Exposing the scale of illegal logging of the Russian forest

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation carried out a large-scale audit regarding the efficiency of the use of forest resources in the country. It turned out that the scale of illegal logging is about 11-13 billion rubles annually - such damage to the country's economy is unacceptable.

Indeed, the announced amount is amazing, with such a scale of theft in ten years Siberia can turn into a steppe. But the main thing is that the state is not able to stop these cuttings. And if you carefully study the materials presented by the Accounts Chamber about the details of the state system of forestry, you can draw conclusions that are not particularly trying to suppress.

It is extremely simple to make sure that the figures voiced are correct: it is enough to study the satellite photograph of the Irkutsk region. All of them are small light rectangles in the middle of a green background, forming a whimsical mosaic. These are the areas where the trees are gone.

The report states that in the Irkutsk region alone in 2018, about half of the felling was illegal, and the damage to the state amounted to 4.45 billion rubles.

Satellite technologies do not allow to track in which direction the forest is transported, But if you believe the information provided by the Federal Customs Service, the bulk of the timber goes to China. There it is processed at local sawmills, furniture is made from it, and most of it is brought back to Russia and sold, making a profit on it.

The second identified scheme is the felling and removal of not common pine or larch, but valuable timber, of which there is a lot. The Chinese do not process this forest, but immediately sell it to other countries. The benefit from the difference in cost is greater than from the manufacture and sale of furniture. The only loser is Russia, which is losing large volumes of valuable timber.

As follows from the materials of the investigation, the Irkutsk Region is the leader in terms of the scale of illegal logging. However, in other regions neighboring China, they are, but not in such quantities.

How much forest is being cut down illegally?

Timber makes up a significant part of the export structure of our country.

If we look at Siberia separately, where there is most of the forest, then from 39 to 61% of the total export volume there are products of the timber industry complex. In the Trans-Baikal Territory, the share of timber exports is approaching 100%. The region sells nothing else abroad - only timber.

The conclusion about illegal logging was made on the basis of elementary calculations: the auditors simply compared the official data of the Ministry of Natural Resources on the volume of harvested timber with the official data of customs officers on timber shipped for export.

In the Trans-Baikal Territory, such interesting proportions were found:

• in 2016, 992, 3 thousand cubic meters were procured, and 1407, 9 thousand cubic meters were shipped for export - 1, 42 times more;
• in 2017, 990, 1 thousand cubic meters were harvested, 1735, 9 thousand cubic meters were shipped - 1.75 times more;
• in 2018, 936, 2 thousand cubic meters were harvested, and 1809, 9 thousand cubic meters were shipped for export - almost 2 times more.

These figures clearly show that the number of illegal logging in Siberia is rapidly increasing and that illegally mined timber is indeed exported in large volumes to China.

Through what "holes" is the stolen timber exported from Russia abroad?

The Accounts Chamber cannot answer this question, since it is not engaged in operational activities and investigations. But she points out the "thin spots" of state accounting and control of forest movement, which are not sufficiently strengthened.

The first such place is the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The Ministry issues licenses for the export of timber within the framework of quotas, but does not check the legality of transactions with timber, since such an obligation is not legally assigned to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. "As a result, within the framework of tariff quotas, export volumes may include illegally harvested timber as the cheapest resource for participants in foreign economic activity."

The second "delicate point" is LesEGAIS, a unified state automated system for accounting for timber and transactions with it. It was put into operation by Rosleskhoz in 2016, through it control is carried out at all stages of forest movement.

“During the operation of LesEGAIS, a number of significant shortcomings were revealed,” states the Accounts Chamber. - Currently, there is no possibility of interaction between the information systems of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, the Federal Customs Service of Russia, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Rosprirodnadzor, Rosselkhoznadzor, other interested executive authorities and LesEGAIS using a unified system of interdepartmental electronic interaction, as well as mechanisms for tracking timber volumes at the time of harvesting and the volumes of wood specified in the foreign trade contract, allowing the control authorities to check the supply chain in an automated manner."

In addition, there is no information on timber transportation in the LesEGAIS system. Because of this, it is impossible to control the volume of timber from the place of harvesting to the place of consumption, so these volumes can easily increase on the way.

