In October, non-governmental organizations and journalists at a World Bank general meeting in Bangkok expressed concerns about destruction on the Indochinese mainland, where Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are counting Japanese logging interests in their quest for hard currency. The pressure can only increase. Next year, Japan and the Soviet Union will start their fourth Siberia forest development project, with Japan getting six million cubic meters of logs over five years. In return, Japan will provide machinery which Soviet loggers will use to cut deep into virgin forests. Over the past 30 years, conifers easily accessible by rivers, railways and roads have already been cut down.
Loggers have to go farther into the forests.
Of course, logging cannot simply be labelled evil. Indeed it takes two sides to tango. Some governments, mainly in the third word, are so dependent on revenues from timber trading that they will put up with environmental destruction. Be it in Sarawak or Alberta, the Japanese government and private companies say they can't interfere in other countries' internal affairs. Yet, there are some things Japan can do.