Ukraine loses 3.4 mln USD from illegal logging in 2015
Xinhua, August 17, 2016 Adjust font size:
Ukraine lost at least 3.4 million U.S. dollars last year from illegal logging of its forests, acting head of the country's State Agency of Forest Resources said on Tuesday.
"It is an estimated data. In fact, the scale of illegal logging in Ukraine could be even more extensive," Chrystyna Yushkevych was quoted as saying by the government's press service.
Last year, an estimated 24,000 cubic meters of wood were unlawfully cut down in Ukraine, Yushkevych said.
She added that in the first half of 2016, the volume of illegal logging in the country increased by 36 percent year-on-year to about 15,800 cubic meters of timber.
To clamp down on the illegal practices, the government plans to set up a unified electronic database of the country's woods and introduce harsher punishments for illegal loggers and traders, Yushkevych said.
According to the forest resources agency, Ukraine has about 10 million hectares of forests, 40 percent of which are located in the western part of the country. Endi