Are we stopping illegal logging and timber trade?
International regulations to halt illegal logging and its related trade
Illegal logging refers to the harvest of timber from outside authorized areas or in quantities exceeding the assigned quotas. A broader definition includes all the activities along the supply chain which use illegal timber, for example processing and trading. According to INTERPOL, it is estimated that illegal logging represents between 50–90% of all forestry activities in tropical regions such as Central Africa, Amazon Basin and Southeast Asia, and 15–30% of the global traded timber. Moreover, illegal logging causes negative social and environmental outcomes such as reducing the quality of the forest and its ecosystem services, threatening the livelihood of poor forest dependent communities, and fostering poor governance.
In response to the damages caused by illegal logging, the global community has developed various environmental legislations to combat the illegal timber trade. They include the European Union Timber Regulation of the Forest Law Enforcement and Trade (EUTR FLEGT), the American Lacey Act and the Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition Act (ILPA). These three legislations forbid the import of illegally harvested timber in their respective countries. While the US Lacey Act is framed toward reducing…
