‘The Calf Fighting The Oak’: A Fight Against Illegal Logging In Russia

Abstract

The article presents the results of a case study conducted in a mountainous region in Russia by members of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). It examines the way in which timber businesses exploit certain provisions of Russian forestry law to legitimize environmental crimes. Forestry clearing to deal with diseased timber is permitted, and in one documented case this provision has been used as a license for predatory deforestation. When the WWF confronted the authorities with evidence of the occurrence of environmental crime, criminal law sanctions were not applied, but instead mild administrative fines were imposed that are insufficient to deter offenders. The failure of the authorities to prosecute and suppress acts of illegal logging resulted in social violence. Violent acts of social protest, however, cannot stop the massive destruction of forestry resources in Russia, where criminal groups are well organized and connected to the government.