Latest news with #illegallogging
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Men face massive fine after authorities uncover disturbing operation during routine traffic stop: 'The number of cases ... is appalling'
Five men were caught smuggling five truckloads of illegal logs in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. According to the Sarawak Tribune, the Forest Department of Sarawak discovered the illegal logs during a routine raid in the Bintulu area on April 25. They found five trucks full of various species and sizes. SFD director Datuk Hamden Mohammad said in a statement, "Four local men and one Indonesian were detained for inspection. … None of the drivers were able to produce valid documents of ownership for the logs." It's estimated the haul was worth RM275,00 ($64,400 USD). The high value of timber has made illegal logging in Malaysia rampant. In 2022 alone, 90 cases of illegal logging were recorded, per Wiki Impact. Of those, 60 were in the Sarawak region. According to Global Forest Watch, Malaysia has lost roughly 32% of its tree cover between 2000 and 2024. The country is at risk of losing another 16% of forest cover due to the government allowing timber and palm oil harvesting, per Wood Central. Deforestation drastically accelerates changes to the climate. Forests act as carbon storehouses. When cut down, planet-heating carbon is released into the atmosphere. This increases temperatures and contributes to air pollution. The five men will be charged in court under Section 96 of the Forests Ordinance 2015 for unlawful possession of logs. Policies like this ordinance are crucial to keeping the planet cool and clean. With the government making concessions on environmental policies and authorities overlooking illegal logging, deforestation and the changing climate will worsen. Gurmit Singh, the Technology and Development Malaysia chairman for the Centre for Environment, said, "The number of cases might be higher as not all are reported or identified. The main cause is corruption in the Forestry Department. As long as you allow that to continue, enforcers themselves turn away from these activities," per Wiki Impact. Sahabat Alam Malaysia president Meenakshi Raman said, "The fact that the number of cases in Sarawak is high is appalling. This signals that the authorities are not doing their job because if they are monitoring and enforcing, then it would not go on." Should the government be paying people to hunt invasive species? Definitely Depends on the animal No way Just let people do it for free Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. In the case of these five men, the authorities were on the ball. Voicing support for environmental policies can safeguard these precious resources. From advocating for change to showing support for local initiatives, the public's influence on conserving the environment is powerful and essential. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
The Independent
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Endangered gorilla habitats threatened in rebel-held Congo
Illegal logging has surged in the tropical forests of eastern Congo after falling into rebel hands earlier this year, stoking fears of widespread environmental damage, according to residents and environmentalists. The affected area includes the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site west of Bukavu, eastern Congo's second-largest city. The park, captured by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in February, shelters hundreds of bird species and one of the last remaining groups of eastern lowland gorillas, also known as Grauer's gorillas. The M23 rebels now control more territory in eastern Congo than ever before. T heir advance has reopened roads previously restricted by government checkpoints, facilitating the transport of goods, including charcoal (locally known as makala). This improved transport efficiency has fueled increased logging in and around the park, as reported by charcoal producers and traders. "We plant trees for clean air, but also to make charcoal, produce planks and for construction," said Espoir Gedeon, who transports timber from the forests near Bukavu. The producers and traders said charcoal prices have plunged as supply has surged. Bags weighing up to 70 kg that once fetched 120,000 Congolese francs (about $40) now sell for less than half that. In the Murhesa charcoal market, 27 km (17 miles) north of Bukavu, vendors said they now buy bags for around 45,000 francs and resell them in Bukavu for a modest markup. "That's how God is helping us. We manage to feed our children and also get soap for laundry," said vendor Sifa Bahati. But conservationists warn that the charcoal boom is coming at a steep ecological cost. Environmental groups have appealed in a letter to M23 leaders to stop illegal logging, warning of possible irreversible damage to biodiversity and forest ecosystems. Neither the M23-appointed governor of South Kivu province nor an M23 spokesperson responded to a request for comment. "At least 3,000 bags (of charcoal) enter Bukavu daily, or head towards Goma," said Josue Aruna, head of the NGO Environmental and Agro-Rural Civil Society of Congo in South Kivu. Goma is the largest city in eastern Congo.
