Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

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Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

Post by juansweetpotato »

But what is the final destination for all this wood? I very much suspect huge deals being made between KOC ministers and Chinese businessmen. The Viets are just being used as logistics to get the wood to a train then to a port and onto ship.

Irresponsible reporting ?
Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

Surely that should read Logging ban flouted as Cambodian and Chinese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri with Vietnamese help
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/l ... atanakkiri
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Re: Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

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Government probing logging claims
Fri, 12 May 2017
The Ministry of Environment is investigating collusion between state officials and timber traders in the country’s east, Environment Minister Say Sam Al said yesterday, three days after a report exposed industrial-scale illegal logging backed by Vietnamese traders in Ratanakkiri province.

The minister’s comments came as the Vietnamese government also released a statement in response to evidence uncovered by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) that suggested Vietnamese and Cambodian officials received millions of dollars in bribes to facilitate the trade.

His admission marks the first time the ministry has acknowledged the systematic logging operation detailed in the EIA report, estimated to have stripped some 300,000 cubic metres of timber from protected areas, which are under Sam Al’s purview. The wood has allegedly been smuggled to Vietnam.
Authorities in Vietnam’s Gia Lai province issued permits for Vietnamese companies to import the wood. EIA said this amounted to laundering illegally felled timber...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/g ... ing-claims

@JSP : Vietnamese involvement in Cambodia's illegal logging scandal has been heavily documented. If you have any evidence to the contrary, please post it.
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Re: Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

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Cambodia 'investigating' claims of timber smuggling to Vietnam
May 15, 2017
BANGKOK - Cambodia is investigating claims of large-scale logging and timber smuggling to Vietnam highlighted in a recent investigative report.

The Kingdom's environment minister, Mr Say Sam Al, was quoted by Cambodia Daily saying investigations had been taking place for "about a year", but refused to disclose more details about the probe.
He made the comments on Sunday (May 14), about a week after the release of report by the Britain- and US-based non-profit organisation Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which highlighted how Vietnam's companies are violating a Cambodian ban on timber exports with help from complicit government officials and military personnel.

According to the report, in just three months from December last year to February this year, at least 300,000 cu m of timber was stolen or smuggled out of Cambodia into Vietnam. That is enough timber to fill more than 100 Olympic sized swimming pools by volume.

The wood, however, is laundered through a quota system in Vietnam, giving it lawful status in the country and even making them taxable. The trade itself is worth at least US$75 million (S$104.9 million) and estimated kickbacks are worth more than US$13million.

"The blatant illegal logging witnessed by EIA in Cambodia's Ratanakiri Province represents a criminal conspiracy between elements of the Vietnamese Government, well-connected timber companies and corrupt Cambodian officials," said the EIA report...
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asi ... to-vietnam
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Re: Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

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CEOCambodiaNews wrote:
@JSP : Vietnamese involvement in Cambodia's illegal logging scandal has been heavily documented. If you have any evidence to the contrary, please post it.
I never said they weren't involed. Just that they're very unlikely to be the kingpins nowadays.

Power of deduction really.
1. Cambodia has big connections with China via it's Sino Khmer family ties.
2. I met two Chinese business men in Dong Ha that were telling me all about how they were shipping Cambodian luxury wood to China via train and ship. It's been going on years as I met them seven years ago.
3.There are a limited number of people that can afford the prices of the rosewood etc in Vietnam. It has a population almost reaching 100 million. China has a population of 1.4 billion and is the worlds first economy. Therefore there is a huge market demand for the luxury wood there.

Of course, it may be that the Vietnamese are pulling a fast one over the Chinese and Sino Khmer population in Cambodia, or even that they can pay a better price for it than the Chinese.

I just think it's all a bit dodgey not stating the end destination in these reports seeing as their is a major feeling of malcontent by the vast majority of Cambodians against the Vietnamese, and there is an election coming up. Maybe if they stated the end destination for all this wood was China, it may make people think a little more about it.
Last edited by juansweetpotato on Wed May 17, 2017 6:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

Post by AE86 »

I bet the end destination isn't just China, but some in Vietnam as well.
-insert signature here
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Re: Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

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AE86 wrote: Wed May 17, 2017 10:31 am I bet the end destination isn't just China, but some in Vietnam as well.
Yeah, of course I would think you're correct. Apprx 0.001% sounds about right. You have to remember that there was only a global population of around 300 million with an income that could afford - cars, washing machines, horrible rosewood seating that's as uncomfotable now, as it was a thousand years ago. - up until a few years ago. Around the time eveybody started recycling in the UK, talking about saving the world with carbon credits and pushing for global markets that have 7% growth. :?
Mind you in Cambodia you have to half that % to get the real figure.

