Myanmar’s forests still being illegally logged and shipped to India, China, despite government ban

The hills of northern Myanmar’s Sagaing region were so legendarily thick with forests that in the days of kings, condemned criminals were ordered into the woods as a death sentence. Today illegal logging has left vast swaths of bare patches, with only a handful of old-growth stands.

Despite a temporary ban on all logging by the Southeast Asian country’s new government, the Associated Press found in a trip to the remote region that loggers are still cutting down some of the remaining old trees. Piles of such wood have been confiscated by the government, but villagers said officials can be bribed to let it through.

Massive amounts of teak, rosewood and other hardwoods have been illegally cut and exported from Myanmar since 2011, much of it stripped from the Sagaing region, floated on the Irrawaddy River and transported to neighbouring China and India.

Myanmar has lost more than a quarter of its forests since 1990, according to the UN. The losses have been greatest in the north, in Sagaing and neighbouring Shan and Kachin states.

“Logging companies usually chop down trees more than they actually are permitted,” said Min Min, a farmer and environmental activist who previously worked transporting illegally cut logs. “According to my experience, I’ve never seen the government take action against the companies chopping down any size of trees they wanted.”

Four activists in Sagaing told The Associated Press that logging appeared to be continuing on a small scale despite the temporary ban, based lumber they have seen being transported.