the personnel from district forest and community forest have not taken action yet.

June 04

http://gorkhapatraonline.com/news/7706

The end for one of the last giants still standing in Asia’s forests?

Tall and graceful, with a pale almost luminous bark, Lagerstroemia (Lagerstroemia spp., Lythraceae) – commonly known as crape myrtle or crepe myrtle – are some of the more distinctive tree species in the forests of South-East Asia. These ghostly giants can reach heights of 40m or more, towering over most other plants and providing essential habitat for a number of tree-dwelling species including hornbills, pangolins and flying squirrels.

Historically, Lagerstroemia would be left relatively untouched in selectively logged forests, with timber traders preferring to go after the higher-value species such as balau (Shorea spp.) and the rosewoods (dalbergia spp.). This pattern has resulted in Lagerstroemia becoming one of the more abundant trees in the region’s lowland forests and one of the few large hardwood species remaining.

But this could soon be a thing of the past.

EIA has been investigating forest destruction and timber smuggling in Laos since 2007. For the first time, a recent trip to the country has revealed a booming trade in Lagerstroemia that threatens to strip the forests of one of its last giants – the harvesting EIA witnessed looked to be indiscriminate and rampant; even relatively small Lagerstroemia trees had been felled.

Common trade names for Lagerstroemia include ‘Pyinma’ (Myanmar) and ‘Bằng Lăng’ (Vietnam). Smaller species in this genus are traded as ornamental trees, while the larger ones (including those seen by EIA in Laos, which is most likely to be L. calyculata), are traded for their timber. The timber is used to make veneers, flooring and furniture, and internet searches of traders in neighbouring Vietnam have revealed a large number of companies advertising ‘Bằng Lăng’ wood products for sale. EIA witnessed several logging trucks laden with this species on their way into Vietnam.

Relatively low demand for Lagerstroemia, combined with the difficulties in extracting large tree species from forests, probably afforded it some protection in the past. This has now changed and the rapid mechanisation of the timber industry, the spread of agro-industrial plantations across the region and the booming furniture industries in China and Vietnam have resulted in timber extraction on an industrial scale. Few hardwood species are now safe from this rapacious trade.

With the ongoing declines in the Mekong’s higher-value hardwoods, trade in Lagerstroemia is likely to grow even further as the multi-billion dollar timber industries in China and Vietnam continue to seek alternatives. Laos has some of the largest natural forest cover remaining in the Mekong region but much of it is already degraded from decades of mismanagement by Government agencies and, in part, by poorly considered projects by multi-lateral donor agencies.

Lagerstroemia are often one of the few trees left in selectively logged forests capable of growing large enough to form hollows and cavities. Several seed-dispersing animals, such as hornbills, depend on these hollows to successfully breed. The survival of these animal species is intricately linked to that of Lagerstroemia and other large hardwoods. The loss of them from the region’s forests will have significant impacts on these species, and on the ability of these forests to naturally regenerate, post-logging. This has obvious implications for the ecological integrity of these forests and their ability to provide important ecosystem services, such as fresh clean water.

Lagerstroemia is clearly being targeted by traders as other hardwoods approach commercial and biological extinction. The harvesting and trade in this tree could well represent the death-knell for the country’s already embattled forests; very soon, Laos will have few large trees left. This sorry situation has been created by weak forest governance, corruption and a rent-seeking culture among Laos’ authorities.

The country’s law bans the export of raw logs but, as EIA has repeatedly shown, this rule is routinely flouted by well-connected individuals and companies.

EIA’s latest findings indicate a cascade effect whereby tree species further down the value chain are now being heavily logged, with dire implications for the country’s shrinking forests. Laos and Vietnam must cooperate to stop the illicit cross-border timber trade as a matter of urgency.