logging

As China Builds, Cambodia’s Forests Fall

Michael Sullivan at National Public Radio describes how Cambodia’s forests are falling prey to China’s enormous demand for lumber: “It’s just like in the United States in the 1960s, when every single...

Obama Visit Shows U.S.-China Rivalry Over Myanmar

Little more than a year ago, there was talk of Myanmar (also known as Burma) as a “Chinese California”, offering China a west coast onto the Indian Ocean. Now, Coke and Pepsi billboards glare at each other across...

Appetite for Bamboo Is Damaging Forests

Bamboo is often marketed as a green wonder material, but its cultivation can be seriously destructive to local ecosystems. Sean Gallagher reports for the Pulitzer Center on surging bamboo production in Sichuan and its...

Ethnic Minority Commits Cultural Suicide

Global Times reports from a Primi ethnic minority village in remote Yunnan Province: Zhang Hong was crushed upon hearing the 70 Primi ethnic minority families living in the poor, remote virgin forest hamlet of Yushichang finally...

Illegal Export of Logs Prevented

Mozambican authorities have uncovered logs that were ready to be illegally shipped to China. From Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique: According to a statement from the Tax Authority, the customs services in the northern...

US, China Cooperate to Stop Illegal Logging – AFP

As part of the Strategic Economic Dialogue, the U.S. and China have reached an agreement on illegal logging and associated trade practices, according to AFP: The deal provides for steps that will “help conserve forests and their wildlife and reduce deforestation — a major factor in the global effort to address climate change,” the statement […]

Illegal Loggers Beat up Police in Guangxi – Green China magazine

APP, a leading paper maker, has run into a lot of problems with its aggressive, environmentally controversial paper-pulp tree swaps in Yunnan and Hainan. Now it’s having a problem of another kind, fighting thugs that steal its trees. Translated by CDT from Green China magazine: One night in July this year, some forest patrol officers […]

China Issues Rules for Logging Companies Overseas – Reuters

From Reuters: China has issued guidelines for enterprises engaging in logging overseas, state media reported on Wednesday, following accusations that it is plundering the world’s forests to meet booming demand for wood. The guidelines, issued jointly by the State Forestry Administration and the Ministry of Commerce, aim to encourage forestry cultivation that highlights sustainability and […]

Study Praises China’s Paper Recycling – Michael Casey

From Associated Press from Examiner.com: China’s booming recycling industry is helping to slow the destruction of forests worldwide, providing a strong market for wastepaper that mostly comes from the United States and Europe , according to a study released Friday. But the report from the Washington-based Forest Trends also warns that despite the trees spared […]

China Trade Threatens Tropical Trees – Michael Bristow

From BBC News: China is at the heart of a trade that is pushing some tropical trees towards extinction, environmental groups say. One such is the tropical merbau tree, says Greenpeace. Merbau trees that are mostly felled illegally are being shipped to China, where import rules are lax, the group claims. This timber is then […]

World Must Seek Change in China Timber Trade-Report – Reuters

A new report expresses concern about China’s logging practices: In just 10 years China had moved from being a net importer of wood products to become the world’s leading exporter of furniture, plywood and wood flooring, sucking in vast amounts of timber from key sensitive areas, the Tropical Forest Trust said. While some of these […]

China’s Empty Forests – Yongfeng Feng

From Chinadialogue: Every year around this time, many cities and regions of China hold a tree-planting month. Employers in the cities often fund tree-planting outings for their staff. In counties, towns and villages, farmers are given support for tree-planting projects, which they hope will bring in some extra earnings. A renewed enthusiasm for greening the […]

Trade Panel to Probe Logging Complaints – Matthew Daly

Following an investigation by the Washington Post and a report from Greenpeace, the U.S. International Trade Commission said they would investigate illegal logging practices by China: Lawmakers from timber-producing states have complained that as much as 30 percent of U.S. hardwood imports are from suspicious or illegal sources. Industry groups and members of Congress says […]

Corruption Stains Timber Trade – Peter S. Goodman and Peter Finn

From the Washington Post, a report on corruption in the logging industry which is allowing Chinese firms to deforest land from Siberia to Papua New Guinea to the Amazon, in order to make furniture and other goods for American and European consumers: Some of the largest swaths of natural forest left on the planet are […]

The Hidden Cost of Your Hardwood Floor (Part two of China’s Great Grab) – Evan Osnos

From Chicago Tribune: The demand for Chinese goods is driving destructive logging around the globe. Part two of a Tribune special report. Night and day, the timber ships reach this Yangtze River port, one of the world’s busiest clearinghouses for logs from every corner of the globe: Southeast Asia, the Amazon, Russia, the Congo. Soon, […]

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