Posted on 04/07/2005 11:49:28 AM PDT by jb6
MOSCO2, April 4. (RIA Novosti)-Experts forecast that China's demand for Russian timber will increase by a third within the next five years, which will lead to poachers stepping up their efforts more than anyone else, Biznes reports.
Alexei Yaroshenko, a Greenpeace expert says China imported about 20 million cubic meters of lumber from Russia in 2004. "Russia's total annual lumber exports do not exceed 40 million cubic meters," says Vladimir Gorshkov, the vice president of Bumprom. Anatoly Kotlobai, an expert on illegal timber procurement and trade with the World Wildlife Fund, maintains that half of the exported timber was felled illegally.
The invasion of China's "black market lumberjacks" has made the situation critical, he warns, and even tracking illegal felling will hardly improve it. He says that as soon as Russia began restricting lumber exports, illegal sawmills started to appear, because sawn timber is more difficult to control than lumber.
The situation is complicated because it is more profitable for Russian woodcutters to sell timber to China, as Unlike Europe and Japan, the country does not require timber to be certified and pays more.
The Russian authorities tax policy also encourages timber exports. Export duties on Russian conifer timber are now 6.5%, compared with up to 27% in Canada and America, experts say.
Yet a mere increase in duties will not be enough: there is nowhere to export northern timber except China. Experts believe that if Russia used these exports in the pulp and paper industry instead, its profit would be about 6 billion rubles. Unfortunately, Russia does not have such capacities.
China has offered to build several pulp works in Russia, but Russian timber producers are not enthusiastic. "The Chinese usually choose the cheapest technologies: they will place the dirtiest production here, and will export pure pulp," Kotlobai warns.
I read the headline as:
RUSSIAN RAIN FORESTS THREATENED BY CHINESE POACHERS
As long as Vodka production isn't threatened. . . .
"The situation is complicated because it is more profitable for Russian woodcutters to sell timber to China, as Unlike Europe and Japan, the country does not require timber to be certified and pays more."
Seems China is just about exempt from every single environmental requirement. Including Kyoto.
--I guess my concept of the Russian-or Chinese-border was wrong, if sawmills and lumber manage to sneak across--in quantity--
Very long, rugged bordor, very few people, to include Chinese. Most Chinese live in the eastern 1/3rd of the nation.
(Oh, Lord, there is a great movie/book in the making here.)
Russia has jungles? I always thought those were tropical thingies...
"All your timber are belong to us."
Rainforests are not necessarly jungles. Washington state also has rain forests.
"Experts forecast that China's demand for Russian timber will increase by a third within the next five years.."
And they are sure to be wanting to take OUR lumber too, if they aren't already.
i would think Russia would be classified Taiga,like Canada and the US northern border forests.
Wouldn't be surprised if China just annexed the whole region.
Would be rather hard and they'd face an endless partisan war and a hot war between Russia, India and anyone else who piled on. India is buying another 400 T-90 tanks from Russia, on top of 400 already bought. These are primarly aimed at the Chinese south.
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