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According to a recent news release from OneWorld South Asia, 1.7 million tonnes? of raw bamboo, worth US$ 6.4 billion, has been smuggled illegally from India to neighbouring countries Bangladesh and Myanmar over the last few years. From there, the timber is supplied to factories in South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, Cambodia and Indonesia. The news release points to the negative environmental impacts of the illegal trade, which results in the destruction of 40,000 hectares of forestland in Mizoram, India, every year. The annual loss incurred by the government is estimated at US$ 223,801. A report by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, sponsored by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), highlights the threat of extinction of half the world’s 1,200 bamboo species due to forest destruction; 250 woody bamboo species have less than 2,000 square kilometres (about the size of London) remaining within their ranges. There are 1,500 documented uses of bamboo and an estimated 2.5 billion people trade or use bamboo and depend on it for food, construction materials, furniture, handicrafts, acupuncture needles and even musical instruments. The giant panda, the mountain gorilla, the lemurs of Madagascar and spectacled bears are among the species that depend on bamboo for survival.
“Rampant Smuggling Devours Bamboo in India’s North-East,” ONE WORLD SOUTHASIA, 5 May 2004.
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