Control over the turnover of valuable wood species (elm, elm, elm, walnut, maple, etc.), for which there is an increased demand, is also not organized in LesEGAIS. These breeds are depersonalized - registered under the label “other”. They are more expensive though and must be monitored separately.

The third "delicate" place is customs. There is no law that would oblige customs officers to check the legality of the exported timber. Therefore, they act according to their mood: they will check there, they will not check here.

And there is a fourth "delicate" place, where the verification of the legality of the origin of the exported timber should also be carried out, but not carried out, - Rosprirodnadzor.

A separate category of exported timber is valuable species that are endangered. These are Mongolian oak, Manchurian ash, Korean pine.

To transport them abroad, you need a CITES permit. Rosprirodnadzor issues such permits. At the same time, the department must ensure that Russia fulfills the conditions of the CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.

But permits are issued by Rosprirodnadzor without checking the origin of valuable wood species. They are not required to provide original documents, "which leads to falsification of data on the legality of wood origin."

“According to the Frontier Directorate of the FSB of Russia for the Primorsky Territory, in 2016-2019, facts of illegal obtaining in the Far Eastern Federal District by various legal entities of 34 thousand CITES permits for the export of timber (including the endangered Mongolian oak and Manchurian ash) were established in the PRC.

According to the estimate of the Border Administration of the FSB of Russia for the Primorsky Territory, the volume of illegal exports to China in 2016-2019 amounted to about 2 million cubic meters of valuable timber, which led to economic damage to the state up to 86 billion rubles and the removal of this volume from the tax base wood. Subsequently, it was sold through commodity exchanges available in the PRC to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region at a significantly higher cost (up to 10 times)."

Who is cutting down our forest - Russian businessmen or foreign ones?

For example, on the territory of the Arkhangelsk Region, one of the main holdings of the timber industry complex, which include timber enterprises, are OJSC Ilim Group and LLC PKP Titan, whose head offices are located abroad.

According to the SPARK-Interfax system, the main shareholder of OJSC Ilim Group is Ilim SA (Switzerland), which owns 96.37% of the company's shares, located in Switzerland, Geneva.

The head organization of PKP Titan LLC is Shelbyville Enterprises Limited, located in Cyprus, Limassol.

There are 4 organizations in the Trans-Baikal Territory (OOO Zabaikalskaya Botai LPK, OOO CPK Polyarnaya, OOO GK Slyudyanka - Zabaikalye, OOO Trans-Siberian Forestry Company - Chita), which account for 57% of the harvesting volume in the Zabaikalsky edge, created with the participation of foreign capital from the People's Republic of China.

Who gets the forest plots for felling and how?

The area of forest plots leased for timber harvesting as of January 1, 2019 is 168.4 million hectares. This is a lot - 14, 7% of the total land area of the entire forest fund of our country.

The annual allowable volume of timber withdrawn is 269.2 million cubic meters. But, according to the Accounting Chamber, no more than 70% of this volume is officially cut down.

To lease a plot for timber harvesting, you need to take part in an auction and beat the competition by offering the highest rental price.

The auctions are organized by the leshozes and regional forestry authorities. They set the starting price for the lease of the plot, announce the date of the auction and consider the bids of the participants.

If there is only one participant, the auction is declared invalid, and the contract with the only bidder is concluded at a very low initial price.

In life, the winner of an auction is often known in advance - even before the auction is announced. The son of a forestry director, for example. Well, or some other good person.

The organizers are opening a "green street" for him, rejecting other applications under formal pretexts, so that this good person, as the only participant, will get the desired plot at a low price.

“As part of the audit in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, it was established that 40% of the auctions were held with a single participant, as a result of which the tenants pay at minimum rates for 1 cubic meter of timber, further selling timber at the market price,” the Accounts Chamber notes.

This means that 40% of plots for deforestation are obtained at the lowest price by “good people”, earning millions on them.

Well, the state loses the same amount of millions on the same 40% of plots.

Where are the foresters? Why aren't they protecting the forest?

Foresters are now called forest inspectors.

First of all, there are few of them. Half of the amount that should be. “Despite the importance of solving the problem of minimizing illegal logging, point 4 of the list of instructions of the President of the Russian Federation of January 31, 2017, which provides for the provision of the number of state forest inspectors in accordance with the forest patrol standards - at least 40, 0 thousand people, has not been fulfilled.”

