Article Review: The Star Newspaper, Harnessing 21st century technology to tackle an old problem

The Star newspaper posted an article about an independent agency call Transparency International  upon issues of illegal logging due to malpractices and corruption in Malaysia.

Introduction

Although there are many efforts taken to curb illegal logging, through FLEGT, customs agencies and government procurement policies are strengthened, and conservation efforts, the illegal logging activities are still proactive due to corruption. In 2011, Malaysia was reported as one of the main timber laundering centres in the region, playing a large role as a transit country in a network that also involves China and Singapore. In January, a senior Perak Forestry Department official was detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) after RM720,000 was found in his house in Gerik. Later that month, 40-year-old suspect was nabbed after offering a RM3,000 bribe to forestry officials in Port Klang, Selangor to recover some 110 seized mangrove logs.

What is this article echoing about?

Whistle blowing method! TI’s new Forest Watch Project, everyone can now participate in the fight against illegal forestry activities. With part of its over-arching Forest Governance Integrity Programme focusing on forest governance, anti-corruption advocacy, analysis and monitoring, Forest Watch allows anyone to become the eyes and ears of the forest. 

As in how?

If you chance upon a bald patch which you suspect has been illegally logged, all you have to do is go to the Forest Watch website and submit a report, which will then be investigated. 

And how do you make a report?

The beauty of the project is how it uses the genius of 21st century technology – Google Earth – to empower the masses. A virtual global map and geographical information programme that can be downloaded for free from the Internet, Google Earth displays satellite images (of varying resolutions) of the Earth’s surface. 

Users can browse certain regions by entering a general area, search for specific locations by keying in the address or co-ordinates (geo reference). For example, if you happen to be at the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve in Kedah and spot bald patches of forest and lorries with covered loads travelling in and out of the site, all you need to do is go into Google Earth to pinpoint the location. Then, you submit the co-ordinates along with a description of what you saw, to the Forest Watch website, and it would be investigated.

The project monitoring team consists of members from the Forestry Department, MACC, Institute of Foresters Malaysia and TI. “We (TI) act as a facilitator. The monitoring team will go through the submitted reports every two weeks to a month, and the information will be passed onto relevant agencies, such as the Forestry department and the MACC, for investigation,” says project manager, Victor Soosai. The project was launched early last month and will be replicated in Sabah and Sarawak by June.

I had blogged about Google Earth and it seems to be the recent "best" tools to monitor the forest cover in the fastest rate.  I still have my wary about it. Probably it is the best tool to capture massive changes of land use weekly, or monthly. 

Major challenges that contributes to illegal logging are malpractices in forestry industries. What are malpractices in forest industries?

Malpractices includes 

1. logging timber species protected by national law, 
2. harvesting logs outside concession boundaries, 
3. logging in prohibited areas such as steep slopes, 
4. river banks and catchment areas,
5. extracting under-sized or more trees than is authorized, and 
6. obtaining concessions illegally.

There is no need to introduce what corruption is, however I quoted a thoughtful phase from the article that define what corruption is

“The root cause of corruption is based on a formula … power plus discretion, minus transparency and accountability,” notes MACC director of investigations Datuk Mustafar Ali, who was present at the project launch.

Corruption = Power +Discretion (Avoidance) - Transparency - Accountability

And my thoughts about this?

Illegal logging does not only harm the environment biodiversity or the impact on the communities living in the forest. It relates to common sense. People do not go and cut or harvest fruits from  their neighbor or private / government land, as if got caught will be prosecute for theft  or trespassing. Similar common sense can be seen if we are to pick fruits younger or older that the ripe age of the fruits, as the younger ones need times to grow, and the older one should be retain for seeds supply. Illegal logging is derived not only because of the scarcity of the trees, but also the increasing of human population and this fueled the demand of woods for houses, furniture's, music instrument etc. So part of us being here living so comfortably in the city are contributing to illegal logging too (indirectly).

So, at the least we as consumer can do is to be a responsible and practice good practices, such as using environmental bags, try to use your wood products as long as possible (means must take care of them well), organic facial products, books and wood products with FSC label. IKEA also can! As long as it can help you justify you are not buying or doing anything that contributes to illegal logging.