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SPEAKING
FREELY
Illegal logging goes on in
Yunnan
By Rui Xia
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing.
KUNMING -
Singapore-based Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), part of
Indonesia's Sinar Mas Group, has been accused of
illegal logging of natural forest in southwest
China's Yunnan province. The alleged deforestation
was done as part of a vast wood-for-paper project,
in which APP and the Yunnan government are
cooperating. The project area covers almost two
million hectares in Yunnan, most of which is
currently primary tropical forest, Huang Xu of the
environmental group Greenpeace told Asia Times
Online. Despite the announcement by China's State
Forestry Administration (SFA) this March that it
had stopped illegal logging by APP, sources in
Yunnan this month confirmed that the logging goes
on uninterrupted. In protest, a coalition of
environmental organizations and student groups has
initiated a boycott of APP's products.
The scandal, exposed by Newsweek magazine, was
picked up by Greenpeace at the end of 2004.
Greenpeace China's investigation referred to a
contract, signed in 2002 between APP and Yunnan's
provincial government, to plant fast-growing
eucalyptus plantations over a vast area in the
southern part of the province. Contrary to APP and
local government assertions that the project would
be set in a barren wasteland, several
environmental groups claimed, after
investigations, that most of the area is in fact
primary forest. Since 1998, China has banned all
logging in its natural forests, and is trying to
push forward reforestation programs as part of its
"Great Green Wall" policy, which acknowledges the
importance of forests to China's economy and
environment. Provincial governments, however,
often ignore or bend these regulations, seeking
fast development and tax revenues, and encourage
foreign investments at whatever cost.
Following the reports by Greenpeace, the
World Wildlife Federation (WWF) and media reports,
the State Forest Administration opened an
investigation and announced its findings at the
end of March. According to official news agency
Xinhua, Wang Zhuxiong, deputy director of the
administration's Forest Resources Management
Department, confirmed that APP was suspected of
illegal logging in the Simao region of Yunnan. "We
believe both APP and the local government are
responsible for the violation," Wang said, and
added that any violation will be punishable
according to law. "No violator will escape
punishment when this investigation is finished,"
Wang said. But at the same time that the Xinhua
report appeared, along with a similar report in
China Daily, the two main publications in Yunnan -
the Yunnan Daily and the Kunming City Daily -
published their own reports, which cleared APP and
the local government of any wrongdoing. If APP is
found guilty of the charges against it, the
company could become the first multinational
corporation to be convicted of environmental
violations in China. The penalty for such
violations for an individual can be up to seven
years in prison.
Chinese
environmentalists take action
Enraged by
the SFA's findings, a coalition of environmental
organizations and student groups initiated a
boycott of APP products. Protests took place in
six major Chinese cities, including Beijing and
Guangzhou, during May and June 2005, with students
demonstrating in front of big shopping centers,
calling on customers to avoid purchase of the
company's products. Such boycotts are new to
China, and mark a new stage of consumer awareness
in this fast-emerging market economy. But despite
their clear interest, student groups within Yunnan
were not called to take part in the demonstrations
for fear of pressure from the local government, a
Greenpeace campaigner told Asia Times Online.
In a visit to Simao County in late July,
where the logging is allegedly taking place, local
residents confirmed that the felling of natural
forest in the area continued even after the SFA
announcement this March. The Simao Forest
Protection Bureau has denied this, declaring that
"all plantation projects are done according to
state regulations and take place in wasteland".
One Mr Zhang of the bureau described some isolated
cases of illegal logging by local farmers,
promising that the local authorities would
immediately stop any violation. Greenpeace and WWF
researchers, however, maintain their claim that
APP is the logger, and report logging in an area
of at least 10,000 mu (660 hectares) of natural
tropical forest this year. The full scale of the
project is much larger than this: it covers
27,500,000 mu in southern Yunnan that will be
turned into eucalyptus plantations, according to a
2002 agreement between APP China and the Yunnan
provincial government. Most of this area is now
natural forest, Huang Xu said.
Commercial
forest logging was evident in late July around
Simao and Lancang, though no official authority in
the region was willing to discuss the existence of
such activity. Trucks loaded with timber -
sometimes large logs of old evergreens and pines,
but more often eucalyptus logs - could be seen on
the narrow roads between Simao and Lancang. The
hilly landscape of Simao is changing, as endless
lines of pale green Australian eucalyptus emerge
where there used to be thick pine forest, and an
abundance of tropical undergrowth. On my visit to
Lancang, local farmers were reluctant to talk, but
some villagers did confirm that large-scale
logging is taking place, claiming that the project
poses a threat to the livelihood of many in the
area, who depend on the forest for mushroom
picking or resin extraction from pine trees.
Lancang, a lively market town not far from the
Myanmar border, is a regional center visited daily
by the Aini people, one of the many minority
tribes in Yunnan. Fresh mushrooms are offered for
sale everywhere by Aini women, but the sellers say
it's getting harder and harder to find places to
pick these mushrooms. "The forest is shrinking,"
one old lady said as she handed me a plastic bag
with brown, fragrant mushrooms.