RNZ News
21-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Report highlights widespread abuse of logging permits in Papua New Guinea
Logging ship, Turubu Bay, East Sepik (taken from cover image of 'The FCA Logging Scandal' report). Photo: Oakland Institute New Guinea Island is home to one of the world's most important remaining stands of tropical rainforest. However, for many years, it has been under assault by illegal loggers and a community advocacy organisation in Papua New Guinea is calling for action to stop it. ACT NOW, with Australian watchdog Jubilee Australia, has produced a report called The FCA Logging Scandal , which details the abuse of a PNG government scheme aimed at encouraging the clearance of small patches of forest for agriculture. Prime Minister James Marape, in his inaugural address to the national parliament on 9 August 2022, stated that " we are committed to stopping all round log exports by 2025". "We can no longer tolerate this wrongdoing happening for a very long time under our noses," Marape said. "We are also exploring state market options for logs that are earmarked for the state, which will give us the volume to move into downstream processing. This level of intervention is likely to also shine a spotlight on the challenges of the sector and what needs to happen to it, to stimulate growth." However, that promise has yet to be fulfilled. RNZ Pacific spoke with ACT NOW campaign manager Eddie Tanago. PNG logging Photo: Papua New Guinea Forest Industry Association (This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity). Eddie Tanago: These aren't new issues. We've been talking about these issues. The recent being the Forest Clearing Authority (FCA), which has been subject to abuse for quite a long time now, and it accounts for a third of total log exports coming out from Papua New Guinea. The concerns have been raised numerous times, and it's quite frustrating that there's really nothing tangible done to address it. The recent report that we had launched actually demands for action, not only by PNG authorities, but by overseas agencies, or those that are involved in the supply chain, and those who actually buying from Papua New Guinea. Ninety percent of exports from Papua New Guinea go to China, it's right that China also acts on ensuring compliance from the sources that it is buying the logs from, and abuses and the issues of illegal logging, human rights abuse, and the harm to the environment has been in existence for as long as Papua New Guinea has been a state and it is still an issue. Don Wiseman: Yes, let's look at these. So these Forest Clearance Authorities, they're there to primarily encourage agriculture, but that often doesn't happen. ET: Exactly, and what has been uncovered in this recently published report, is that, FCAs is meant for clearance for agriculture or other small clearing or land use, but the evidence that we have collected in the series of reports that we have documented, and the current one shows that logging has been happening, and we're talking about large scale forest clearance. We see that in normal logging operations and under different type of licence. For this case, we have seen logging companies who are in the excuse of doing agriculture, taking up huge volumes of logs. And logs worth millions have been shipped out or exported. This is a concern. It's a direct breach of the terms of the licence. DW: When they go into an area, they're taking a far bigger area than would ever be required for whatever agricultural project they're doing. ET: We have reports and evidence that shows that logging is actually happening in large scale. Not only that, but we have satellite imagery that shows that logging are actually happening beyond the boundaries that it's supposed to happen. We have what's written on the paper. It's different to what's actually happening on the ground. And as I said, this is very concerning. We have the PNG Forest Authority and the board having announced a moratorium and promises to have the audit reports on the FCA is audited and have a report published. And this is like two years ago, this hasn't happened. DW: So no moratorium? ET: There is an announced moratorium. There's a new one being announced. As it is now we are not able to verify if that really has existed, because, you know, two years ago they promised an audit, and the audit report would have been made public. We don't have that report, or it's not even publicly available that we have cited. DW: Who do you blame? Who do you blame for these, these failings? ET: T he regulatory authority, which is the PNG Forest Aauthority, it is not able to handle these issues. While we are not able to handle these kind of issues, logs have been shipped out from these areas. We have people's rights who have been suppressed, or we have logs that are taken out illegally. We have the proceeds from these logs that are going out and sold in the markets. So this whole lot of issues that are still outstanding while logging is being allowed to continue under this FCAs. DW: You've put out a report and you've made some recommendations. What do you want to see happen? ET: As I said earlier on, the report is out there, and this is an issue that's not only for Papua New Guinea and not only for PNG Forest Authority, but those in the whole picture. We had a set of recommendations that accompany the report, and the number one is that we want the government to suspend all log exports from the FCA series until an independent, transparent and public inquiry is held to look into the legality of these existing FCAs. And number two is that we want the National Forest Board to extend the moratorium on the new FCAs until a government inquiry has been conducted, [and] recommendations have been implemented. But also we wanted audit reports publicly made available. We also want the police fraud in the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, and Interpol, to identify