There are no 40 thousand inspectors at all. As of July 1, 2019, the number of forest inspectors was 21 thousand.

In the Irkutsk region, the staff of inspectors is 23.8%, in the Trans-Baikal Territory - by 12%, in the Arkhangelsk region - by 13%, in the Vologda region - by 8%.

People do not want to go to forest inspectors, because they have a low salary (in the Trans-Baikal Territory, for example, from 16 to 22 thousand rubles), and they have to live and work on some kind of “distant cordons”. There is no Internet there, it is impossible to quickly obtain the necessary information. But the load - wow, what. After all, it is necessary not only to patrol your area - the inspector still has a lot of other duties.

In different regions, patrolling sites differ in area hundreds of times. According to the standards of the Oryol, Kursk, Bryansk regions, one inspector is supposed to patrol 1 thousand hectares, and in the Republic of Sakha - 400 thousand hectares.

It is clear that one person cannot control either 1 thousand hectares or 400 thousand if he does not have an SUV, a snowmobile and an ATV. You can't get around so much with your feet.

But the inspectors are in trouble with transport. As the Accounts Chamber found out, they have at their disposal old stuff and rubbish.

If the inspector nevertheless discovers illegal felling on his site, he must check the documents of those who conduct it, take away the tools and transport from them, and deliver them to the leshoz and draw up an act.

What leverage does he have for this?

The inspectors have no weapons. The law gave them the right to service weapons, but they have not yet been implemented. Therefore, they are unarmed.

The Accounts Chamber considers this a flaw: armed forestry inspectors could more effectively suppress illegal logging. Although also not in all cases.

If a group of "black" lumberjacks is operating in a remote place more often, what will he do with them alone, even if he has a weapon? They probably also have weapons. They would rather do something with him.

Another common case: more often it is not “black” lumberjacks who operate, but ordinary workers of the same “good man” close to the management of the leshoz, who seems to have legally received a plot of land on lease and at the same time decided to cut a number of additional cubic meters.

What can the inspector do in this case? Draw up an act? Well, yes - and tomorrow he will be fired. The leadership of the leshoz, who has warmed up the "good man", is unlikely to positively assess the inspector's zeal.

The forest inspector is the weakest link in the forestry food chain. He can only "eat" someone who is even weaker than him. And weaker than him are only the locals, who went into the forest for free firewood, and the unrequited hard workers who plow at the logging sites for the owner.

He should be punished for illegal logging. Master. But the inspector cannot reach him.

Judging by the figures of the Accounts Chamber, the violators who are caught by forest inspectors are so poor that there is even no point in issuing fines to them.

“In the Primorsky Territory, as a result of violations detected during forest patrols in 2018, the damage caused to forests amounted to 948.1 million rubles, of which only 4.4 million (less than 1%) were voluntarily compensated. In court, out of the total amount of claims of 84.6 million, 20.5 million rubles (24% of the amount of claims) were recovered.

In the Trans-Baikal Territory, damage was revealed in the amount of 298.3 million rubles, 5.0 million (7%) were voluntarily compensated. In court, out of the total amount of claims of 41.8 million, damage was recovered in the amount of 0.07 million rubles. (less than 1%).

The main problem of non-fulfillment of the requirements of executive documents on compensation for damage to forestry is the financial incapacity of debtors. Most of the violators do not have permanent earnings, movable and immovable property subject to inventory and seizure, do not have bank accounts or have accounts with zero cash balance."

The damage that such violators inflict on the state is incomparable with the damage from illegal logging carried out on an industrial scale by large commercial companies.

But they run their business on a level where forest inspectors can only be seen through a magnifying glass - even if they are armed.

Is it possible to protect forests from plundering?

The audit of the Accounts Chamber “revealed the lack of reliable information on the volume of harvesting, turnover and export of timber in the country. This information differs in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, Rosleskhoz and Rosstat."

This is the answer to the question.

If there is no reliable information, it is impossible to protect forests from theft. There is not even anything to talk about here.

To close this sad topic, we will cite a few more conclusions of the Accounts Chamber - solely as information for thinking about the future of our forest resources.