Loggers wreak havoc in Siberia

Newspapers are warning of an environmental disaster

A Russian newspaper has painted a bleak picture of the environmental impact on the vast pine forests of Siberia resulting from the burgeoning market in China for Russian raw materials.

The report comes as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov concluded a two-day visit to Beijing where he signed a series of economic agreements, including deals on the exploitation of natural gas and timber.

Mr Kasyanov told businessmen in Beijing that trade between Russia and China is expected to reach $7bn in 2000, a rise of over 20% on the previous year.

This level of trade is described by observers as paltry given the size of the two economies.

Kasyanov in China: sales pitch

Mr Kasyanov said he foresaw big scope for co-operation in the future in such high-value sectors as machine tools, power engineering, aviation and space.

Timber

The Russian newspaper Rossyskaya Gazeta pointed out that the uncontrolled logging of timber for the Chinese market is having a serious impact on forest cover in Irkutsk province west of Lake Baikal.

"The forest adjacent to the villages and small cities of Siberia is melting before residents' eyes.

"Along the railway, stacks of tall pine logs are rising.... The pace is steadily increasing," reporter Nikolay Savelyev wrote.

In a matter of days the loggers had slashed through the best timber in a protected natural zone

Reporter Nikolay Savelyev

Irkutsk province is the most densely forested region in Russia - 78% of its territory is covered by trees and there are 21 hectares of forested land for every inhabitant.

The paper reported how loggers went into the woods near the river Biryusa in early spring with high-powered chainsaws.

"Without hesitation they started cutting timber along the banks. They picked out only the best, export-grade pine. They threw away the crowns and buttends on the spot, and piled the middle parts, bleeding amber gold, into stacks.

"In a matter of days they had slashed through the best timber in a protected natural zone, loaded the timber on logging trucks, and - goodbye, Biryusa. The denuded area now stretches many hundreds of metres, an incredibly beautiful riverbank ruined."

2,600 firms and private enterprises are sending timber to the Heavenly Kingdom day and night

Reporter Nikolay Savelyev

The paper said that the river Biryusa area was not alone.

"The green attire of all the Siberian rivers and streams, whether it be the Angara, Chuna, Uda or Toporok, is being mercilessly ripped off.

"Timber is now the fastest and most disturbing source of profits in the province... 2,600 firms and private enterprises are sending timber to the Heavenly Kingdom day and night."

Mafia moves in

An Irkutsk forestry station official, Vladimir Armushenko, told Rossyskaya Gazeta that under current laws, "timber can be cut by anyone who gets it in their head to do it".

"Without receiving a license, without showing essential minimum requirements and knowledge of the forest, a person with a fat wallet simply buys a forest plot. Then the newly-fledged owner behaves like a barbarian in the woods."

Lake Baykal is surrounded by dense forests

Lieutenant Colonel A. Barkhatov of the Irkutsk province militia told the paper that fraud was widespread.

"According to our information the Angara region sends about 1.5 million cubic metres of wood a year to China and Japan; but the official figures indicate only just over half this amount. The hard currency earnings that are lost on forest contracts run into hundreds of millions of dollars," he said.

Oleg Gladyshev, deputy chief of the East Siberian Customs Administration, agreed.

"A reliable picture of what is being exported is never given. Every time a railway wagon is inspected the quantity and the grade of timber is understated," he said.

Governor's concern

In an interview for the same newspaper in April, Irkutsk governor Boris Govorin admitted the extent of the province's problems.

"We still have too many flaws," he said.

"We were relying heavily on our rich resources and the export of these resources. We did not undertake their intensive processing. Only 30% of our aluminium, for example, stayed in Russia for processing. The rest was exported. This was a faulty and foolish policy.

"We also sent our timber abroad without processing it first. That was certainly a short-sighted practice."

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.