Illegal logging declining worldwide, but still ‘major problem’

A new report by the Chatham House finds that illegal logging in tropical forest nations is primarily on the decline, providing evidence that new laws and international efforts on the issue are having a positive impact. According to the report, the total global production of illegal timber has fallen by 22 percent since 2002. Yet the report also finds that nations—both producers and consumers—have a long way to go before illegal logging is an issue of the past.

“If laid end to end the illegal logs would encircle the globe more than ten times over,” Larry MacFaul, co-author of the report, says, illustrating the sheer scale of the issue. Illegal logging worldwide comes with a host of environmental and social problems. Destruction of tropical rainforests releases vast amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, threatens biodiversity, and imperils other so-called ‘ecosystem services’, such as clean water. Given its unregulated nature, illegal logging often threatens indigenous people living in the forest, undercuts local communities and economies, and deprives governments in developing countries of revenue in the form of legal logging, or possibly carbon credits. Studies have shown that other environmental issues soon follow illegal logging, such as poaching and the bushmeat trade. “Up to a billion of the world’s poorest people are dependent on forests, and reductions in illegal logging are helping to protect their livelihoods,” Sam Lawson, Chatham House Associate Fellow and lead author of the report, said in a press release. Chatham House, a London-based NGO, is devoted to independent analyses of international issues. Looking at five of the world’s largest tropical timber producers, the study found that the majority of them had seen a significant drop in illegal logging over the last decade. In the Brazilian Amazon, illegal logging plunged by 50-75 percent. According to the report, improved laws and regulations, along with increased enforcement had a major impact in Brazil. The number of enforcement officials dealing with illegal logging in Brazil jumped from 400 in 2003 to 3000 in 2007. However, even with this massive decline, 34 percent of Brazil’s timber output is still illegally sourced. Indonesia has seen a 75 percent drop in illegal logging. According to the report improved governance, increases in plantation wood production, and pressure from NGOs have all improved the nation’s illegal logging problem, yet 40 percent of Indonesia’s wood production is still thought to be illegal. Following through on policies and regulations, as well as lack of enforcement, remain major stumbling blocks in Indonesia. Cameroon has reduced illegal logging by half since 1999. … The report was more mixed on Malaysia and Ghana. While Malaysia has less overall illegal logging than the other nations evaluated, it has not seen any conclusive improvement over the last decade in combating the problem. Transparency is one of Malaysia’s largest problems. Like Malaysia, Ghana did not appear to see any improvement in halting illegal logging over the last decade. Illegal logging remains rampant in Ghana, estimated at two-thirds of its total production, most of which comes from artisanal logging. While illegal logging has declined or held steady in many countries, some have seen booms. For example, following a government coup, Madagascar has experienced an illegal logging crisis. Loggers have even entered National Parks seeking rare and precious rosewood trees and threatening the island nation’s unique biodiversity. The report stressed that illegal logging is not a problem of the past. …