Precious wood smuggle: financial backers are mounting pressure on the dictating authorities

The erection of the Task Force, efficiency of which is being praised by the dictating authorities, would merely be a loophole. Following their denunciation of plunders and depredations of Madagascar’s national parks and protected areas, the financial backers sent a mission to observe damages by flying over Masoala Park in a helicopter. The report is alarming: the amount of cut wood is valued to one thousand containers. The mission revealed the presence of many woodmen camps in the park. An observation mission is definitely the best response to the HAT and its government’s blind eye on the outbreak of precious wood dedicated to exports. The dictating authorities are risking, at least an international condemnation, and could be targeted by concrete sanctions.  

“The illegal cut of precious wood is still going on, and the situation is miles away from ever being mastered”, regretted countries and very active financial backers of environmental preservation. Things got even worse even though a previous report, ordered by the Malagasy authorities from Global Witness, and delivered in November 2009, had already rung the alarm. Tips of state involvements in the traffic have emerged back and forth ever since, but went down like a lead balloon. Madagascar’s partners, part of which the United States, Norway, Germany’s Federal Republic, the World Bank, the European Union and… France “called upon a halt to the exceptional law”.  

Ecological projects’ financial backers suspended their activities until “all of the parties concerned by this issue have a better understanding of the situation and the necessary means to remedy it”. The Task Force’s alleged efficiency praised by the HAT ministry is being internationally recognized as a mere lie. In spite of some successful catches, the problem’s very roots have been remaining unblurred: the exceptional authorization granted by the transitional government to a handful of operators only boosted the illegal cuts and exports of precious wood. The task forces pretended to have mastered these depredations in parks national, and got control of Rhodes Oil plants smuggle, it did not.  

The Voahary Gasy alliance, made of ecological associations, has always denouncing with a relative impotence “the illegal decree” pledging legality to precious wood exports. This exceptional authorization has largely been abused by the reality on the ground. According to the alliance, only 13 operators in possession of precious wood stocks were supposed to enjoy the HAT green light. 32 of them did it in the end. In the same way, the legal limit supposed to be respected never came to life. Voahary Gasy estimated some 325 containers to be on their way for exports whereas the exported quantity would already have reached 1500 containers. The alliance noticed that every exceptional measure is a godsend for illegal exploitation. Why would smugglers hesitate to illegally cut woods, illegally constitute stocks and sell them in very legal terms thereafter?.