Ahead of next month’s global Tiger Summit in St. Petersburg, the forestry administration of Primorsky Province in the Russian Far East is moving to open critical Amur tiger habitats for logging.
Next week, the Forest Management Agency of Primorsky Province will conduct an auction for logging rights for 16 harvest sites in the Bikinsky and Pozharsky Pine Nut Harvesting Zones, and the proposed “Middle Ussuri” wildlife reserve, by making them available for so-called “intermediate harvesting”.
“Immediate harvesting” is a widely abused legal loophole which allows loggers to cut valuable Korean pine, oak and ash timber in protected forests. This practice greatly increases poaching access to remote tiger territories (through forest road building), destroys key breeding, feeding and overwintering habitat for tigers and their prey, and significantly reduces the supply of pine nuts and acorns on which tiger prey species survive.
The logging rights up for auction will allow loggers to cut down forests that protect salmon breeding grounds and are crucial habitats for Amur tigers.
The endangered Amur tiger, numbering fewer than 500 in the wild, is found primarily in southeastern Russia and northern China.
“The Forest Management Agency of Primorsky Province for the first time has openly demonstrated its “untouchable” status and stands in opposition to everyone,” commented Denis Smirnov, director of the forest programme of the WWF Russia Amur Division.
“In the first place, it stands against public opinion: the scandal ignited by the presentation of the documentary film “Dark Forest” on the Rossiya channel has not yet subsided, but already the Agency prepares anew for the implementation of the plan described in the film by the Agency’s director Pyotr Diuk - to cut over the pine nut harvesting zone of Pozharsky County in two years.
Secondly: the Forest Management Agency of Primorsky Province demonstrates that it has the right to violate the law. The inclusion in the auction of territory leased by the Indigenous Peoples Community Enterprise “Tiger” for the collection and processing of edible and medicinal plants is illegal, because the Community Enterprise holds the rights to all management of this territory.”
At a press conference this week, Coordinator of forest projects for the Amur Division of WWF Russia Anatoliy Kabanyets presented facts on illegal logging in protective forests of Primorsky Province and identified the key problem – authorities’ lack of genuine information on the true scale of illegal logging and its influence on region’s forests: “At the same time that hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of illegally logged timber are shipped to China, and a number of loggers are even incarcerated for illegal harvesting, on paper the cut forests remain well-stocked and even increase in volume every year!
“The lack of consideration for actual changes in forest conditions will lead to further over-cutting and the destruction of our Provincial wood supply.”
Representative Aleksandr Ermolayev of the Legislative Assembly of Primorsky Province, following the example of Moscow mayoral candidate Sergey Sobyanin, who publicly stated that Moscow is in first place in Russia for the level of bribery, said that in order to solve the problem of illegal logging it is necessary for the governor to recognize that “Primorsky Province is in first place for embezzlement, illegal logging and the plunder of natural resources.”
Also taking part in the press conference was Michael Stuewe, senior consultant for WWF US on species conservation. He noted that Primorsky Province is the homeland of two of the most charismatic examples of global biodiversity: in the animal kingdom the Amur tiger, and in the plant kingdom Korean pine.
“The world is committing to tiger conservation this year – yet from what I have heard here today it seems that Primorsky Province has decided to do exactly the opposite. The opposite even of what Russia has asked 13 heads of state of Asian tiger countries to come to St. Petersburg for: protect tigers.
“Looking at the map of planned new logging sites in prime tiger habitats in Primorsky the operations will fragment the population, lead to increased poaching of disturbed and displaced tigers, and most importantly will likely increase human deaths from conflict with tigers, as we have seen in Sumatra. Will that be the future of Primorsky Province?” said Michael Stuewe.
“The Far East should remain the leader in tiger conservation in Asia, and make Russia a proud host for the International Tiger Summit in Saint-Petersburg.”
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