Logging Report Released

The Kachin Post

October 08, 2003— A UK based environmental organization Global Witness exposes the devastating logging of Burma's northern old-growth temperate rainforests by Chinese timber companies from neighboring Yunnan Province.

The report ‘A Conflict of Interest: The uncertain future of Burma’s forests’, launched yesterday, revealing the mass logging that resulted the irreparable environmental implications for Burma's entire watershed, the survival of the Kachin indigenous people, and the political relationship between the regimes of Burma and China.

“People’s livelihoods are being destroyed. China must stop logging in Burma immediately,” said Job Buckrell from Global Witness. “Revenue derived by the regime and insurgents alike from the exploitation of natural resources, including timber, has perpetuated violent armed conflict throughout Burma.”

Global Witness investigations along the China-Burma border show that logging on this vast scale has lead to the destruction of large swathes of pristine forest in Kachin State, and the massive N'Mai Hku (Headwaters) Project will only make matters worse.

According to Chinese import data China imported over one million cubic metres of timber from Burma in 2002; this figure is likely to exceed 1.4 million m3 in 2003.

The report shows the detail history of logging Burma in the first time, revealing the reality of current logging by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and cease-fire groups in the area.