Saving The Forests Of Kyrgyzstan

Forestry experts in Kyrgyzstan say tougher penalties for illegal logging need to be backed by a broader range of measures if the country’s woodlands are to be saved.



Last week, the State Agency of Environmental Protection and Forestry announced it had drawn up legislation that – if adopted by parliament – would cost first offenders convicted of smuggling timber 1,800-2,500 US dollars in fines. Repeated violations would be punishable by three to five year in jail. The loggers themselves would be treated more seriously still, with five to seven years jail terms for first-time offenders.



NBCentralAsia was told by the government agency for forestry protection that the tougher measures have become necessary because illegal logging has continued despite a three-year moratorium on cutting and selling valuable timber that was introduced by the president in June this year.



Only four per cent of Kyrgyzstan is woodland, and this includes the world's largest walnut forests, located in the south of the country. The forests are critically important in maintaining the ecological balance, and deforestation is blamed for soil erosion and frequent landslides.



Forestry experts suggest that stricter punishment for loggers should be combined with a broad strategy for forest protection that includes public awareness campaigns and closer collaboration between forestry workers, law-enforcement agencies, local communities and the judiciary.



They say efforts should focus on communities in the most heavily forested regions, offering them compensation for protecting trees in their area. But the experts fear that a government plan to transfer some functions of forestry management to local administrations could have serious consequences since most do not have the money to do the job properly.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)