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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Illegal
Logging Rampant Along Thai Border
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
1/2/98
OVERVIEW,
SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
Armed
loggers are illegally harvesting forests along the Thailand-
Burma
border. Following is a Bangkok Post
article that details an
aerial
inspection unit which is attempting to get the situation under
control. In many areas of the world, logging is
occurring under
questionable
and illegal circumstances--to the detriment of local
and
national development aspirations and planetary environmental
integrity.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Air Patrols to Help Fight Log Poachers,
Official: Thai Firms Behind Illegal Logging
Source: Bangkok Post
Status: Copyright, contact source for reprint
permissions
Date: 12/25/97
A joint
aerial patrol operation has been in place to support the
suppression
of illegal logging along the border of Thailand and Burma
in Tak,
according to a senior local forestry official.
Thani
Wiriyarattanaporn, chief of Tak Forestry office, said illegal
logging
was rampant and uncontrollable in forests along the border of
Thailand
and Burma in Tha Song Yang, Mae Ramat and Mae Sot districts.
He
charged that some Thai logging companies which won logging
concessions
from the Burmese government were behind the illegal
logging.
They
colluded with Karen refugees, who occupied the forests on the
Thai
side, in cutting trees along the border.
He said
the timber was hauled to be processed in Burma before re-
transported
to Thailand through border checkpoints as legally imported
items.
"We
need the aerial inspection because forestry officials cannot
approach
the area in question. The loggers are armed," he said.
According
to Mr Thani, a special aerial inspection unit has been
formed
and was dispatched last week to inspect illegal logging along
the
border. The force comprises forestry and provincial officials,
border
police and army personal.
The
operation will be ongoing throughout the dry season from this
month
to' May next year. He said illegally felled trees are being
removed
during this time as the soil is dry, making it easier for
trucks
to haul the timber.
Helicopters
will patrol three times a month, three days each time. If
illegal
logging is spotted, the aerial unit will immediately report to
the
ground force, so it will take action on time, he said.
However,
Mr Thani admitted that the aerial inspection would help
suppress
illegal logging along the border only to a certain extent. As
long as
the refugees still remain in Thailand and the border
checkpoints
allow the timber from Burma to enter the country freely,
log
cutting along the border would never be solved, he added.
Deputy
Forestry Department chief Prawat Thanadka agreed with the idea
to
relocate the refugees from the forests and close the border
checkpoints.
"Rampant
illegal logging in Tak has indicated that we don't have
enough
officials to oversee Karen refugees along the border. If we
can't
increase the number of officials, we have to find other ways to
stop
forest destruction such as closing the checkpoints," he said.
He said
no officials at the checkpoints dare to stop or investigate
the
origin of the logs in question.
Meanwhile,
Agriculture Minister Pongpol Adireksarn said only some
checkpoints
that are suspected of allowing illegal logs to pass
through
would be closed. He insisted free trade along the border of
Thailand
and Burma is beneficial for both sides.
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