Deforestation of Siberia to Sell Wood to China a Primary Driver of Bear Attacks, Environmental Activists Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 1 – In order to cut enough wood to sell to China, Russian officials have allowed lumber firms to clear cut far larger areas than can easily be reforested and that together with the impact of climate change and widespread distribution of photographs of bears on social media have stoked fears this year that Russia is facing an explosion of deadly bear attacks.

            That is the judgment of environmental activists east of the Urals who point to deforestation as a primary driver, experts in Moscow, and the natural resources ministry which says that Russians taking pictures of bears to share online is attracting more attention to the problem (currenttime.tv/a/medvedi-napadayut-na-lyudei-pochemu/33887431.html).

            In fact, the ministry says, the number of bear attacks has not gone up dramatically during the past season at least as compared to the last few years. But the fact that selling lumber to China is part of the cause may lead those much-photographed attacks to trigger a rise of political environmentalism in Russia east of the Urals.

            That is all the more likely to be true because it is now widely known that China itself has restricted deforestation within its borders but is all too happy to purchase wood harvested that way in Russia, something corrupt and/or greedy Russian officials are all to happy to accommodate Beijing’s growing demand for wood.