Title:Illegal Logging: An Organized Crime That Is Destroying Latin American Forests

By Milton López Tarabochia

Milton López Tarabochia

Illegal wood trafficking is the most profitable crime against natural resources and the world's third most important crime, according to a report titled "Transnational crime and the developing world," published in March 2017 by Global Financial Integrity, a US-based organization that investigates illicit financial flows.

根据一份题为"跨国犯罪和发展中世界"的报告，非法木材贩运是对自然资源最有利可图的犯罪和世界第三大最重要犯罪，" 2017年3月，由调查非法资金流动的美国组织Global Financial Inte廉政部公布。

The report estimates that, globally, this transnational crime generates US$52 billion to US$157 billion a year. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimates that 30 percent of the wood sold in the world has been illegally obtained.

报告估计，在全球范围内，这一跨国犯罪每年产生520亿美元至1570亿美元，据联合国环境规划署(环境署)估计，全世界销售的木材中有30%是非法获得的。

According to Insight Crime, a research center on organized crime, most illegal timber logging occurs in the Amazon rainforest. Illegal timber logging, illegal mining and drug trafficking are the most investigated crimes in Latin America.

根据有组织犯罪研究中心Insight Criminal的数据，大多数非法木材采伐发生在亚马逊雨林，非法采伐木材、非法开采和贩毒是拉丁美洲受调查最多的犯罪。

Latin American forests are the second most vulnerable in the world to illegal timber logging, after Asian forests, says UNEP. In 2014 alone, illegal timber exports from South America — for both raw wood and sawn timber — totaled an average of US$387 million, according to the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO).

环境署说，拉丁美洲森林是世界上第二个最容易遭受非法木材采伐影响的国家，仅次于亚洲森林。据国际林业研究组织联合会(国际林研联)称，仅2014年，来自南美的非法木材出口就包括原木和锯材在内，平均总额为3.87亿美元。

Rolando Navarro, a researcher at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), who has closely studied the illegal timber trade in South America, told Latinamerica Press that "over 75 percent of the wood sold in South America both domestically and for export, is illegally obtained."

Rolando Navarro, 国际环境法中心研究员，他密切研究了南美洲的非法木材贸易，“ 75% 以上的木材是在南美洲国内和出口销售的 , 都是非法获得的 。 ”

A massive amount of wood is illegally traded in Latin America. In late 2012, INTERPOL confiscated over 50,000 m³ of illegally obtained timber with an estimated value of US$8 million as a result of an operation named Project LEAF (Law Enforcement Assistance for Forests), in which law enforcement agencies from 12 Latin American countries worked together to crack down on illegal timber logging.

大量木材在拉丁美洲非法交易。2012年下半年，国际刑警组织没收了50 000多立方米非法获得的木材，其价值估计为800万美元，原因是开展了一项名为"森林执法援助项目"的行动。其中12个拉丁美洲国家的执法机构共同努力打击非法木材采伐。

Illegal wood trafficking is a complex type of organized crime and it leads to a long spiral of inter-related crimes like a tree's annual growth rings.

非法木材贩运是一种复杂的有组织犯罪，导致相互有关罪行的长期循环，例如树木的年长环。

Alicia Abanto, Peruvian Human Rights Ombudsman's Office representative for the Environment, Public Services and Indigenous People, told Latinamerica Press that wood trafficking is linked to a series of crimes such as deforestation, labor exploitation, land invasions, tax evasion, document forgery, state corruption and even the murder of community leaders who are fighting to preserve forests.

秘鲁人权监察员办公室"环境、公共服务和土著人民代表"Alicia Abanto"告诉拉丁美洲新闻社，木材贩运与毁林、劳动力剥削等一系列犯罪有关，侵占土地、逃税、伪造文件、国家腐败，甚至杀害正在争夺保护森林的社区领袖。

"These crimes also occur in other Latin American countries and the Caribbean. However, they are more common in the Amazon rainforest, because it's a much larger rainforest," says Abanto. "The illegal timber trade often begins with indigenous or peasant communities that are hired by a timber logging company. Very often they are unaware of the fact that what they're doing is illegal and companies take advantage of that."

亚马逊说：“这些犯罪发生在拉美和加勒比其它国家，但在亚马逊雨林更为常见，因为亚马逊雨林面积要大得多。”"非法木材贸易常常始于木材伐木公司雇用的土著或农民社区，他们往往不了解他们所从事的活动是非法的，而且公司也利用这种机会"。

Cost-benefit is the key reason why timber logging and the illegal timber trade is so profitable. Let's take a look at the economic aspect of this illegal activity, beginning with the timber production cycle and ending with the export of timber products: a lumberjack earns an average of US$70 per cubic meter of Peruvian mahogany. An exporter, however, earns US$1,804 per cubic foot (0.028 m³) and importers earn up to US$3,170 per cubic meter, according to Insight Crime.

