

Some of the largest swaths of natural forest left on the planet are being harvested at an alarming pace to feed a global wood-processing industry centered in coastal China. The Chinese demand for wood is fueling illegal timber operations in parts of Indonesia, Burma and Siberia.
The railyard at Suifenhe, China, is dominated by timber arriving from just over the border in Siberia. Environmental groups are concerned that forests throughout East Asia are being cut with few regulations or management rules.
Men carrying logs harvested in Siberia at a sawmill in Suifenhe, China. Western demand for furniture products manufactured in China is driving intense logging in some of the world's last untouched forest
A forklift moves logs unloaded from rail cars arriving at Suifenhe, China, from forests in Siberia. Forest Trends, an environmental and industry consortium, predicts that natural forests in Burma and Indonesia will be exhausted by the end of the current decade if current harvest rates continue.
At a sawmill in Suifenhe, Chinese workers equipped with minimal safety gear process logs harvested in Siberia. Forests in Siberia could be exhausted within 20 years at current harvest rates, according to Forest Trends.
At the Guofeng Wood Co. Ltd. factory in Suifenhe, workers process wood harvested in Siberia into flooring destined for the U.S. and elsewhere. Some scientists fear that global warming will be intensified as Siberian and East Asian forests are cut.
In Suifenhe, wood harvested in Siberia is loaded onto railcars to be shipped south to Chinese factories where it will be processed into flooring for export to the West. Industry, environmental and government groups are finding it difficult to tramp out illegal timber operations.
Peter S. Goodman - The Washington Post
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento