Page 24 - 4. Pre-Course Reading-Training on Forestry Audit 2019

Auditing Forests: Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions

The exhibit below documents instances of illegal logging in three different countries.

Indonesia Cameroon Baltic States
After carrying out land clearing, the land Forest logging in the Dja Reserve is a In 2004, 9.5 million cubic meters of round
and the remaining tree roots are usually serious problem due to the reduction wood were imported to Sweden. Most of
burned by the private sector, whether of wild fruits for local people and large this volume was consumed by Swedish
domestic or foreign holders. As a result, mammals, and the intensification of pulp and paper industries. The vast
widely burning fires occur mostly in commercial hunting in the Reserve. Ani- majority of this wood comes from the Baltic
plantation areas. The negative impact of mals are being hunted for sale, primarily States and NW Russia. Today, problems
the palm oil sector has produced a in towns but also in the forest sites. More associated with illegal logging, other
higher risk of ‘forest fires’, as occurred in than 70 percent of the plant species forest crimes and other unsustainable
the 1990s. Forest burning in 1997 logged in the Dja Region are scattered forestry practices are very acute in these
deliberately burned 550,000 ha forest mostly by animals, which shows the countries. Estimates from NW Russia
land in Sumatra (Riau and Jambi) and importance of wildlife in the forest rege- show that 27% of logged timber might
Kalimantan (East and Central Kaliman- neration. Timber logging also has a have an illegal origin – and, alarmingly,
tan). About 46 percent of the hotspots negative impact on the medicinal value the figure is probably even higher in the
appeared on satellite images on Sep- of the Dja forest, where about 80 percent region supplying Swedish industry.
24 tember 28, 1997, were in lands granted of medicinal plants used by the local
for plantations. people are composed of ligneous Estimates of the scale of the problem in
species, with trees (50%) contributing Estonia point to 50%, and in Latvia 20%.
Source: Siscawati (2006) the major proportion. These problems are widely considered as
a major impediment to the development of
Source: Lagarde (2008) a more sustainable forestry in the regions,
especially amongst private forest owners
in the Baltic States. The strong increase
in demand for timber in the Baltic States
has also pushed logging levels to very
unsustainable levels in both Estonia and
Latvia, and has increased the import of
round wood from especially Russia to
these countries.
Source: Taiga Rescue Network (2005)

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Loss Disasters
Human activities are the main cause of biodiversity loss, for example: Natural disaster can exhaust goods and chattels and in a specific
change in land use and transformation caused by forestry become scale are harmful to a specific community function.
threats to biodiversity and as a consequences, there is a decline in
distribution, size, and genetic diversity of species.
Conflict
As with competition for a finite resource anywhere, there is
Forest fires
always a risk of conflicting interests between different stake-
Forest fires may be caused by human activities, such as land holders over how the forest is managed. Common examples
clearing using slashing and burning. It is becoming a serious of this include conflict involving groups claiming traditional
problem for many countries. For example, in Indonesia, forests ownership of land where a company is operating with a legal
fires are often the unintended result of small-scale farmers and permit. Or, landowner hostility over regulations telling them
companies using fire to clear land for agriculture. what they can or cannot do on their land.
Revenue loss
Illegal Logging where government revenue is derived from taxes and levies on
forest activities – often to fund forest rehabilitation activities – there
Illegal Logging risk described as forestry practices or activities is always the risk of impropriety in the way taxes are collected
connected with wood harvesting, processing and trade that do and the amounts paid. This may be particularly true in developing
not conform to law.
countries still seeking to establish good governance practices.

Illegal use of land
Livelihood loss
One example of this is a company or group of people occupying
an area of forest without a license or permission from the relevant Loss of livelihood is faced by communities surrounding forests
that are economically dependent on those forests.
authority.