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Timber Trafficking in Vietnam

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Timber Trafficking in Vietnam

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Green Criminology ((PSGC))

Abstract

This chapter provides a detailed answer to the question: how is timber trafficking currently occurring in Vietnam or what is the current pattern of timber trafficking in Vietnam? It opens with the statistics that reveal the scope and general trend of timber trafficking in Vietnam over the five-year period 2008–2012 (inclusive). It then looks into five different stages or components of the crime: harvesting, smuggling, trading, supporting and processing. Each component is further categorised into distinctive groups of activities that explain in detail where and when the illicit operation takes place, who the offenders are, why they get involved, and what techniques they use to facilitate their crime. The chapter ends by critically discussing the nature and extent of timber trafficking in Vietnam and proposing an alternative approach to the current classification of illegal logging.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The most common forms of administrative sanction are monetary fines and confiscations of illegal forest products, equipment and vehicles used to carry out the violation. There are a number of violations that are detected by the law enforcement agencies, but not recorded as penalised cases. This is mainly because the anti-trafficking agencies cannot find the violators.

  2. 2.

    Apart from timber, there are small number of cases of illegal harvesting, transportation, processing and trade in other forest products most commonly orchids, mushrooms and bamboos.

  3. 3.

    The endangered timber species (Group IA and Group IIA) are specified in the Decree 32/2006/ND-CP; whereas all timber species in Vietnam are classified into eight groups (Group I to Group VIII) according to Decision 2198/CNR of the Ministry of Forestry dated 26 November 1977. Plain timber species, defined in this research, are those that are not listed in the Decree 32/2006/ND-CP.

  4. 4.

    The estimates of timber prices are based on the suggestions of the research interviewees (4TT01, 7FO1), other sources that note the values of timber prices (Kon Tum Investigation Police Agency 2011; Xuan Hoai 2014) and official documents specifying the prices of forest products, issued by provincial people’s committees such as Dak Nong (Decision 21/2012/QD-UBNN), Quang Binh (Decision 749/QD-UBNN in 2010), Dak Lak (Decision 28/2013/QD-UBNN) and Lam Dong (Decision 2566/QD-UBNN in 2013).

  5. 5.

    A wood-balance analysis by Lawson and MacFaul (2010) suggests that small-scale illegal logging makes up three-quarters of illegal timber production in Ghana, and almost all illegal production in Cameroon. Research by Jagger et al. (2012) on small-scale logging, which is largely illegal, shows it is a popular employment among the migrants in south-western Uganda. This logging does help reduce income inequality and improve their economic standing. Thanks to the high profits, small-scale illegal logging in rural Kalimantan, Indonesia “can be viewed as a lifeline supporting numerous segments of society” (Casson and Obidzinski 2007: 62).

  6. 6.

    A study by To et al. (2014) estimates that by 2012 while the total consumption of timber for house-building throughout Vietnam was 3.4 million m3, the amount of timber harvested by all poor forest households (15% of Vietnamese household numbers) was 0.8 million m3, accounting for 24% of the total timber amount used for house-building in the country.

  7. 7.

    Apart from the logging undertaken for house construction, in some areas indigenous people still maintain a tradition, in which they log several big planks of high-quality timber, and keep them in their house as valuable assets for either urgent situations or future generations (11IP02).

  8. 8.

    A police officer demonstrated this attribute in a recent event, during which over 20 officers, divided into two teams, conducted a raid on a harvesting scene that involved four loggers. However only one logger was arrested, the rest successfully escaped thanks to their familiarity with the forest terrain (20EP07).

  9. 9.

    The Joint Circular 19/2007 specifies, for instance, that for a criminal charge, the minimum volume of timber listed in Group IIA is 7 m3 and for Group III is 20 m3. Loggers then often harvest volumes that, after being divided between each logger, are less than these levels.

  10. 10.

    Some of the most notable locations for large-scale illegal logging are Cambodia (Le Billon 2000; Peters 2000), Russia (Pye-Smith 2006), Papua New Guinea (Laurance et al. 2011), Indonesia (Nellemann 2007; Telepak and EIA 2007; EIA and Telapak 2009), the Congo Basin (Ruiz Pérez et al. 2005), Honduras (CIP and EIA 2005), Madagascar (Global Witness and EIA 2009) and the Amazon (Laurance 1998; Boekhout van Solinge 2010a).

  11. 11.

    Key works in Vietnamese such as “các dự án thủy điện và cao su phá rừng” (“hydropower and rubber projects destroy forests”) and “lợi dụng dự án cao su khai thác gỗ trái phép” (“taking advantage of rubber plantation projects to illegally harvest timber”) yield a large number of relevant newspaper articles.

  12. 12.

    The conclusion by Lam Dong Province Inspection (2013) on the implementation of projects of forestland conversion into rubber plantation indicates that in three districts alone, there are 241 illegal cases of logging and forestland grabbing. These violations take place in 25 out of 44 companies inspected with almost 1800 m3 of timber illegally harvested.

  13. 13.

    In Dak Nong province, for example, the Government Inspectorate (2014a) officially confirms that “the harvesting of timber and forest resources during the implementation of the projects of land and forest allocation and land lease shows many loopholes and shortcomings. This leads to the fact that a large amount of timber and forest resources are lost”. In Gia Lai, in 2008 alone, over 30,000 m3 of timber were lost during the implementation of rubber plantation projects (Government Inspectorate 2014b).

  14. 14.

    Many projects of forestland conversion into rubber plantation in Lam Dong province, for example, actually harvest 1800 m3 of timber from Groups II to IV, but the logging permits indicate that the timber species for the logging are in Groups V–VIII (Lam Dong Province Inspection 2013).

