Cambodia Cracks Down on Illegal Loggers
10/30/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
Cambodia's campaign to reign in illegal logging appears to have
largely worked, at least initially. Global Witness says this "is the
first time in the past four years that any of the government's
forestry commitments have been translated into concrete action."
This may partly be a result of that fact that in Cambodia, forest
conservation has been a factor in negotiations with international
financial donors and lenders, in what has come to be called
"environmental adjustment." Only a handful of countries, including
parts of Africa and Papua New Guinea, are routinely having forest
conservation concerns raised in macro-economic finance discussions
with bi-lateral and multi-lateral lenders and donors to any
meaningful extent. This is a new phenomenon whose overall impact on
actual forest ecosystems is still unknown. But clearly here it has
been a factor in raising the awareness of the importance of forest
sustainability.
g.b.
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Title: CAMBODIA Cracks Down on Illegal Loggers
Source: Environment News Service http://www.ens.lycos.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 29, 1999
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, October 29, 1999 (ENS) - Cambodia has achieved
initial success in its drive against illegal forest activities, but
admitted more has to be done to sustain the campaign for forest
conservation, a senior official said Wednesday.
"We have successfully cracked down on illegal forestry activities and
established basic conditions for initiating the process of
sustainable forest management in Cambodia, but we still have a long
way to go to achieve our goal," said Chhea Song, minister of
agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, while addressing 100 delegates
from donor countries and international aid agencies offering
assistance to Cambodia.
The representatives began a quarterly meeting in Phnom Penh on
Wednesday to review Cambodia's fitness to receive aid. In February,
16 donor countries and seven international aid agencies pledged to
provide Cambodia with up to $470 million within a year. Donor
countries have set conditions on giving assistance to Cambodia,
notably forest conservation.
About half of Cambodia's $400 million national budget currently comes
from foreign donors.
Cambodia's illegal logging and mismanagement of forest policies have
been severely criticized by the international community and donors
agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF
suspended a $120 million loan to Cambodia in 1996 on the basis of its
poor forestry policies.
Last Friday, the IMF decided to give a loan of $81.6 million for a 3-
year period, to be disbursed in seven installments of about $11.7
million each, indicating the government is making progress in its
forest conservation drive.
According to the forestry report to the donors' meeting, from January
to September, 822 sawmills were destroyed, 13,988 cubic meters of
logs and 2,059 cubic meters of timber were confiscated, and 48 trucks
and tractors were destroyed.
"The positive impetus begun by the crackdown needs to be maintained.
It is thus incumbent on the international community to encourage and
maintain this impetus by tying the awarding of non-humanitarian aid
to performance- related achievement in the forestry sector," reports
Global Witness, an investigative, non-governmental organization
monitoring illegal logging in Cambodia.
"The real significance of this crackdown is that, as far as timber
exports are concerned, it has largely worked; in addition, it is the
first time in the past four years that any of the government's
forestry commitments have been translated into concrete action,"
Global Witness stated.
Cambodia still possesses large tracts of commercially-valuable forest
and areas of rich biodiversity which, at the current rate of
exploitation, will be exhausted by 2003. Yet these resources can be
preserved for the future benefit of Cambodia and its people if strong
action is taken immediately, advises Global Witness.