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Text Box: ucts and wildlife. They exhaust the forest with their hunting. When the logging process begins, the Chinese first build a road for their trucks. Then they start cutting the trees into eight foot long logs (the size in which they can be carried loaded sideways on the trucks) with their chainsaws. Where two or three Kachins have to work all day with their handsaws to cut one big tree, the Chinese with their chainsaws can speedily clear the forest. When the workers have to move the logs from places where the trucks can't come, they either carry them themselves to the trucks, or use elephants when available. The trucks carry the logs day and night into China. In Sinboo, Ta Law Gyi and Shwe Gu areas, local people are allowed to sell teak. These people cut the teak with handsaws and sell to Kachin businessmen. But since the Kachin businessmen don't have much capital and can’t buy many logs cut by the villagers they started taking loans from Chinese businessmen, buying more logs and therefore making more profitable business. loggers bring the logs to the Irrawaddy riverside on bullock carts from the deep forest. Where it is too difficult for both trucks and bullock carts, the logs are cut smaller and carried by the workers themselves. By river, the logs are brought to the Nam San Yang area. Bullock carts are used again to take the illegal logs to where trucks can approach. After that, trucks carry the logs into China via Liza town. There are numerous toll gates on the main roads most people use, and also on the separate, secret logging roads in Kachin State. The majority of them are controlled by different SPDC army and military intelligence units, police, forestry department and customs. There are less KIO and NDA-K checkpoints. As well as Laiza there are a number of other border crossing points where the timber is taken across to China: the Pangwa gate (check-point), Kambaiti gate, Hpimaw gate, Sa Ji gate, Sampai gate, Lrang Fang, Htaw Lang, Shi Chyang, Pa Wa Hku, La Kaing gate, Loi Ying Hai gate (Mai Ja Yang), and via the Hka Shang road and Lai Ying road (Mai Ja Yang and Loije). It is most likely that there are other border gates where logs are brought to China that are unknown and until now inaccessible to our researchers, such as in the N’Mai Hku area on the border in

Khindit area

Khindit consists of three small villages, Hkindit, Bawmling and Bumring Zup around the town of Mai Ja Yang located on the Chinese border. There are about 20 households with a total population of 100 people. Approximately one third of the households cultivate wet fields and approximately two-thirds depend on dry field cultivation. A few people have horses, mules and water buffalos. The entire village was burnt down by the military in 1962 and has since been re-built. In 1999, the village leaders granted a logging and charcoal extraction concession for their forest in return for electricity.

Key points:

(1) Average costs of electricity are 9 Yuan per week per household (higher than on the Chinese side of the border). Average expenses on kerosene were 4 Yuan per week before the installation of electricity.

(2) Voltage is always lower than the standard.

(3) Electric lamp-posts are only on the main streets.

(4) The villagers have still not been informed about the terms of the concession agreement.

(5) Young people and women feel that there is too much deforestation but cannot say anything to the village leaders.

(6) The women have no voice in the village administration. A woman leader is chosen by the village leaders, not elected by the women. Women and young people hope that the village will progress better if their voice is heard. They wish to participate in reforestation for future generations.

(7) There are no plans for forest conservation or reforestation.

(8) The concession was granted for three years, but no written agreement was signed. This was four years ago, but logging and charcoal extraction is still going on.

(9) The community forest is within a radius of 1 mile around the village. Apart from the community forest, the concessionaires continue to cut trees from the main forest. At present, the deforested area is already about 10 miles deep into the main forest.

(10) The villagers grow fruit trees in the deforested area for subsistence, but not on a commercial scale. There is now a plan to grow bamboo and pomelloes. The seedlings will be bought from the Chinese factory, but on condition that the products must be sold to the factory at the price fixed by the latter.

(11) Meteorological changes have been noticed since 2003. Streams are drying up in the summer and the climate is hotter.