30/03/2005– Illegal logging
is widespread in Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia
and is therefore heading to be a major internal
market problem unless it is addressed by the
EU, according to three new reports released
by WWF, the global conservation organisation.
The studies show that up to 45% of the total
harvest in Bulgaria stems from illegal harvesting
operations and the annual allowable cut is
exceeded by 1.5 million m3. The volume of
estimated illegal harvesting in Slovakia is
as high as 10% and the allowable cut is exceeded
by up to 16.8%. As far as Romania is concerned,
gaps in the government statistics make it
even impossible to estimate the level of illegal
logging.
On the day the European Parliament’s committee
on foreign affairs votes on Romania and Bulgaria
accession to the EU, WWF calls the European
institutions to assist the new member States
and the accession countries in dealing with
this threat to the European forests, in particular
through capacity building measures and financial
support, similar to the FLEGT action plan
on illegal logging. Although environmental
NGOs have long pointed out the need to address
this issue, not only in tropical areas but
also “close to home”, no single action or
measure has been taken so far by the EU.
“WWF welcomes the natural treasures that
Bulgaria and Romania will bring to the EU
and underlines that the EU has a responsibility
to assist new member states to create conditions
which make abuse of natural resources less
attractive and less likely”, said Duncan Pollard,
Head of WWF European Forest Programme. “Not
only is illegal logging harmful for rare and
valuable species, but it also means a huge
economic loss for the communities and a distortion
of trade in Europe.”
Major factors contributing to illegal harvesting
in Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania are violations
of legislation such as fraudulent use of permits,
registration of high quality wood as low quality
timber to avoid taxes, false records about
the real volume of harvesting, evasion of
controls and logging in protected areas. Other
factors are linked with corruption, as well
as shortage of human, financial and material
resources. Often police or guards have little
knowledge of timber controls and forest staff
do not have appropriate incentives for good
forest management.
Key countries importing timber from Bulgaria:
Greece, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium,
France, Norway, Hungary and the UK. Countries
importing timber from Slovakia include Austria,
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Germany,
Slovenia and Italy, while among countries
importing timber from Romania are France,
Germany, Austria, Italy, USA, Saudi Arabia,
UK, Hungary, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Greece.
“If the EU is to be consistent in its efforts
to tackle illegal logging, then it must deal
with the problem not only in tropical areas,
but within its own borders as well as in accession
countries”, said Beatrix Richards, Forest
Policy Officer at WWF.
WWF also calls on the Governments of the
affected countries to address the problem
as a priority, as well as to reform the forest
and conservation legislation. The Bulgarian
state forest administration, the National
Forestry Board, has already announced its
commitment to address the issue and to seek
cooperation with WWF on this.
