Wildlife Alliance

For Immediate Release

Cambodian Chainsaws are Fakes, Says Manufacturer

May 15, 2008

Alarmed by reports that their chainsaws were being used to decimate Cambodian forests, manufacturer STIHL looked up the serial numbers of chainsaws confiscated by Forestry officials in Cambodia and confirmed that all of them were counterfeit.

Just some of the annual crop of STIHL-branded saws confiscated in Bokor.

PeunPa, a charity that works with governments across Southeast Asia to protect forests and wildlife, reported in January 2008 that STIHL branded chainsaws were flowing into Cambodia faster than forest rangers could confiscate them. More than 600 such chainsaws had been confiscated and impounded or destroyed in the past seven years from Preah Monivong (Bokor) National Park alone.

PeunPa, a member of Wildlife Alliance, and the Cambodian government run the 'Surviving Together' program in Bokor to provide training and technical support to forest rangers. Despite a Cambodian law which makes it illegal to possess a chainsaw anywhere in the country without a permit, rangers seized 150 STIHL branded chainsaws in Bokor in 2007. This was well above the 97 recovered there during 2006. Bokor is arguably Cambodia's best protected park, and the scale of illegal logging in the rest of the country's unprotected forests can only be imagined.

Following PeunPa's report, STIHL clarified that up to the end of 2006, its products were distributed in Cambodia exclusively by a contractually bound importer to authorized servicing dealers who were obliged to observe legal regulations. After

2006, when ownership of a chainsaw was made subject to an official permit from the Cambodian government, the sales office was closed and no chainsaws were sold in Cambodia by the STIHL importer. 

It turned out that illegal replicas of STIHL chainsaws recovered in Cambodia had been assembled from forged and falsely declared spare parts that were smuggled across borders.

STIHL, which states that it has taken "rigorous action against product pirates all over the world with the aid of detectives and lawyers", is now advocating the "confiscation of illegally imported chainsaws". In a recent statement to PeunPa, STIHL offered Cambodia "support in investigating such incidents in order to put a stop to smuggling and to protect the rainforest as well as training for Customs officials to help them identify illegally smuggled chainsaws parts."

"The STIHL Group supports purely legal and controlled wood harvesting throughout the world. The company therefore condemns both illegal imports of chain saws to Cambodia and illegal logging in the protected rainforests." said Winfried Weida, STIHL Senior Manager for Exports Asia in Pacific.

Some of the trees illegally felled in Bokor were more than 100 years old, with ecological values far greater than the price their timber would have fetched on the black market. Clearly, a coordinated investigation is needed to uncover the organized illegal and massive logging and chainsaw smuggling operations in Cambodia. Otherwise, the devastation being wreaked on its forests will continue.

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Wildlife Alliance is an international conservation organization whose mission is to protect and preserve wildlife, forests and oceans for future generations. Our field operations, formerly carried out under the name WildAid, train and equip park rangers to fight crimes against nature, and prevent poaching and illegal habitat destruction in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Russia and the Western Pacific through collaboration with governments and communities. We improve the management of protected areas, support sustainable development initiatives, and empower countries to enforce transboundary wildlife regulations. For more information, please visit wildlifealliance.org.