成本效益是木材采伐和非法木材贸易这么盈利的主要原因。让我们来看一下这一非法活动的经济方面，从木材生产周期开始，直至木材产品的出口：木材种植者平均每立方米秘鲁桃花70美元。然而，根据Insight Crime，出口商每立方英尺(0.028立方米)赚取1,804美元，进口商每立方米赚取3,170美元。

"The illegal timber trade involves tax evasion," says Abanto.

“非法木材贸易涉及逃税，”阿班托说。

Navarro adds that the timber species most widely sold in Peru are usually the most sought after species by the illegal timber trade in South America. The absence of information on the circuit of illegal timber trade is one of the main obstacles to tackling this crime.

Navarro还说，在秘鲁，最广泛销售的木材物种通常是在南美洲非法木材贸易中寻找最多的物种。缺乏有关非法木材贸易渠道的信息，是打击这一犯罪的主要障碍之一。

The most widely sold species include the following: cumala (Virola sp.), tornillo (Cedrelinga catenaeformis), capinuri or chimicua (Clarisia biflora), lupuna (Chorisia integrifolia), capirona (Calycophyllum spruceanum), shihuahuaco (Coumarouna odorata), cachimbo (Cariniana domesticata), copaiba (Copaifera reticulata); cumala (Virola sebifera) and catahua (Hura crepitans).

最广泛销售的物种包括：cumala（Virola sp.）、torinillo（Cedrelinga catefonamis）、capinri或chimicua（Clarisia bioplia）、lupuna（Chorisia intepleficia）、ca（Calycuhylum fuceanum），库玛拉瓦科（Coumarouna odorata）、casimbo（Cariniana renata）、copaiba（Copaifera netarata）、cumala（Virola sephifera）和tahua（Hura lories）。

The illegal timber trade also has a huge impact on Central American and Caribbean countries.

非法木材贸易也给中美洲和加勒比国家带来巨大影响。

A report titled "A spatio-temporal analysis of forest loss related to cocaine trafficking in Central America," published in May 2017 by scientific journal IOPscience, refers about the impact of cocaine trafficking on deforestation in Central America. According to the report, as a result of the cocaine trade, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua have lost annually between 15 percent and 30 percent of their forestland over the past decade. Forests in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Jamaica, Panama and the Dominican Republic are also under threat from the cocaine trade.

一份题为《中美洲与可卡因贩运有关的森林损失的时空分析》的报告于2017年5月由科学杂志IOFESECE、提及可卡因贩运对中美洲森林砍伐的影响。根据该报告，由于可卡因贸易，危地马拉、洪都拉斯和尼加拉瓜在过去十年里每年损失其林地15%至30%。哥斯达黎加 、 萨尔瓦多 、 牙买加 、 巴拿马和多米尼加共和国的森林也受到可卡因贸易的威胁 。

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a US-based organization that monitors the illegal timber trade, shared information with Latinamerica Press about the scale of the illegal timber trade in Latin America.

环境调查局（EIA）是一个总部设在美国的组织，负责监测非法木材贸易，它与拉丁美洲的拉丁美洲木材非法贸易的规模分享了信息。

According to Julia Urrunaga, director of the EIA's Peru Programs, Mexico is one of the countries that purchase the greatest volume of wood "that has a high risk of being illegally obtained as part of the value chain." Almost all of the wood imported by Mexico comes from Brazil and Peru.

据欧洲农业协会秘鲁方案主任Julia Urrunaga说，墨西哥是购买最多木材的国家之一，这种木材很可能被非法获取为价值链的一部分。墨西哥进口的几乎所有木材都来自巴西和秘鲁。

Figures published by the IUFRO based on World Bank data for 2006, show that percentage of wood sold in each Latin American country is illegally obtained: Bolivia (80 percent), the Brazilian Amazon rainforest (20 percent-47 percent), Colombia (42 percent), and Ecuador (70 percent).

国际林研联根据世界银行2006年的数据公布的数字表明，每个拉丁美洲国家销售的木材的百分比非法获得的：玻利维亚（80%）、巴西亚马逊雨林（20%至47%）。哥伦比亚（42%）和厄瓜多尔（70%）。

Navarro points out that the 80 percent figure for Peru has increased since 2006. "I would dare to say that more than 90 percent of the timber sold in Peru has been illegally obtained," said the CIEL researcher.

纳瓦罗指出，自2006年以来，秘鲁的80%数字有所增加，“我敢说，秘鲁出售的木材有90%以上是非法获得的”，CIEL研究员表示。

The EIA's latest report titled "Moment of Truth: Promise or Peril for the Amazon as Peru Confronts its Illegal Timber Trade," published in January 2018, sheds light on the practice known as "timber washing," meaning the sale of illegally obtained timber with fake permits.

