THE IMPACT OF CHINA ON SOUTHEAST ASIAN FORESTS

ABSTRACT:
Some countries have gained control of their forest-exploiting industries through
advanced regulatory regimes. But stricter regulation usually displaces forestexploitation
into countries with weaker regulatory regimes. The most important
current example is the shift of forest-exploitation for the Chinese market from
China into Southeast Asia following the logging ban in China in 1998. In this
paper we describe and document the impact of the logging ban after the 1998
floods: declining production within China, and increasing production for the
Chinese market within Southeast Asia, including both legal and illegal logging.
We also note the differences in the impact of the Chinese demand for forest
products on various Southeast Asian countries. The differences are partly the
result of differences in the levels of corruption, local political economy, and state
regulatory capacity among countries in Southeast Asia.