site.btaIllegal Wood Harvesting Accounts for a Quarter of All Timber - Environmentalists

Illegal Wood Harvesting Accounts for a Quarter of All Timber - Environmentalists

Sofia, September 24 (BTA) - An expert analysis of data for
2006-2013 shows that at 2.4 million cubic metres, the annual
volume of illegal lumbering in Bulgaria accounts for a quarter
of all timber, WWF experts told a news conference at BTA's Press
Club on Wednesday. They were quoting their own report on
illegal lumbering in this country during the reference period.

The problems in state-owned forests are largely due to the
convergence of control and economic interest in the same state
body - the Agriculture and Food Ministry, said the
environmentalists, and suggested that the Executive Forest
Agency, which exercises control, be separated from the Ministry.

Problems also arise from the imperfect statutory framework with
loopholes for fiddling with the harvest and timber markings,
ineffective control along the chain and low fine collection
rates at less than 15 per cent. Between 20 and 40 per cent of
the output is hidden in the transfer of the actual volume of
harvested timber to individual clients, who buy it by the cubic
metre, or to processing companies, which buy it by the tonne,
said Alexander Dounchev of the WWF. Illegal practices include
labelling good timber as poor quality where damage is up to 50
leva per cubic metre, and the documenting of "hidden" reserves,
which reach 30 per cent of the real harvest (up to 2 million cu
m a year). Changes in legislation are most needed to crack down
on the worst fraud, which occurs in forwarding and transport,
said Dounchev.

The WWF suggests that the institutions address the problems
through independent forest inventorying, higher requirements for
forestry staff qualifications and responsibilities, and tougher
punishments for offenders.

Executive Forest Agency Director Tony Krustev said the proposed
measures overlapped with those planned by the Agency. However,
he called the cited data on illegal logging "absurd". Inspectors
have registered illegal logging in the Botevgrad area (Western
Bulgaria) by Roma and by wood-processing companies and have
reported the cases to the prosecuting magistrates, the Agency
said.