该局最新发布的题为《真理时刻：在秘鲁面对非法木材贸易时亚马逊承诺或危险》的报告于2018年1月发表，揭示了所谓的“木材清洗”做法。" 意指用假证销售非法获得的木材。

The report solely focuses on Peruvian timber exports that left the country in 2015 from Callao, the country's main port, and concludes that 17 percent of the points where timber is logged are illegal; 16 percent are legal and it is unclear whether the remaining 67 percent are legal or illegal, although evidence suggests they are most likely illegal.

报告仅重点介绍了该国2015年从主要港口卡亚岛离开秘鲁的木材出口，并得出结论认为，木材伐木点的17%是非法的；16%是合法的，目前还不清楚其余67%是合法还是违法的，尽管有证据表明这些比例很可能是非法的。

The investigation also established that Peruvian timber — including timber that has been legally obtained — is exported to China, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Mexico, France, Cuba, South Korea, Belgium, Puerto Rico, Australia, Taiwan, Spain, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Canada, Israel and Japan.

调查还认定，秘鲁的木材，包括合法获得的木材，出口到中国、多米尼加共和国、美国、墨西哥、法国、古巴、韩国、比利时、波多黎各、澳大利亚、台湾。西班牙、智利、厄瓜多尔、乌拉圭、加拿大、以色列和日本。

Timber washing in Peru and other Latinamerican countries occurs when criminal organizations provide the authorities with lists of trees to be logged that don't actually exist. Thus, the authorities grant permits to log specimens that only exist on paper, explains a 2012 investigation published by the EIA, "The Laundering Machine. How Fraud and Corruption in Peru's Concession System are Destroying the Future of Its Forests," which explains how the illegal origin of much of Peru's timber is covered up.

在秘鲁和其他拉丁美洲国家，当犯罪组织向当局提供伐木清单时，就会发生清洗木材的行为，而这些树木实际上并不存在。因此，当局发放许可，对仅存在于纸面上的样品进行记录，说明环境影响评估发布的2012年调查报告《洗衣机》。秘鲁特许制度中的诈骗和腐败如何破坏其森林的未来，这说明秘鲁大部分木材的非法原产地如何被掩盖。

"Backed by these volumes of imaginary trees, the corresponding official documents are sold in the black market and used to launder wood extracted illegally from elsewhere — national parks, indigenous territories, other public lands," reads the report.

"这些想象中的树木支撑着，相应的正式文件在黑市上出售，用来清洗从其他地方非法开采的木材：国家公园、土著领地和其他公共土地，" 看报告。

The policies Latin American states ought to take in order to crack down on illegal timber logging, according to Abanto, should include "the promotion of collective land titles for indigenous lands in order to stop land trafficking, a practice that is often linked to illegal timber logging."

据Abanto称，拉丁美洲国家应当采取各项政策，打击非法木材伐木，其中包括"促进土著土地的集体土地所有权，以制止土地贩运，通常与非法木材采伐有关的做法。

In the case of Peru, one of the countries in Latin America where the problem is most serious, "the state should abide by the forestry agreement included in the Free Trade Agreement with the United States to ensure that all the timber exported to the United States has been legally obtained," says Abanto.

秘鲁是这一问题最为严重的拉丁美洲国家之一，“国家应遵守与美国达成的《自由贸易协定》中的林业协定，确保出口到美国的所有木材都合法获得，”阿班托说。

The US government even sent a letter on Feb. 26 to Peruvian Minister for Trade and Tourism, Eduardo Ferreyros, to verify the origin of a timber cargo sent by three companies that exported wood to the United States in 2017.

美国政府甚至于2月26日致函秘鲁贸易和旅游部部长爱德华多·费雷罗斯，以核实2017年三个向美国出口木材的公司发出的木材货物的原产地。

It's not the first time this has happened, says Abanto. Official letters sent by the US authorities were prompted by the dubious track record of Peruvian timber companies that have been linked to illegal timber exports. The most widely publicized case was the search warrant issued for the Yacu Kallpa ship in 2015, as part of Operación Amazonas (Operation Amazon). After the raid, the police established that over 91 percent of the ship's cargo was illegal.

阿巴托(Abanto)表示，美国当局发出的官方信函的起因并非第一次发生，而是因为与非法木材出口有关的秘鲁木材公司记录不详。最广为人知的案件是2015年为Yacu Kallpa船只签发的搜查令，作为亚马逊行动亚马逊行动的一部分，警方在袭击后认定，91%以上的船只的货物是非法的。

According to Navarro, the countries with the least stringent regulations on the origin of timber imports are China, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, the three countries that Peru exports most of its timber to.

据Navarro说，对木材进口来源规定最不严格的国家有中国、墨西哥和多米尼加共和国，这三个国家是秘鲁将其大部分木材出口给中国、墨西哥和多米尼加共和国。

"We require regional coordination between countries in order to effectively tackle timber trafficking. This can't be achieved if there is governmental weakness and no action is taken to stop the mafias," said Abanto.

“我们需要各国进行区域协调，以便有效地打击木材贩运活动，如果政府软弱无力，而且没有采取行动制止黑手党，就无法实现这一目标，”阿班托说。