  15. 15.

    The policy is specified in the Forest Protection and Development Act 2004, Decree 23/2006/ND-CP, Decision 186/2006/QĐ-TTg and most specifically in Circular 35/2011/TT-BNNPTNT partly amended by Circular 70/2011/TT-BNNPTNT. It allows forest owners to annually harvest certain amounts of timber. In the case of natural forests or state-funded plantation forests, which account for the vast majority of forests in Vietnam, the logging must be permitted by different local authorities (MARD 2011).

  16. 16.

    There have been a number of cases detected of abusing planned logging activities that take place in different parts of Vietnam (Anh The 2013). A notorious example was the criminal case of the Mang Den SFE, which took place from 2002 to 2003 in Kon Tum and Gia Lai province and was judged as the most serious criminal case of illegal logging in the Central Highlands brought into court to date. The Mang Den SFE was permitted to log over 2300 m3 of timber within the 61 hectares of forest that was managed by this enterprise. However, the enterprise, in close cooperation with five other logging firms, illegally harvested a total of 5500 m3 from an area of 300 hectares in the Kon Ka Kinh National Park (My Ngoc and Nguyen Tran 2004). Due to the high level of criminal organisation, the provincial investigators appeared to be unable to gather sufficient legal evidence, and the case then had to be investigated by a central exclusive investigative taskforce. A total of 27 people were prosecuted and mainly charged with either timber trafficking or corruption. The defendants were sentenced with a total of 123 years imprisonment (My Ngoc and Nguyen Tran 2004).

  17. 17.

    There are a number of cases found in different provinces such as Binh Dinh (Ngo 2008), Thua Thien Hue (Hoang Quan 2012); it appears to be particularly serious in the provinces of Quang Nam (Ha Vy 2011; Thanh Nien 2013), Nghe An (Khanh Hoan 2013; Phung, 2011; Tran Thu 2014) and Quang Tri (Dinh Thieu 2014; Phan 2011; Quang Tri Environmental Police 2012d).

  18. 18.

    Article 7 in Joint Circular No. 08/2009/TTLT-BXD-BTC-BKHĐT-BNNPTNT-NHNN on Guiding the Implementation of Decision No. 167/2008/QĐ-TTg states “The maximum timber volume is no more than 10 m3 of round timber for each household”.

  19. 19.

    The criminal case in Bac Kan province, which is considered as a SSITH, is an example. In order to have timber to build a house, a villager asked four other villagers to come to Ba Be National Park and illegally cut down two Nghien trees, equivalent to 17.5 m3 of timber (Ba Be Investigation Police Agency 2013a).

  20. 20.

    A police officer reveals some details of the technique. In checking stations, the entire timber volumes loaded in the trucks are confirmed to be consistent with the documents. So the documents will be stamped “Already Checked” and the trucks will pass through. To reuse the legal timber amount, the corrupt checkers will not write the specific checking times on both documents held by the timber owner and the supervision record managed by the checking station. After they pass the checkpoint, if they are unexpectedly inspected by mobile inspectors, they attempt to bribe the unwelcome inspectors. In many cases they succeed, but if for any reason, the bribe attempt fails, they will swiftly write the required specific time on the document. Then it becomes valid. They will then swiftly inform the previous checkers about this “tough” inspection, and the necessary information will also be added to the supervision records (20EP07).

  21. 21.

    In this technique, on the first three occasions, for example, the transporters carry small volumes of low-value timber, which they are willing to have seized. On the fourth occasion, however, if caught again, the carriers plead with officers for forgiveness, saying that previous haulages have been captured by the authorities, and their entire family relies on this journey. They then entreat the officers to give them and their family a chance to live. In this situation, Kiem Lam officers may reluctantly do them the favour of allowing the carriers to pass because the officers might fear that if the timber is seized again, these “nothing-to-lose” lawbreakers may take harsh revenge against the officers. This time, typically, the timber volume is highly valuable and can compensate for the preceding lost deliveries (05LR01). A similar tactic is to use intentionally dubious behaviours with a view to hoaxing the authorities (12EP04). In these cases, transporters do not carry any illegal timber on the first few occasions, but behave in a manner that makes the operations appear illegal. Having observed the suspicious behaviour, the authorities often request to check the commodities. After checking on the first few occasions repeatedly indicates that nothing is illegal, the transporters strongly condemn the officers for constantly harassing their legal business, and in some cases, the officers are threatened with being sued for harassment. On the following occasions, the accusers may actually transport illegal timber, but with a greatly reduced probability of being inspected (12EP04).

  22. 22.

    The official statistics on timber trafficking consist of only four steps: illegal harvest, transport, trade and processing. The supporting activities (scouting, physical protection and patronage of officers) are considered as a component of timber trafficking in this research, but are not included in the official statistics on the crime.

  23. 23.

    The wood processing business in Dong Ky ward, for example, has been developed over decades, creating stable and relatively well-paid employment for more than 60% of the whole village population. The monthly salary for workers ranges from £100 to £270, depending on how skilful the workers are. The volume of timber that is annually processed in the village reaches over 100,000 m3 (VTV2 2013). During my observation of the timber market in Phu Khe Thuong, close to Dong Ky ward, which is believed to be a unique timber market in Vietnam, large quantities of a variety of timber including highly valuable species were for sale. The market store was not spacious enough, so huge volumes of timber were openly loaded along streets (see Fig. 4.7).

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Cao, N.A. (2017). Timber Trafficking in Vietnam. In: Timber Trafficking in Vietnam. Palgrave Studies in Green Criminology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64280-2_4

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