Shan: Rare Tree Trade Aggravates Deforestation
During the past ten years Shanland has become the center of an illegal timber trade between
Below are extracts from an article written by Khun Sam and published by the
Not content with selling huge quantities of timber to
The prized trees are Ye-Htin-Shu (known by their Latin name ‘Podocarpus nerrifolia’), believed by the Chinese to bring good luck. “Wealthy people buy the trees and replant them in their gardens,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese analyst who lives on the China-Burma border. Trees were also offered as gifts to gain favor with high-ranking officials, he said. The more mature the tree the higher the price. Some of them are 100 years old.
An official of one Burmese company involved in the sale of trees to
Special heavy machinery is employed to dig up the trees, complete with roots, and transport them by road through the border trading town of Muse to Ruili, in China’s Yunnan province.
Ye-Htin-Shu are rare trees and grow in lowland and valley areas of
Many Ye-Htin-Shu trees were destroyed because they were clumsily uprooted and inexpertly packed for transport, Hkun Seng said.
The trees are a lucrative source of income not only for the export companies but for local government officials who man checkpoints on the road to China and demand transit fees, taxes and even bribes before allowing the unusual freight to pass. Traders have to pass through about eight check points between Naung Cho and Muse.
The junta’s paramilitary militia groups in northern
Some illegal traders bypass the checkpoints at night, others bribe their way through, according to Hkun Seng.
The trade in Ye-Htin-Shu trees began some 10 years ago, according to business sources. Brig-Gen Aung Than Htut, commander of Northeast Command and chairman of Shan State (North) Peace and Development Council and Naypyidaw’s Ministry of Forests, have so far approved the export of about 2,000 of the trees, the sources said.
The London-based watchdog Global Witness says more than 1 million cubic meters of timber, about 95 percent of
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