Suchergebnisse

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the linkage between external timber trade in Ghana and the increased incidence of illegal chainsaw operations which do not only threaten the country's forests and other natural resources but also the erosion of the basis for sustainable agriculture which is the main-stay of the country's economy. It uses ethnographic data from case studies of a recent research in selected forest reserves fringe communities in High Forest Zone of the country to explain the frustrations of local people with government policies that favour export to the neglect of local demand for timber and wood products. Although government pronouncements suggest that it is gaining an upper hand in the battle against illegal logging operations, evidence on the ground suggests that the greater part of the lumber on the local markets is supplied through illegal means predominated by itinerant chainsaw operators and their urban financiers. The paper concludes that the country's forest and tree resources face massive degradation and overexploitation if the government does not take a bold decision on illegal logging, especially the activities of chainsaw operators. An option, though unpalatable and politically sensitive, may be the mainstreaming of chainsaw operations through the re-introduction of limited permits to registered local groups of timber traders and their chainsaw operators to supply the domestic market. This should be under a system which enjoins such groups to be collectively responsible for the activities of their members. And, the government should also strengthen the Forestry Services Division (FSD) to design and operationalize an enhanced monitoring and surveillance system of logging activities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of illegal logging and how it is defined. The focus is on Russia and the driving forces behind illegal logging in the region. The paper covers the impacts of illegal operations, the different methods of illegal logging, as well as the current actions undertaken by the Russian government to address the issue. ; Forestry, Faculty of ; Unreviewed ; Undergraduate

The Peruvian Amazon is an important arena in global efforts to promote sustainable logging in the tropics. Despite recent efforts to achieve sustainability, such as provisions in the US–Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, illegal logging continues to plague the region. We present evidence that Peru's legal logging concession system is enabling the widespread illegal logging via the regulatory documents designed to ensure sustainable logging. Analyzing official government data, we found that 68.3% of all concessions supervised by authorities were suspected of major violations. Of the 609 total concessions, nearly 30% have been cancelled for violations and we expect this percentage to increase as investigations continue. Moreover, the nature of the violations indicate that the permits associated with legal concessions are used to harvest trees in unauthorized areas, thus threatening all forested areas. Many of the violations pertain to the illegal extraction of CITES-listed timber species outside authorized areas. These findings highlight the need for additional reforms.

Tropical deforestation such as in the Amazon can be studied well from a green criminological perspective. Ethnographic research methods form a useful way to get insight into the dynamics and complexity of tropical deforestation, which often is illegal. This article gives an account of various ethnographic visits to the rainforests of the Amazon in the period 2003-2014. Ethnographic methods provide insight into the overlap between the legal and illegal, the functioning (or not) of state institutions, the power of (corporate) lobbies, and why tropical deforestation correlates with crimes such as corruption and violence. The use of ethnographic methods in forest areas where trustworthy state actors and institutions are not very present can also present danger and raise ethical issues (such as when the researcher, for reasons of safety, does not present as a criminological researcher). However, a large advantage of ethnographic visits to tropical rainforests is that they allow the gathering of local views and voices, which rarely reach the international level. These local views lead to interesting contradictions at the international level where corporate views and lobbies dominate.

Explores women's resistance to illegal logging & deforestation in Nigeria. The involvement of Nigeria's political elite in the illegal logging questions the true intentions of designating areas for community forestry. The corruption & suspicious activities in Cross River State perpetrated by state & village governments are discussed. The formation & action of women's resistance are evaluated, including strikes against their marginalization in forestry governance. Various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are involved in the establishment of community forestry programs; however, complexities surround resistance to illegal logging due to issues of national sovereignty. Building national & international coalitions among conservation NGOs & with village women's groups is advocated. 3 References. L. Collins

This article examines the political economy of illegal logging through a case study from Vietnam. The study examines the extraction and trade of a particular timber species through commodity-chain analysis and looks at national-level debates about illegal logging, corruption, and the state. Its findings suggest that central government concerns over authority and public discussions about corruption informed the criminalization of much logging. Criminalization provided the grounds for powerful wholesalers, brokers, and government officials to engage in the timber business and control the timber trade. The logging operations, in turn, fed back into the concerns of the central government and public. The article concludes that these interactions between local political economy and national politics may be a more general dynamic of illegal logging. A singular focus on law enforcement may serve neither local livelihoods nor forest protection in areas with smallholder extraction.