SINGAPORE

The prosperous city-state of Singapore has been identified by campaigners as the major hub for smuggled timber, particularly ramin and merbau from Indonesia, in the east Asian region.

NGOs claim that companies in Singapore act as vital middlemen in this trade, chartering cargo vessels and barges to transport the contraband timber, and linking sellers of merbau in Papua with buyers in China and India.

The country has also been implicated as one of the new financing centres for the forestry industry and the country in which many reportedly illegal timber companies bank.

The Singapore Government has publicly committed to tackling environmental crime, but it is not clear whether the trade has been reduced in practice.

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
01/01/2012	Singapore: Scoping Baseline Information for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade As part of EFI’s information collection role, a number of forest governance, markets and trade ...	EFI/TRAFFIC (Chen Hin Keong, James Hewitt and Thang Hooi Chew)
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01/03/2010	Following the Proceeds of Illegal Logging in Indonesia The low number of prosecutions in Indonesia for illegal logging may not offer a strong enough deterrent ...	Australian Institute of Criminology - Trends and Issues in Criminal Justice series
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14/02/2008	Illegal logging by Asian-owned enterprises in Guyana, South America A 2007 policy issued by the State Forestry Administration in Beijing to Chinese companies engaged in ...	Janette Bulkan and John Palmer
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01/01/2008	Forest anti-corruption advocacy in Asia-Pacific: Transparency International Strategy 2008-2012 The TI Forest Anti-Corruption Advocacy Programme (TI FAAP) addresses corruption as a primary driver of illegal ...	Transparency International
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15/06/2006	America's Free Trade for Illegal Timber – how US trade pacts speed the destruction of the world's forests EIA report documenting the link between FTAs and increased trade in illegal timber from Honduras and ...	EIA
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01/05/2006	Regional cooperation to combat illegal logging: options for ASEAN and the East Asia Region The purpose of this paper is to suggest options for regional cooperation in the ASEAN and/or Asia FLEG ...	Chatham House (Duncan Brack)
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01/12/2005	Stemming the Tide: Halting the Trade in Stolen Timber in Asia This briefing uses specific case studies to illustrate options for action. Though solutions must necessarily ...	EIA and Telapak Indonesia
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01/10/2004	ASEAN Strategic Plan of Action on Forestry for 2005 – 2010 This action plan was endorsed on October 2004 in Yangon. It discusses development of a common certification ...	ASEAN
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18/08/2004	Framing the Picture: An assessment of Ramin trade in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore This report evaluates the effectiveness of current implementation measures established for CITES Appendix ...	TRAFFIC Southeast Asia (Lim Teck Wyn, Tonny Soehartono and Chen Hin Keong)
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01/05/2003	Singapore's Illegal Timber Trade and the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement Released to coincide with consideration of the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement by the US Congress, ...	EIA
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01/05/2003	Timber Traffickers: How Malaysia and Singapore are reaping a profit from the illegal destruction of Indonesia's tropical forests New evidence obtained by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Telapak claims to expose how ...	EIA and Telapak Indonesia
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NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
08/12/2011	ASEAN justices reach common vision on environment Chief Justices and senior judiciary from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed ...	IIFL
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06/12/2011	Pacific trade deal could help save species: U.S. Trade in illegally poached and harvested wildlife and wild plants could be curbed, possibly saving endangered ...	Reuters
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22/10/2010	Worst haze from Indonesia in 4 years hits neighbors hard Illegal forest clearing fires in Indonesia's Sumatra Island are sending haze across the Malacca ...	Reuters, featured on Planet Ark
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05/06/2010	Adding firepower to the fight for our forests The deal between Norway and Indonesia to save Indonesian forests is a game-changer in more ways than ...	Today Online, Singapore
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28/04/2010	Indonesia chafes at graft 'safe haven' in Singapore Jakarta - Singapore promotes itself as a model of financial integrity. But, officials in Jakarta say, ...	mysinchew.com
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08/10/2009	RI and RP urged to adopt ASEAN haze deal Southeast Asia civil groups, think tanks and scholars have urged Indonesia and the Philippines to ratify ...	The Jakarta Post
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16/09/2009	The U.S., Indonesia & forest trade Deforestation poses a serious threat to the natural environment, and many species of plants and animals. ...	Voice of America
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12/09/2009	The true costs of illegal logging The use of endangered wood to make elegant furniture and hardwood floors for homes in the US, Europe ...	The National, Abu Dhabi
