Trouble getting wood
The press release of a report published yesterday on illegal and unsustainable logging is headed US, EU Consumption Driving Chinese Imports of Illegal Wood from Around the World with the subtitle "Chinese Government Faces Opportunities to Boost Timber Production And Reduce Poverty and Conflict in Rural Areas."
BBC News' China furniture destroys forests seems to shift focus from demand in developed economies toward China's imports from dubious sources. Though it does refer to Western consumers playing a "major role," is this basically yet another story written on the 'hungry waking dragon spoiling it for everyone else' template?
Of course, it's hardly the job of journalists to unquestioningly accept the pitch of a press release and the full report itself, China and the Global Market for Forest Products (pdf), does appear to give more emphasis to the country's role in driving overexploitation of forests in nations such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
English news of the report was released by Forest Trends and the Center for International Forestry Research but it was produced jointly with the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, run under the aegis of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Given a tendency in China to intentionally politicise everything, it is tempting to speculate that such an agency may have pressured a spin of the press release away from the country's regulatory and enforcement deficiencies.
But the overall tone of the report (facing "opportunities" rather than problems) also chimes with Forest Trends' description of themselves as "market promoters," and it could be argued that a report produced with the involvement of a Western government agency might be just as likely to have news of its release skewed from anything too awkward.
And awkward the issue of wood supplies certainly is in China; even official news agencies have reported sporadically on likely local government corruption connected to logging by the notorious APP in the provinces of Yunnan and Hainan.
Embarrassments like these have helped prompt crackdowns on logging within China, resulting in increased supplies from elsewhere.
Perhaps, regardless of who produced the report, a genuine desire to positively influence Chinese policy rather than berating it lies behind its diplomatic phrasing.
Governments that cannot take criticism might respond laboriously slowly to carefully-worded recommendations, but not at all to bare exposure of their flaws. And boy, if there was ever a government with flaws...
BBC News' China furniture destroys forests seems to shift focus from demand in developed economies toward China's imports from dubious sources. Though it does refer to Western consumers playing a "major role," is this basically yet another story written on the 'hungry waking dragon spoiling it for everyone else' template?
Of course, it's hardly the job of journalists to unquestioningly accept the pitch of a press release and the full report itself, China and the Global Market for Forest Products (pdf), does appear to give more emphasis to the country's role in driving overexploitation of forests in nations such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
English news of the report was released by Forest Trends and the Center for International Forestry Research but it was produced jointly with the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, run under the aegis of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Given a tendency in China to intentionally politicise everything, it is tempting to speculate that such an agency may have pressured a spin of the press release away from the country's regulatory and enforcement deficiencies.
But the overall tone of the report (facing "opportunities" rather than problems) also chimes with Forest Trends' description of themselves as "market promoters," and it could be argued that a report produced with the involvement of a Western government agency might be just as likely to have news of its release skewed from anything too awkward.
And awkward the issue of wood supplies certainly is in China; even official news agencies have reported sporadically on likely local government corruption connected to logging by the notorious APP in the provinces of Yunnan and Hainan.
Embarrassments like these have helped prompt crackdowns on logging within China, resulting in increased supplies from elsewhere.
Perhaps, regardless of who produced the report, a genuine desire to positively influence Chinese policy rather than berating it lies behind its diplomatic phrasing.
Governments that cannot take criticism might respond laboriously slowly to carefully-worded recommendations, but not at all to bare exposure of their flaws. And boy, if there was ever a government with flaws...
posted by Kuvera at
13:52
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