Tag: timber-mafia

In a guest blog today, EIA is pleased to present an extract from Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent‘s new book A Short Ride in the Jungle: The Ho Chi Minh Trail by Motorcycle

Following the European Union’s ratification of the landmark Indonesia/EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) last month, Indonesia yesterday (Thursday) confirmed the agreement through a Presidential Regulation

Alongside significant trade and abundant forests, some reports have estimated as much as US$17 billion dollars' worth of illegal trade flows from the East Asia Pacific region, with the Mekong particularly susceptible because of poor forest governance, weak regulation, corruption and porous border controls

Concerted action to combat climate change remains elusive, the illegal wildlife trade is booming and exploitation of natural resources such as forests far exceeds capacity to regenerate. One underlying cause for this disconnect is the failure to adequately implement and enforce laws designed to protect the environment

The spectacle of magnificent, endangered creatures such as tigers, elephants and rhinos reduced to broken, bleeding carcasses, plundered for illegal trades in home decór, trinkets and fake ‘traditional’ medicines, can be all but impossible to view without provoking distress and fury in equal measure

As the gun slammed down on the table and I heard the chilling words “I can shoot you now and I may go to prison but I will still be alive, but you, you will be dead” I realised we were in serious trouble