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Text Box: ancestors have lived for generations are being sold off to the advantage of foreign and local businessmen and the national and state power holders. Businessmen from both inside and outside Kachin State hunt for resources like wolves in sheepskin, playing a game that destroys the land. Moreover, they create new hardships for the local people - leaving them without land and resources, unemployed and disadvantaged The problems of logging and mining are closely related. Until the mid-1990s, gold mining was done only on a small scale, using manpower, with bamboo-made sluices and banana leaves and trunks. Up to that time the only logging done was for the construction of local buildings. Today, all kinds of powerful machinery are used with catastrophic environmental consequences. Mining concessions and logging contracts have been issued across Kachinland to companies from different regions. The situation is not only the result of profit motives and bad administration. It is also a consequence of the political game playing of the SPDC. Stimulating migration to Kachinland in relation to 'economic development' is a way to break up Kachin social and ethnic structures. Destruction of the natural resources of the forest, sources of food, and other basic necessities threatens to extinguish Kachin culture Because of this, we will discuss the following questions: What problems are caused by the logging? Who benefits from the logging? The report is based mostly on interviews and other field research done mostly between April 2002 and July 2003. It looks at the strategies behind the logging, about the concessions, and about the endangered areas. It talks about the victims of the concessions, about exploitation of local people, and about the growing power of businessmen. Logging business At one time the forest was central to the life of the Kachin people. After harvesting their crops, villagers collected different types of mushrooms, and hunted birds and wild animals in the forest. In some places, villagers collected many kinds of forest products and vegetables and brought them to the market

Logging news from Talawgyi and Sinbo (June-July 2003)

There are two districts under the KIO administration in the eastern part of Irrawaddy (Mali Hka) River, namely Man Maw (Bhamo) District and Sadung (Sadon) District. Logging business began in 1985, on a small scale in these two districts. Large scale and intensive logging business started in 1994, extracting hundreds of thousands of tons per year. From 1990-1999, people from Kachinland (Kachin and Shan) were given permits for logging. The KIO did not allow the Chinese companies to log. Since 2000, logging permits are issued to Chinese merchants from China and the local people are not allowed to log anymore. All the forests in Sinbo and Talaw Gyi area were given in concessions to the Chinese.

From 1985-1990, local people engaged in the logging business. Tax for a logging permit was paid to the KIO only. From 1994-2000, loggers had to also pay SPDC soldiers 1000-2000 Kyat per truck load of logs apart from the permit tax. Since 2000, loggers have to pay SPDC soldiers at 200,000 Kyat per truck. The KIO has also increased the permit tax.

The biggest logging tycoons are: Lau Ying (Chinese from China), Leng Wun (Chinese from Myanmar), Yup Zau Hkawng (Jade Land Company - Kachin), and the boss of Hung Ki Company (from China).

From 1985-1990, about 10,000 tons of logs were extracted per year from Sinbo and Talawgyi forests. During 1991-1996, the extraction increased to many tens of thousands of tons per year. In 2002, the extraction was about 100,000 tons. Logs from Sadung District, Bhamo District and the KIO General Headquarters area were extracted at the rate of 500,000-600,000 tons a year during 1999-2002.

In 2003, the extraction became even more intensive. One Chinese company extracted 2000 logs in 6 months. In June 2003 alone, about 40 to 50 thousand logs were piling up in Talawgyi and Sinbo forest (at the time of this survey). This is estimated to add up to many hundreds of thousands of tons over the logging season.

Logging concessions were given for October 2002 to June 2003. The KIO issued a statement that logging concessions would be stopped in the year 2003-2004, but some KIO officers illicitly allowed a few loggers to work in return for bribes.