Logging and timber

Only certain species of trees grown in managed plantations may be exported, not all species, the government spokesman said last week. Eucalyptus and kathinnalong trees whose trunks measure 12 centimetres or less may be felled for export but trees with larger trunks must not be used ...

Banks have financed companies responsible for rainforest destruction in Southeast Asia to the tune of billions of dollars, a study showed on September 6, and called on lenders to stop “fuelling forest crime”. Southeast Asia is home to some of the world’s most diverse rainforests, but ...

Modern machines and technical skills are required to enhance the competitiveness of the Lao timber processing industry in line with other countries in the region. Chairman of the Okawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Japan, Mr Yuji Sonoda made the observation during an interview with Vientiane ...

In recent months Prime Minister Hun Sen has made an effort to show that the government has a handle on the voracious deforestation that has ravaged the country’s forests over the years. Yet his speeches and decrees have done little to slow down, much less ...

A logged forest isn’t a lost forest, new research reveals. In recent surveys, scientists from Imperial College London found a surprising number of endangered species living in logged forests in Borneo.The forests in question aren’t clear cut, but “selectively logged.” Only a specific tree species ...

Military vehicles are hauling wood from a protected area to be burned as fuel in garment factories, investigators from NGO Wildlife Alliance have found. Seng Bunra, country director of NGO Conservation International, said on August 16 that RCAF trucks have become notorious for taking wood from ...

Laos and Indonesia’s keen efforts to certify their logging industries have paved the way for access to wider markets, better timber prices, and less deforestation and illegal logging. Six timber-processing businesses in Laos have been certified and five million hectares of plantation forest has been certified ...

With a crackdown announced on the illegal timber trade—and a proposed nationwide logging ban by the end of the fiscal year in March 2017—seizures of illegally cut logs have exceeded 10,000 tons in the first quarter from April to June. Myo Min, director of the Forestry ...

Police in Oudomxay province last week seized some 47 rosewood timbers and 25 partially-processed rosewoods weighing 2,534 kilogrammes in total loaded inside the container-like truck, which carried a Vientiane number plate reportedly being transported from Vientiane en route to China, a provincial police official said on ...

More than 9,000 cubic metres of illegal timber has been seized in southern Attapeu province since late last year, according to a report by the provincial authorities. Timber traders have reportedly been attempting to export timber through the province, despite an export ban imposed by the ...