Scientists
in Yunnan agree with her, and view the continued
logging with anxiety. They say the environmental
impact of such large-scale deforestation and
commercial plantations can be severe, including
erosion, floods and loss of biodiversity. Many
endangered species will suffer from the loss of
natural habitat, including the rare Asian
elephant, which is almost extinct in the wild
inside China's borders.
Provincial
government supports the project
On June 16,
the vice secretary of the Yunnan communist party,
the second-highest ranking official in the
provincial administrative hierarchy, held an
unscheduled meeting in Lancang town, in the heart
of the APP project area. The vice secretary
declared that the provincial government will
continue to support the "forest-paper circulation
economy", reported the Yunnan Daily. The specific
project was not mentioned in this report, and
neither was the name of any paper production
company. The vice secretary emphasized the
government's commitment to ecological values and
the protection of Yunnan forests, as well as the
rights of indigenous people. The provincial
government sees the planting of trees for the
paper industry as a way to develop the
impoverished rural areas of Yunnan without having
to rely on heavy industry, as well as a means to
protect the forest and prevent flooding by
planting more trees.
Forest scientists
argue, however, that monoculture plantations will
not contribute to the ecosystem but harm
biodiversity, and might cause significant damage
to water resources and farmland. The eucalyptus, a
fast-growing and easily processed tree, has become
especially popular with the paper industry. But
research has shown serious negative side effects
from its large-scale use, which led the UN Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to advice
against large-scale eucalyptus plantations.
"[Establishing] eucalyptus [plantations] in any
deforested water catchment area substantially
reduces water production," the organization's
report notes. Drying up water sources and
associated chemical proccesses in the soil can
also affect the ability of farmers to grow
subsistence crops in the area. China is now the
world's second largest eucalyptus grower, after
Brazil.
Until recently one of the poorest
and most rural provinces in China, Yunnan now has
perhaps the fastest-growing economy. This
mountainous southern province is also the most
geographically diverse of all Chinese provinces,
with climates ranging from the tropical to the
alpine. The upper reaches of the Yangtze, the
Mekong and the Salween Rivers all run through
Yunnan, winding their way through high mountains,
narrow canyons and remote valleys, creating many
microclimates and an unmatchable abundance of
wildlife. This unique location means that any
changes in Yunnan's ecosystem will be of immense
significance, and will be felt elsewhere in China
and peninsular southeast Asia, far beyond the
borders of the province itself.
Part of
the APP project area is located close to the upper
Mekong River (known as the Lanchang Jiang in
China). Forestry experts believe that large-scale
eucalyptus plantations in this area might pose a
threat to the river's ecosystem, and reduce the
water level to such an extent as to affect
countries downstream - Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar,
Cambodia and Thailand - all of whom strongly rely
on the Mekong. Whereas the Yunnan government is
seeking large tax revenues through investments by
multinational corporations, some grassroots-level
officials argue that there are other sources of
income on which the province could rely for its
development. Yunnan tea, coffee and mushrooms are
well sought after worldwide. Together with the
emerging tourism industry, they can contribute
more to the long-term sustainable development and
well-being of Yunnan's people, sources within the
province state. One forest scientist, who
preferred not to be named, said he was "very
concerned" with the plantation project. Chen
Yongsong of the Yunnan Eco Network Institution
says part of the problem is a lack of access to
information and lack of access to the legal system
by local residents. "There is still a long way to
go regarding forest protection in Yunnan," Chen
said.
APP's Hainan mill
APP, a
Singapore-based company controlled by the
Sino-Indonesian Sinar-Mas group, is one of the
world's largest paper producers. It began doing
business in China in 1996 and operates in the
country through a chain of Chinese subsidiaries.
Many complaints have been filed in recent years
regarding APP's business conduct; investigations
have been opened in several countries; and
billions of dollars in debt eventually led to the
company's delisting from the New York Stock
Exchange. Bizarrely, though facing bankruptcy, APP
continued to expand in China, and in 2004 began
operating the Gold Hai mill on Hainan Island,
which is now the biggest paper mill in China.
Environmentalists and the Chinese media
have warned that the mill's size exceeds the
production capacity of Hainan's plantations, and
will therefore necessarily lead to the cutting of
natural forest to fill production needs.
Greenpeace campaigner Huang Xu has said that there
is evidence of the mill creating severe pollution
and harming sea life in the South China Sea. As
plantations in Hainan fall short of the mill's
requirements, the company will begin turning its
eye to other parts of China and Asia. APP was
accused in the past of large-scale illegal logging
in Indonesia, and this June, Asia Times reported
an investigation into the company's alleged illegal activities in
Cambodian forests. APP is now planning
similar projects in Malaysia and Russia.
As boycotts continue and local residents
express their frustration, the SFA investigation
drags on. It remains to be seen whether Beijing
will succeed in enforcing its progressive
environmental regulations against multinational
companies and fast-buck driven local governments
in China's remote provinces.
APP did not
respond to requests for comment on this story.
Rui Xia is a Western teacher and
freelance writer living in China. Rui Xia is her
unofficial Chinese name.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here
if you are interested in
contributing. |
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