Can you confirm the fact that a billion more cars actually reduces the world's emission levels since the bulk of the Asian economies came online because they are running more efficient engines?
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Re: Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

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The air in Bangkok is much, much better than it was 20 years ago. :thumb:
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Re: Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

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Username Taken wrote: Wed May 17, 2017 7:41 pm The air in Bangkok is much, much better than it was 20 years ago. :thumb:
Yeah, what you can't see or smell doesn't exist and can't hurt you.
That's what some people thought when they did the swap over from coal gas to natural gas. Some of them got blown up.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... heir-lives
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Re: Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

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Logging evidence backed up
17 May 2017
The UK and US-based Environmental Investigation Agency has published documents to support the results of its investigations into the massive illegal timber trade between Ratanakkiri province and Vietnam.
The documents include satellite images of major log depots in Vietnamese military-controlled territory on the border, plus customs and tax documents for specific shipments of thousands of cubic metres of prohibited logs.

The agency provided evidence of Vietnamese Government authorisation giving 16 companies quotas amounting to more than 230,000 cubic metres of Cambodian timber.
Documents included sales invoices, packing lists and Vietnamese customs records detailing the importation of about $300 million of wood and wood products from Cambodia since January 2016.

The agency said: “The EIA is encouraged to hear that on Sunday, May 14, Cambodia’s Environment Minister announced the launch of an intensive investigation into the timber smuggling underway in Ratanakkiri.”

The initial report on May 8 said the wood was taken from Community Protected Areas in Virachey and Ou Ya Dav national parks, as well as Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary.
Over five months, the report said kickbacks received by both Cambodian and Vietnamese officials in what they termed “organised crime” were estimated to top $13 million.
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/38471/ ... backed-up/
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Re: Logging ban flouted as Vietnamese nationals strip protected forests in Ratanakkiri

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CEOCambodiaNews wrote: Fri May 19, 2017 12:10 am Logging evidence backed up
17 May 2017
The UK and US-based Environmental Investigation Agency has published documents to support the results of its investigations into the massive illegal timber trade between Ratanakkiri province and Vietnam.
The documents include satellite images of major log depots in Vietnamese military-controlled territory on the border, plus customs and tax documents for specific shipments of thousands of cubic metres of prohibited logs.

The agency provided evidence of Vietnamese Government authorisation giving 16 companies quotas amounting to more than 230,000 cubic metres of Cambodian timber.
Documents included sales invoices, packing lists and Vietnamese customs records detailing the importation of about $300 million of wood and wood products from Cambodia since January 2016.

The agency said: “The EIA is encouraged to hear that on Sunday, May 14, Cambodia’s Environment Minister announced the launch of an intensive investigation into the timber smuggling underway in Ratanakkiri.”

The initial report on May 8 said the wood was taken from Community Protected Areas in Virachey and Ou Ya Dav national parks, as well as Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary.
Over five months, the report said kickbacks received by both Cambodian and Vietnamese officials in what they termed “organised crime” were estimated to top $13 million.
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/38471/ ... backed-up/
Is that your answer to my reply to you? Another article missing the end destination or any mention of the Chinese.

Let me ask you avery simple question then;
I have two buyers interested in luxury hard wood. One is offering double the price of the of the other one per m3. Who would you do business with?

If I was a Chinese businessmen I would want to have the wood Imported legally as there are some pretty stiff penalties for illegal activity in China. I would want a way I could clean the wood before importation. How might I go about that?
Why aren't they reporting the Chinese connection? Ask the editors.
O
It's just like MFIs - nobody wants to talk about what's really happening/ happened- especially in the papers. Its just business/ politics that's important. Fuck the customer. The ppp and the cd should be ashamed of themselves. Call that reporting!

At least the cd posted a letter to the editor about it, but that's lame as fuck letting someone else do the serious reporting for you.

Just a reminder that estimates predict that between 12 and 15% of land in Cambodia has been stolen off the pooresr of Cambodians through the MFI scam. It's taken them a while, but it seems that everyone else is catching onto the idea that MFIs are actuall a lot worse than even local money lenders.
Africa, namely Kenya, will help sort Cambodia out via the Mpesa model the Cambodians nicked and rebranded as Wing.
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