In the past decade, demand for raw logs in Russia has soared – but domestic processing has decreased, leaving the export of logs as the main source of income for many timber enterprises, particularly in the Russian Far East (RFE) and Siberia.
This region has suffered a huge increase in the incidence and volume of illegal logging. Cases of logging without permits, felling of protected species, use of fake documents, bribes, exceeding the allowable cut, and export without appropriate documents have all been documented by NGOs.
For the past two years three organisations have been involved in an EU-funded project – “Building capacity in NGOs in the Russian Far East and Siberia to monitor illegal logging operations and the timber trade”. Now the project partners – UK-based Forests Monitor, and the Bureau for Regional Outreach Campaigns (BROC) in the RFE and Friends of Siberian Forests (FSF) in Siberia – have published a report – An analysis of illegal logging and trade in the Russian Far East and Siberia – which examines Russian forestry and trade operations, analyses the draft Forest Code, and makes some suggestions for change.
Lobbying
The aim was to help environmental NGOs in the RFE and Siberia to play an active part in documenting illegal logging and trade and use the information to lobby authorities at all levels to address illegal and unsustainable harvesting and export of Russia’s forest resources.
If the official statistics are to be believed there has been a fall in the volume of timber cut on previous years. These figures do not reflect the increase in illegal logging however, which goes unrecorded.
The report presents real case studies of illegal operations, providing the detail necessary to start looking at solutions, and considers how to tackle the problems at all levels. It tells how local officials make money out of the cutting permit system, the transport system and the tax evasion that goes hand in hand with this illegal activity.
Local militias can be involved, but in some regions there are entire camps with only Korean nationals, where Russian law does not seem to apply at all.
But there are also problems at the top. The central government’s policy on forests is severely criticised. It has undermined the Forest Service and the ability of the state to enforce its own laws. The proposed Forest Code is concluded to be unworkable, cutting budgets and mandates for law enforcement while allocating rights without imposing any definable responsibilities.
Government support
In proposing solutions, Andrey Laletin of FSF, Russia said: “NGOs should be supported by governments at all levels, from local to international. They can play an active role in forest policy development and implementation which will protect environmental goods and services provided by natural forests.”
Forests Monitor and FSF contributed to the recent meeting of the East and North Asia Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (ENA FLEG) in Moscow, and NGOs are awaiting the draft report from the steering committee in order to make further input.
The report will be presented to delegates at the ministerial meeting in St Petersburg on November 22-25. Any ministerial declaration that comes out of the ENA FLEG process has to be based on reality. This report, and the work it represents, is trying to inject some of that reality into the debate and any proposals for action that emerge.
Illegal logging is one of the most significant threats facing Russian forests. Forests Monitor, BROC and FSF launched this project to build civil society capacity to monitor illegal logging and the timber trade. The next phase will include providing greater rights to local people in the form of community forests. We will examine the Forest Code to see how community forests can be established. This should promote sustainable management and help develop small-scale sustainable businesses in economically stricken regions of the country.
Ongoing illegal logging activity is in the process of denying many people that opportunity. It is a race to see who can defend their forest and then hold on to it before the militias, loggers and smugglers arrive.