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03/09/2009	US introduces new approach to combat illegal wood trade The United States has been intensifying regional dialogue with a number of Asia's wood exporting ...	The Jakarta Post
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08/06/2009	Singapore artist DNA tests trees to reveal wood origins Singapore - If a tree falls in one of Southeast Asia's rainforests, is smuggled overseas, made into ...	Reuters India
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11/02/2008	Staples Fires Paper Supplier with Questionable Green Track Record Oakland, California, USA - Staples Inc. reportedly canceled all contracts with a Singapore-based paper ...	GreenBiz (USA)
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30/10/2007	WSJ inquiry pushes FSC to cancel logging certification in endangered forest An inquiry by The Wall Street Journal prompted the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an environmental ...	Mongabay.com (USA)
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29/08/2007	World Bank Group's role in illegal African rainforest destruction is exposed: company implicated in Congo forest plunder posts rising profits Washington, USA - The World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) is financing a Singapore-based ...	Common Dreams (USA)
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20/09/2006	Illegal Logging Dialogue Launched In Singapore The G8 Illegal Logging Dialogue has been launched in Singapore to attempt to put a stop to worldwide ...	Green Building Press (UK)
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01/09/2006	Environmental agency takes action against timber smuggling: each year, more than $1 billion in losses are incurred by the U.S. timber industry due to illegal logging abroad It has been three years since the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was enacted, with the goal ...	Wood and Wood Products (USA)
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21/07/2006	U.S. Illegal Timber Imports Threaten Progress of U.S.-Malaysia Free Trade Pact; Second Round of Negotiations Conclude Today Washington, USA - As the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) raises concerns over its likely impacts ...	US Newswire (USA)
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16/06/2006	Activists fear U.S. pact will fuel Asia logging Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - A free-trade pact between the United States and Malaysia could encourage more ...	MSNBC (USA)
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15/06/2006	America's free trade pacts driving illegal timber trade: destruction of Asian and Latin American forests (Press Release) Washington, USA - US free trade agreements are accelerating the destruction of tropical ...	EIA
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26/05/2006	Pacific King blames state of market for shelving flotation: listing mired by ship arrests and illegal logging questions Log carrying specialist Pacific King Shipping has postponed its controversial initial public offering ...	Lloyd's List
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10/05/2006	Shipping Firm Allegedly at Centre of Billion Dollar Trade in Stolen Logs Seeks Stock Exchange Listing EIA PRESS RELEASE: A major Asian shipping company, whose business has thrived on the back of a booming ...	EIA (UK)
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09/04/2006	For Timber Trade, Many Routes Lead Through Singapore The article describes Singapore's role as a physical and financial hub in the regions illegal timber ...	Washington Post (USA)
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15/09/2005	Regional forum on combating environmental crime formed Thailand - Experts from a range of international agencies, meeting in Bangkok, have agreed to set up ...	World Wire
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30/03/2005	Forestry authorities charges Singaporean paper giant with illegal logging BEIJING, China -- China's State Forestry Administration (SFA) Wednesday charged the Singapore-based ...	Xinhua (China)
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16/11/2004	Greenpeace accuses Singapore multinational of illegally razing China Global environmental group Greenpeace Tuesday accused a Singapore-based multinational pulp and paper ...	Terra Daily
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27/10/2004	Axe trees illegally? Bigger fine likely; those who cut down trees marked for conservation may face a fine of up to $50,000 Singapore - A new law being considered in Parliament proposes to raise the maximum fine for those who ...	The Straits Times (Singapore)
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06/10/2004	Greenpeace urges Singapore to crack down on illegal logging trade Singapore remains a major hub for the global trade in illegal timber, Greenpeace said Wednesday as it ...	Terra Daily
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18/04/2004	Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore meet in bid to stem ramin wood smuggling Government and industry representatives from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore met on Thursday and yesterday ...	New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad
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LINKS

TITLE	DESCRIPTION	REPORT
Asia Illegal Logging NGO Network	This mailing group has been set up by EIA and Telapak for civil society in SE/East Asia to share information and ideas on illegal logging and associated trade and corruption, and on the various political processes where the problem is being tackled, including East Asia FLEG and EU FLEGT.	Broken link
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