the criminal laws that may have been broken in the submission and the approval of the fraudulent FCA projects. Commercial banks also play an important part in this transaction or in this in this process. We also want the commercial banks to identify any customers or logging companies that are linked to FCA logging operations. And we will want a full compliance with all anti-money laundering legislation and the bank environmental social responsibilities are complied with. DW: You've called for overseas timber buyers to be a whole lot more vigilant. How would they know - if the wood goes to China and then, I guess, comes out to Western countries as furniture and whatever. How would you know? ET: That's a very good question, and that is also a very big hindrance. There has to be some kind of system put in place, where it's traceable when it goes to jurisdictions like China. There has to be some kind of message put in place between Papua New Guinea, and maybe China, to ensure that there's transparency. So the buyer, or the users of the end products, know exactly the sources the timbers are coming from and where people's rights are not being infringed, where people are not being made landless, where people are not being deprived of their rights to have access to the environment and their land. These kind of things have to be put in place properly, so that those in the supply and the demand chain, and the end users, are able to trace back to the sources of timber to ensure that people's rights are not infringed.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
How Sycamore Gap fellers went from friends to foes
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were best mates when they illegally felled the much-loved Sycamore Gap tree together. How did they end up turning on each other? It is hard to imagine they were once friends. Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers used to phone each other every day and met up several times a week but, as they stood in the dock at Newcastle Crown Court, waiting for the verdicts to be returned, they looked like complete strangers. The prosecution called them "the odd couple" who did everything together. They became friends about four years ago. Carruthers was a mechanic and did Graham "a good turn" by fixing his dad's Land Rover, making a special job of it so it could be used for Graham's father's funeral. Graham was a ground worker and he enlisted the man he called his "best pal" to help him on jobs, with tasks including the felling of trees for which they split the cash 50/50. Then one night, during Storm Agnes in 2023, the friends went to Sycamore Gap. Under the cover of darkness, they trekked across marshland in winds of up to 60mph and used their experience to mark the trunk, cut a wedge out of it so they knew which direction it would fall and then cut it down with a chainsaw. They filmed it and watched the sycamore crashing to the ground. What they didn't realise is that the phone and vehicle they used would be tracked and the conversations they had would be discovered. As the police questioning began, their stories unravelled and so did their friendship. Graham's phone was used to film the felling. Road and CCTV cameras captured his Range Rover going to and from Steel Rigg, the nearest public car park to the tree. He told the court his car and phone were used by other people, including Adam Carruthers "who didn't need to ask". Prosecutor Richard Wright was incredulous at his claims, telling jurors: "According to Graham he didn't go out all night and Carruthers took his car and phone while he slept in blissful ignorance, and his large dog let out not so much as a growl." It wasn't the only story that was mocked in court. Carruthers' phone had been traced to Northumberland the day the tree was felled. It was suggested to him he was scoping the area out. He told the court he was taking his partner out on a three-hour round trip for a meal at the Metrocentre in Gateshead after she'd recently given birth, but their baby started crying so they turned the car around at a spot that just happened to be near the tree. Christopher Knox, Graham's barrister, said: "You're telling the jury in spite of the fact she wasn't well enough to lift a baby, you were going 65 miles with [your partner] and a new-born?" Mr Wright asked Carruthers why they didn't just go for dinner in Carlisle, a short drive from their home. Carruthers agreed there were restaurants in the Cumbrian city but they were "not the best". He claimed he was at home all night, fixing the roof of his shed and washing some clothes. Since that night, the court heard the pair had fallen out spectacularly. Carruthers' barrister Andrew Gurney said Graham named his former friend as the culprit because he needed a scapegoat. "Having found himself in the dock, [Graham's] reached desperately for a lifeline," Mr Gurney said, adding: "He tried to throw Adam Carruthers under the bus to save his own skin." Graham initially told police he knew who had cut down the tree but would not "grass" as the culprit had young children, a not so subtle nod towards his friend. When he felt police were still paying too much attention to him and not enough to Carruthers, he showed officers a picture of his friend holding some owls while standing next to a box of chainsaws. In August 2024, some 11 months after the felling, he made an anonymous call to police to name Carruthers outright. Officers recognised Graham's voice immediately and he was forced to admit to jurors he had indeed made the call. Both men said the friendship ended abruptly one night in the aftermath of the felling and their arrests. Graham drove to Carruthers' home and said they each had to go their own way, and that was that. Mr Knox said his client had been accused of being "stroppy" while giving evidence in court, engaging in heated clashes with Mr Wright. "Does that make him the Sycamore Gap tree murderer?" he asked the jury , or "does it mean exactly what he said in his police interviews - he's been dropped in this?" Jurors clearly thought the former. Emotions were running high right to the very end of the trial when the judge told them both to expect a significant period of time in custody. As Graham was led away from the dock, he had an angry exchange with a member of the public. We still don't know which of the pair cut down the tree and which filmed it. The prosecution said it didn't matter, that they were "in it together, from first to last". They might have fallen out but they were side by side again in court, united by the two things they will forever share - guilt at destroying a globally-beloved landmark and too much cowardice to admit it. Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram. Pair guilty of cutting down Sycamore Gap tree How a park ranger alerted world to Sycamore Gap tree's fate Sycamore Gap felling 'bit of a laugh' - prosecutor Video shows felling of much-loved tree, jury told
BBC News
10-05-2025
- BBC News
How Sycamore Gap fellers went from friends to foes
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were best mates when they illegally felled the much-loved Sycamore Gap tree together. How did they end up turning on each other? It is hard to imagine they were once Graham and Adam Carruthers used to phone each other every day and met up several times a week but, as they stood in the dock at Newcastle Crown Court, waiting for the verdicts to be returned, they looked like complete prosecution called them "the odd couple" who did everything together. They became friends about four years ago. Carruthers was a mechanic and did Graham "a good turn" by fixing his dad's Land Rover, making a special job of it so it could be used for Graham's father's funeral. Graham was a ground worker and he enlisted the man he called his "best pal" to help him on jobs, with tasks including the felling of trees for which they split the cash 50/50. Then one night, during Storm Agnes in 2023, the friends went to Sycamore the cover of darkness, they trekked across marshland in winds of up to 60mph and used their experience to mark the trunk, cut a wedge out of it so they knew which direction it would fall and then cut it down with a chainsaw. They filmed it and watched the sycamore crashing to the they didn't realise is that the phone and vehicle they used would be tracked and the conversations they had would be discovered. As the police questioning began, their stories unravelled and so did their phone was used to film the felling. Road and CCTV cameras captured his Range Rover going to and from Steel Rigg, the nearest public car park to the tree. He told the court his car and phone were used by other people, including Adam Carruthers "who didn't need to ask". Prosecutor Richard Wright was incredulous at his claims, telling jurors: "According to Graham he didn't go out all night and Carruthers took his car and phone while he slept in blissful ignorance, and his large dog let out not so much as a growl."It wasn't the only story that was mocked in phone had been traced to Northumberland the day the tree was felled. It was suggested to him he was scoping the area out. He told the court he was taking his partner out on a three-hour round trip for a meal at the Metrocentre in Gateshead after she'd recently given birth, but their baby started crying so they turned the car around at a spot that just happened to be near the Knox, Graham's barrister, said: "You're telling the jury in spite of the fact she wasn't well enough to lift a baby, you were going 65 miles with [your partner] and a new-born?"Mr Wright asked Carruthers why they didn't just go for dinner in Carlisle, a short drive from their agreed there were restaurants in the Cumbrian city but they were "not the best".He claimed he was at home all night, fixing the roof of his shed and washing some clothes. Since that night, the court heard the pair had fallen out spectacularly. Carruthers' barrister Andrew Gurney said Graham named his former friend as the culprit because he needed a scapegoat. "Having found himself in the dock, [Graham's] reached desperately for a lifeline," Mr Gurney said, adding: "He tried to throw Adam Carruthers under the bus to save his own skin."Graham initially told police he knew who had cut down the tree but would not "grass" as the culprit had young children, a not so subtle nod towards his he felt police were still paying too much attention to him and not enough to Carruthers, he showed officers a picture of his friend holding some owls while standing next to a box of chainsaws. In August 2024, some 11 months after the felling, he made an anonymous call to police to name Carruthers recognised Graham's voice immediately and he was forced to admit to jurors he had indeed made the men said the friendship ended abruptly one night in the aftermath of the felling and their drove to Carruthers' home and said they each had to go their own way, and that was that. Mr Knox said his client had been accused of being "stroppy" while giving evidence in court, engaging in heated clashes with Mr Wright."Does that make him the Sycamore Gap tree murderer?" he asked the jury , or "does it mean exactly what he said in his police interviews - he's been dropped in this?"Jurors clearly thought the were running high right to the very end of the trial when the judge told them both to expect a significant period of time in custody. As Graham was led away from the dock, he had an angry exchange with a member of the still don't know which of the pair cut down the tree and which filmed it. The prosecution said it didn't matter, that they were "in it together, from first to last".They might have fallen out but they were side by side again in court, united by the two things they will forever share - guilt at destroying a globally-beloved landmark and too much cowardice to admit it. Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram.
