Laos Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong ordered authorities to crack down on illegal logging and timber trafficking in the midst of accelerating forest loss, reports the Vientiane Times.
Under Thongsing’s directive, police and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry will set up inspection teams on roads that run to China and Vietnam, the destination of most smuggled timber from Laos.
“If officials find smuggled timber they have the right to seize it and charge those involved in accordance with the Forestry Law,” Thongsing stated in the order, which was released this week, according to the Vientiane Times.
Immigration authorities will also step up border vigilance under the order, which calls for improve coordination between the military, police, officials, and local communities in protecting forests.
Forests in Laos have declined steadily in recent decades, falling from 64 percent cover in 1960 to 41 percent in 2005. Primary forests now cover less than 10 percent of the country according to U.N. data.
Deforestation in Laos has traditionally been driven by small-scale agriculture, but in recent years rubber and timber plantations have consumed large areas of native forest. Illegal logging has also taken a heavy toll on forests. Most of the timber — sometimes in the form of raw logs — ends up in Vietnam or China.
The new order calls on government ministries to improve wood processing within Laos to add value to timber products before they are exported.
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