The local press (Eleven media) has reported a Forest Department statement to the effect that illegal logging has taken a heavy toll on the ecosystem especially in the in Kachin and Shan States. Kachin State, Shan States and the Sagaing Division are areas where serious timber smuggling is taking place. The Forest Department has estimated near 200,000 square meter of timber is being smuggled out annually.
Highly efficient harvesting and transportation by smugglers and the slow progress of cooperation between the governments of China and Myanmar is not helping the situation say local analysts. Some 15,000 square meter of timber was seized during the first two months of this fiscal year.