Green Carbon, Black Trade

TEN WAYS TO CONDUCT ILLEGAL LOGGING

Illegal charcoal trade

Lake Edward

#1

LOGGING IN PROTECTED AREAS

Biundu

Many protected areas include an abundance of rare wood spe- cies in high demand for panels, floors and furniture. They may also hold some of the last remaining concentrations of high- density wood for charcoal. A 2007 UNEP-UNESCO report documented illegal logging in 37 of 41 protected areas in Indonesia, including large-scale deforestation of a UNESCO World Heritage site and an endan- gered orangutan habitat (UNEP-UNESCO 2007). Loggers, with armed guards, moved into parks and cut down the forests with unarmed rangers facing lethal risk, bribes or simply lack of re- sources to enforce the park boundaries (UNEP-UNESCO 2007). Other examples include cutting wood for charcoal in endangered mountain gorilla habitat in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where militias drive villagers into refugee camps, then profit from cutting and producing charcoal in the Virun- gas national parks and selling the high-demand charcoal to the camps (UNEP-INTERPOL 2010). Rangers in Virungas have been effective in protecting the gorilla population and saving it from extinction, and in implementing vehicle checkpoints and destroy- ing kilns for charcoal production, but at a great costs and high risks. More than 200 rangers have been killed in the last decade defending the park boundaries against a charcoal trade estimated at over US$28 million annually, and another US$4 million on road taxes on charcoal alone (UNEP-INTERPOL 2010). Other examples include driving out and killing indigenous peo- ples in reserves in the Amazon, Greater Congo Basin and South- east Asia, where outspoken leaders have been assassinated.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

UGANDA

Rutshuru

Mgahinga Gorilla National Park

Burungu

Virunga National Park

Kriolirwe

Kingi

Volcanoes National Park

Kibumba

Kibati

RWANDA

Goma

National Park Illegally deforested area between 2003 and 2006 Refugee camp Main charcoal trade

Lake Kivu

5 Km 0

Sources: UNSC, S/2008/773; Central African Regional Program for the Environment, 2007; ICCN.

and destinations Patrol checkpoint

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