Cross-border illegal logging and timber trade in the Indian state of Manipur, and Myanmar: causes, actors, routes and volumes

The study examines the nature of illegal logging and the timber trade taking place on the international border of Manipur State (India) and Myanmar. The study underlines the causes, the actors, the volumes and value, and the routes of illegal logging and timber trade. Acknowledging the complexity of the research theme as illegal logging involves mafias, insurgents, forest officials, and highly influential traders, the researchers carried out unstructured, clandestine, confidential, and anonymous surveys and interviews of loggers, traders, drivers, village chiefs, forest officials, etc. to understand the dynamics of illegal logging and timber trade. The study finds rampant collusive corruption involving ethnic-based insurgent outfits, which are in talks with the government, forest officials, police, army and village chiefs. Other factors such as poverty, conflict, weak governance, and complexities of frontier space are driving illegal logging and trade. The complete ban on log export and logging in Myanmar has resulted in the setting up of many veneer and plywood industries in Manipur and her neighbouring states, Nagaland and Assam, as large-scale illegal logging takes place in the Sagaing region and the Chin state of Myanmar bordering Manipur (India) due to porous and ungoverned border areas resulting in Manipur becoming a hotspot for the illegal timber trade.