|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Guinea-Bissau |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Imports
of logs from Guinea-Bissau declared by China
Source: China Customs
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The export of timber has since been prohibited temporarily, in order to enable the export of cashew nuts (the rural population's main cash crop). The average import value per unit of weight for the logs which China reported as imports from Guinea-Bissau during March 2014 amounted to roughly US$ 500 per tonne (in the table above, one tonne of logs is assumed to have a volume of 0.6 cubic metres - based on the average volume per unit of weight reported by UN Comtrade for China's imports of non-coniferous logs from Guinea-Bissau during 2010, 2011 and 2012). During recent years, the difference between the import value per unit of weight reported by China and the export value per unit of weight (if) recorded in Guinea-Bissau might have been approximately US$ 200 per tonne for logs supplied from Guinea Bissau to China (i.e. an amount similar to the difference between the unit cif value and unit fob value for supplies of logs from Cameroon to China during the three years 2010-2012 as apparent from UN Comtrade). If so, then the unit export value per unit of weight for logs exported from Guinea-Bissau to China during March 2013 might have been in the order of US$ 300 per tonne. For several years Guinea-Bissau has chosen not to publish statistics for its exports of timber to UN Comtrade. However, it is said that, prior to the April 2014 elections, three or four ships carrying roughly 200 20 foot containers of logs were being exported from Guinea-Bissau. The volume of (squared) logs stuffed into these containers would have been in the order of 20,000 cubic metres - considerably more than that which China has reported as imports from Guinea-Bissau. However, it is conceivable that some of those containers were trans-shipped in Nigeria for onwards transportation to China, particularly given the surge in China's imports of logs from "Nigeria" during the first few months of this year (during March 2014, China imported 57,000 tonnes of logs from Nigeria, of which 27,000 tonne comprised rosewood). Guinea-Bissau is a small country impoverished by conflict, particularly attributable to the smuggling of narcotics. People smuggling, including of "Asians", is also a concern. The country became dependent on "aid", particularly from the EU, which suspended its support during 2010 - after China had gained an appetite for the Guinea-Bissau's logs. Subsequently, the World Bank, the IMF and the Paris Club of donors wrote off much of Guinea-Bissau's foreign debt. However, they did so without bothering to make this conditional on respect for the country's natural wealth, specifically its forests. This is reflected in the increase in the volume of logs exported from the country shown in the table above. An article in the 14 03 2013 edition of government-owned newspaper Nô Pintcha reflects the government of Guinea-Bissau's recognition of the severity of the current logging boom. A logging ban is understood to have come into effect during February 2013, but due to inadequate enforcement, this seems to have increased the rate of logging - all implicitly illegal. Further, as national elections approach, export-orientd logging is surging - implying that it is being used as a source of (illicit) political funding. As such the countries (actuall only one, China) which are importing this timber (almost entirely rosewood) are interfering in the internal affairs of Guinea-Bissau. A consequence of this might be that Guinea-Bissau is more widely recongised as a as a failed state, fostering criminal activity. Similar exploitation appears to be taking place in Guinea-Bissau's fishing indistry. If there were an international system which automatically requests all importing countries to respect the prohibitions on logging (or the export quotas concerning logs) of every country which has one, then there would be no international market for such logs. Since 2011, almost all the volume of logs imported by China has been reported as comprising "rosewood", including barwood (P. erinaceus). Only those parts of the tree which earn the greatest profit are exported, the remainder of the wood (typically the majority of the tree's volume) is left to rot. Most of this is imported by or for enterprises having addresses in Yangjiang, Guangzhou and Fanyu (all in Guangdong province), Yangjiang is known for its (chef's) knives having sandalwood handles. Despite their popularity, TV-cooking programmes have yet to draw attention to this use of timber, although possession of such utensils in the USA would contravene the USA's Lacey Act if the supply of their handles' wood were associated with illegality. Corte ilegal de árvores de Pau de Sangue em Guiné-Bissau 2014 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright
globaltimber.org.uk
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
