Laos
Vientianne Express-Mar 10, 2018
As many as 595 people have been held responsible for involvement in the illegal exploitation of forest resources including illegal logging and trade over the past year, according to an official report.
They include 50 state officials, 56 businesspeople, 363 members of the Lao public, 121 Vietnamese, and five Chinese, according to a report that was presented at a national meeting of the agriculture, forestry and rural development sector this week.
Director General of the Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Sousath Xayakoummane, told the meeting that five people had been given one to two year prison sentences.
Ten other people were undergoing prosecution in court. Several hundred others are being investigated, prosecuted, fined, and educated about the error of their ways.
The initiation of legal proceedings is part of the government’s nationwide crackdown on illegal logging and wood processing businesses in line with Prime Minister’s Order No. 15 issued in 2016.
Over the past year, 74,367 cubic metres of timber have been seized and an additional 274 tonnes of wood have been impounded. Of the timber seized, 50,991 cubic metres, and an additional 200 tonnes of wood, have been sold at auction.
As many as 9,871 chainsaws along with a number of bulldozers, trucks, buses, tractors and other equipment used for illegal logging and transport have also been seized. “Through the implementation of Prime Minister’s Order No 15, we have been able to prevent [a number of] illegal logging, transporting and exporting,” Mr Sousath told the meeting.
The meeting, chaired by Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Dr Lien Thikeo, brought together representatives from the ministry and provinces across the country.
Mr Sousath said steps had also been taken to regulate wood processing and furniture plants.
Since the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Order, as many as 1,740 wood processing and family-based furniture plants operating unlawfully have been closed, according to Mr Sousath, citing information from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
There were 349 wood processing plants and over 1,000 family-based furniture workshops operating without business licences, according to the Industry and Handicraft Department under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
Twenty wood processing plants located inside forest areas were also among those closed down. The closure of illegal businesses whose operations reportedly failed to meet quality requirements aims to promote quality investment in the country’s wood processing industry.
The Prime Minister’s Order also prohibits the export of unfinished wood products in order to add value to wood products by processing them before export.
The closer oversight of processing plants not only encourages more investment in wood/timber processing businesses but also generates employment for local people, Director General of the Industry and Handicraft Department, Mr Manolack Rasachak, said.
He added that most wood processing businesses have improved their operations to satisfy the government’s requirements as stipulated in the PM’s Order No. 15.
