Environmental laws: the ministry wants to inform, ecologists want to capitalize

Spreading laws knowledge in order to put an end to precious wood smuggles, the HAT environment ministry’s led one day long predication session is praisworthy but certainly not as efficient as expected, as the department, though being controlled by a general, an usual fact in this authoritarian transition, is, somehow, not that much feared. The task force is relatively efficient but sharply criticized, the lack of deterrents and the suspected involvement of empowered figures are regularly denounced but without name quotations.  

The HAT environment new minister “Complicity in the smuggle of precious wood is very large “, conceded general Herilanto Raveloharison. This former magistrate who finally chose the state police calls upon each and every level’s responsibility sense, form communes to police forces. What a hard job to restore any kind of order in a forbidden but exceptionally allowed sector. The HAT measure allegedly supposed to regularize the exports of available precious wood stocks had only worsened the depredation of the forest and enhanced the smuggle.  

“Speaking about the environment or the forests systematically comes up to addressing the Rhodes oil plant issue “, underlined minister Raveloharison. He wants everybody to be awared of the law, even though no one is basically supposed to be unawared of it. “Cutting, exploiting, logging and exporting precious woods are strictly forbidden”, summarized the general. He recommended the improvement of the task force, the reshuffle of its team composition and the enhancement of its governance. “If any of the task force’s members is suspected, he has nothing to do there any more”. 

The HAT environment ministry’s awareness is, however, far from draw excitement from ecologists. At the outposts, the Voahary Gasy alliance keeps on working a file out in view of a trial. It is denouncing the uncontrolled cuts and the illegal exports of Rhodes oil plants. In spite of a decree cancelling the exceptional authorization granted to “HAT” operators, 79 containers of Rhodes oil plants left the harbor by the beginning of June 2010.  

According to the alliance, Rhodes oil plants traffic has always been being around but never proved to reach no more than 1000m3 per year. However, only in the year 2009, under the HAT regime, more than 1100 containers, or 25000m3 of wood have been exported thanks to “an illegal authorization “. Voahary Gasy is working out prosecution against the smugglers. This ecological movement believes the simple knowledge of the law to be not enough to put an end to this depredation of Madagascar’s primary forests. It is pushing for the capitalization of exemplary sanctions in order to deter the corrupted operators.